Ryan Powell

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River Harp

An experiment in collaborative music making with rivers

A river harp is a stringed musical instrument that is played with a body of moving water. The strings a partly submerged in the flow which vibrates the strings. I have been developing an acoustic version of this instrument, based on the original concept by musician Sam McLoughlin.

River Harp 1.0

The first harp was a simple frame constructed from waste building materials with two strings across a bridge and nut made from the stem of an old lamp. To hear the sound you need a contact microphone and headphones.
As I stood in the river, listening to the harp for the first time I was amazed at the tonal variety that was emerging from just two strings. The river introduces an incredible variety and spontaneity to the to the sound produced, it truly does play the instrument and through gently rocking the harp in the flowing water, I felt we were playing together.

River Harp 2.0

I wanted to see if I could make a version of the harp that could be heard without the need for a microphone and so made this prototype with a thin piece of plywood for the sound board and chamber. The resulting sound was much more resonant and reverby than the "electric" version but was quite quiet. I would seek to improve on the volume and tonal quality in a new design using tone wood and a build based on acoustic guitar bodies.

River Harp 3.0

The result was this harp with a large resonating chamber made from English pear with a sitka spruce sound board.

I am continuing to explore the sonic possibilities of the instrument and will be developing projects using the harp. For now, sample recordings from all three iterations can be found at: https://soundcloud.com/ryan-powell-702929332