List of musical instruments by Hornbostel-Sachs number: 322.11

This is a list of instruments by Hornbostel-Sachs number, covering those instruments that are classified under 322.11 under that system. These instruments may be known as arched harps. These are instruments in which one or more strings produce sound by vibrating, and where the string carrier and resonator are physically united, with strings at right angles to the sound table, no pillar and a neck that curves away from the resonator. The arched harp is probably an evolution of the musical bow, distinguished by the addition of strings and the fusion of the string holder and the soundbox.^[1]

Arched harps are found in Southeast Asia, East Africa, and elsewhere, and are historically strongly associated with Ancient Egypt and India. Two categories of arched harps exist, though are not distinguished in the Hornbostel-Sachs system: those in which only one stick constitutes both the neck and the string holder of the instrument and those in which two separate sticks are used. The oldest harps of Egypt used the one stick construction, but this later changed to two sticks, which is now also used in the Burmese saung gauk and many other forms.^[2]

The arched harp saung gauk is seen as a national instrument of Myanmar, and its history there dates back centuries. In the music of India, arched harps are strongly associated with Buddhism, and are frequently depicted in images of Buddhist deities and were formerly played in the royal courts of Buddhist dynasties. The arched harp receded in prominence in India after the rise of Hinduism in that country,^[3] and the instrument's modern presence in India is apparently limited to the Pardhan people of Madhya Pradesh.^[4]

The arched harps of Egypt, sub-Saharan Africa and Myanmar share a few features, including a stick to which each string is attached at one end and a piece of skin with a cavity underneath it, attached to the stick. However, it can not be conclusively determined that these instruments are related to each other.^[5] The similarities between the arched harps of Southeast Asia and East Africa are part of a broad group of cultural relations, and the distribution of arched harps in Africa follows roughly the route by which the yam apparently spread across the continent after being introduced from Indonesia.^[6] The Egyptian shoulder harp is also the earliest known instrument to have soundholes.^[7]

3: Instruments in which sound is produced by one or more vibrating strings (chordophones, string instruments).

32: Instruments in which the resonator and string bearer are physically united and can not be separated without destroying the instrument

322: Instrument whose strings are at right angles to the sound table, such that a line between the lower tips of the strings would point at the neck (harps)

322.1: Instrument without a pillar (open harps)

322.11: Instrument has a neck that curves away from the resonator (arched harp)

These instruments may be classified with a suffix, based on how the strings are caused to vibrate.

• 4: Hammers or beaters
• 5: Bare hands and fingers
• 6: Plectrum
• 7: Bowing
  • 71: Using a bow
  • 72: Using a wheel
  • 73: Using a ribbon
• 8: Keyboard
• 9: Using a mechanical drive

List

Instrument	Tradition	Complete classification	Description
adeudeu	Kenya	322.11	Arched harp[8]
enanga	Uganda	322.11	Arched harp[9]
Kafir Harp	Music of northern Afghanistan,Nuristan Providence	322.11	Arched harp[9]
ladle harp	Ancient Egypt	322.11	Ladle-shaped arched harp[10]
Pagan harp	Pagan Kingdom	322.11	Arched harp with a thick and blunt neck, only slightly curved[11]
Pardhan harp kidim-baja, gudum-baja (both derogatory), bin-baja	Pardhan of India	322.11	Arched harp made from a single stick, with five strings, played with a plectrum and attached to a sawtooth-shaped carrier, with one soundhole and a waisted body[4]
Pyu harp	Pyu city-states	322.11	Fourteen-stringed arched harp with an outward curving neck and a bird or phoenix carved on the apex[12]
saung-gauk	Myanmar	322.11	Arched harp with a curving neck and large soundholes, made from two sticks[12][13]
shoulder harp	Ancient Egypt	322.11	Arched harp with a boat-shaped hollow body surrounded by a skin membrane, with ten soundholes and traversed and punctured by one or two sticks to which the string is attached;[5][14]
shovel harp	Ancient Egypt	322.11	Shovel-shaped arched harp[10]
vina	Ancient India	322.11	Arched harp (vina now refers to a stick zither, 311.222)[15]

References

• Alvad, Thomas (October 1954). "233. The Kafir Harp". Man (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) 54: 151–154. doi:10.2307/2795578.
• Baines, Anthony (1992). The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-311334-1.
• Becker, Judith (1967). "The Migration of the Arched Harp from India to Burma". The Galpin Society Journal (Galpin Society) 20 (March): 17–23. doi:10.2307/841500. JSTOR 841500.
• von Hornbostel, Erich M.; Curt Sachs (March 1961). "Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann". The Galpin Society Journal (The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 14) 14: 3–29. doi:10.2307/842168. JSTOR 842168.
• Knight, Roderic (Winter 1985). Society for Ethnomusicology. "The Harp in India Today". Ethnomusicology (University of Illinois Press) 29 (1): 9–28. doi:10.2307/852322. JSTOR 852322.
• Lawergren, Bo (1981). "Acoustics and Evolution of Arched Harps". The Galpin Society Journal (Galpin Society) 34 (March): 110–129. doi:10.2307/841475. JSTOR 841475.
• Lawergren, Bo (1980). "Reconstruction of a Shoulder Harp in the British Museum". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (Egypt Exploration Society) 66: 165–168. doi:10.2307/3856406. JSTOR 3856406.

Notes

1. Alvad, pg. 154
2. Knight, pg. 16
3. Becker, pg. 21
4. Knight, pg. 15
5. Lawergren, Acoustics and Evolution, pg. 110
6. Lawergren, Acoustics and Evolution, pg. 112; Lawergren stresses that the direction the arched harp traveled can not be known.
7. Lawergren, Acoustics and Evolution, pg. 118
8. Lawergren, Acoustics and Evolution, pg. 122
9. Baines, pg. 151
10. Lawergren, Reconstruction, pg. 166
11. Becker, pg. 22
12. Becker, pg. 18; Becker notes that two Pyu harps are known, one with an outward curving neck and one with an inward curving neck, no carving and an unknown number of strings. The outward-harp is better-documented, but it is likely the inward-harp is more closely related to the modern Myanmari saung-gauk.
13. Lawergren, Acoustics and Evolution, gp. 125
14. Knight, pg. 12
15. Wrazen, Louise (Autumn–Winter 1986). "The Early History of the Vīṇā and Bīn in South and Southeast Asia". Asian Music (University of Texas Press) 18 (1): 35–55. doi:10.2307/834157. JSTOR 834157.

Hornbostel–Sachs system
1. Idiophone (list)	11. Struck 111. Directly 111.1. Concussion 111.2. Percussion 112. Indirectly 112.1. Shaken/rattle 112.2. Scraped 12. Plucked 121. Frame 121.1. Clack 121.2. Guimbarde 122. Comb 122.1. Lace 122.2. Cut out 13. Friction 131. Stick Nail violin 132. Plaque Musical saw 133. Vessel Glass harmonica 14. Blown 141. Stick 142. Plaque
2. Membran- ophone (list)	21. Struck 211. Directly 211.1. Bowl 211.2. Tubular 211.3. Frame 212. Shaken 22. Plucked Nyatiti 23. Friction 231. Stick 232. Cord 233. Hand 24. Kazoo 241. Free 242. Tube/vessel
3. Chordophone (list)	31. Simple / zither 311. Bar/stick Musical bow Stick zither 312. Tube Whole Half 313. Raft Idiochord Heterochord 314. Board 315. Trough 316. Frame 32. Composite 321. Lute 321.1. Bow 321.2. Yoke 322. Harp 322.1. Open 322.2. Frame 323. Harp lute
4. Aerophone (list)	41. Free 411. Displacement Whip 412. Interruptive 412.1. Idiophonic/reed 412.2. Non-idiophonic 413. Plosive 42. Non-free 421. Flute 421.1. Non-fipple 421.2. Fipple 422. Reed 422.1. Double reed 422.2. Single reed 422.3. Reedpipe 423. Brass 423.1 Natural 423.2 Chromatic
5. Electrophone (list)	51. Action 52. Amplification 53. Radioelectric
List of musical instruments by Hornbostel-Sachs number Musical instrument classification