King David Harps and Kinnors   

More than 3000 years ago in ancient Israel, a young shepherd boy named David was brought quickly many times in the middle of the night to play his harp before an ailing King Saul. The king had been having nightmares, anger fits and general malaise that was affecting his mind as well as his physical health. When the harp was being played he 'felt better and the evil spirit departed from Saul". Powerful words to describe a situation known all too well by many people in our own times.

Harp therapy is a general term used to describe the continuum of types of therapies in which the harp is used. It may be provided at home or in a clinical setting. When therapeutic harp music is played, recipients may receive beneficial effects such as increased relaxation, improvement in sleep, decreased pain and anxiety, stabilization of vital signs, and improvement in mood. An end-of-life music vigil can also help a patient to achieve a peaceful transition.

The servants of King Saul knew that the sounds of the harp were able to have a healing affect on people. They didn't have the scientific knowledge of why and how, but they did know that something profound happened to people when the harp was played, and so they found the 'best harpist' in the land to bring to their ailing king to ease his suffering and bring him moments of peace and well being.

The Kinnor type of harp was played in the time of King David and in Israel's First & Second Temples periods. Its structure and basic design is known from ancient coins, Biblical descriptions and from Talmudic information. The Kinnor is built in the style of a Lyre, with a double upright neck support for the horizontal neck.

Harp in Pictures above: This is a 10 string King David Lyre-Kinnor, carved from Myrtle wood and Engelmann Spruce. The raised relief carved Hebrew letters spell out " Sing a New Song Joy, Praise-be". There is a carved-out quite larger sound box inside the body.

There were also in the time of King David two other types of harps that were played in the middle East. The Egyptian style harp usually had no for-pillar, and was like an open  'C'' in shape, with a sounding box on the lowered base area. There were also triangular harps being played in the Cycladic Islands and in Phoenicia, that resemble the more modern Irish and Scottish harps.

I can build these type of harps for you, in almost any size and number of strings, though some scholars point to the ancient Israeli harps as perhaps having 10 strings, which has a symbolic importance in Jewish Mystical beliefs. A small Kinnor, to be easily playable, is best not strung with more than 12 strings. A triangular King David harps can be built with from 19 up to 45 strings. Both styles can be shaped and decorated with carving and inlay work in many different ways that can bring the theme and feeling of King David`s music  to life in your hands !

I price out my Lyres and Kinnors individually, according to how large, how many strings, and how much detail carving you may desire. Please email me and tell me what you have in mind. the price range is usually from a low of $1,500, up to $2,500.