Just touch the Harp gently, Louise.

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I looked up at the calendar this morning

and it was still showing May!

What happened to April?

Where has May gone?

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It wasn't the above from 1895 thought.

In March we long for April;

In May we long for June:

Don’t be in such a hurry,

It will all be gone too soon.

A couple of weeks ago I posted up pictures of Barrel Piano Musical Boxes that I had made.

Now, as I seem to be a couple of months behind myself, I am going to cheat and re-post the bit I did about the harps in April 2009.

Touch the Harp Gently

Just touch the Harp gently, my pretty Louise,

And sing me the songs that I love;

They’ll recall the bright days when we play’d in the wood,

And watch’d the birds flitting above.

There was one that you sang, my pretty Louise,

The words, I remember them well,

I lov’d it, and when you had finished each verse,

I kiss’d you and said: ‘Never tell’;

Just touch the Harp gently, my pretty Louise,

Just touch the Harp gently, Louise.

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Earlier on the blog I wrote a bit about how I had made small Musical Boxes for my great nephews/nieces. These ended up as small Barrel Pianos, but the original plan was to make them in the shape of a harp. Thirty odd years ago I had built a folk-harp and the small ones were exact scale models of their larger 'sister'. In the above picture you can see the full-size harp in the background.

Each model took about four weeks to make, so making eight would have taken eight months !

I made two, and called it a day. They are made in mahogany with spruce on the front.

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The strings were made of nylon 'fishing-line' and the little tuning pegs were tapered 'clock pins'.

Each plays a different tune and are started by the small lever on the side.

They are about 7" tall as you can see shown against a £2 coin.

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"Just touch the Harp gently, Louise."

Written by Charles Blamphin (1830-1895) a well-known English harpist

who also composed ballads.