The shape of any instrument conditions the attitude of the musician and the type of music played. The shape of the Celestial Harp is based on the proportions inherent in the circle, the square and the spiral. There are seventy-two strings radiating out from the center across a spiral bridge and out to a square bridge. There is also a circle of frets. There are eight double strings and a direct relationship of each string to the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching. Each string has its own frets.
The Celestial Harp has a very strong emphasis on space. The musician must move around it. There is no beginning or end to it. The strings can be hammered, plucked, strummed, played with a slide, or sounded in numerous ways. It is both a stringed instrument and a percussion instrument. It is designed so that several people can play it at the same time.
The tuning system uses a very sophisticated system. As the musician plays around the instrument, the scales ascend and descend in waves. In tuning system #-9 there is a range of four octaves plus an auxiliary two octaves. There is also a scale for each sign of the Zodiac. Tuning system #-12 is set up on a chromatic scale and spans about three octaves. Because several people play the harp at the same time many of the sounds being made seem as if they are coming from several instruments.
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