An Accompaniment Harp

This harp came to life during the development phase of the Marini Chord Harps—a time full of creativity and exploration at the Marini’s. Ideas were flying as we considered how these new chord harps ought to be built.

The first chord harp was made for use in a theater production. That original harp had a charming, rustic look and a beautiful voice. However, it was limited, built with just five custom chords tailored specifically for the songs in the show.

After the production, we reworked the chord layout to make it more practical for general use, and eventually built two more chord harps with six chords each.

One of the fun things about these instruments is that, because of their simplicity, a chord harp can be built in a hundred different ways. While the two newer Marini chord harps were in development, I used all the divergent ideas, and called it The Giovanna Chord. It has fewer strings, but more chords—eight in total. That makes it slightly more challenging to play at first, but easier to switch keys.

16 Strings – 2 Keys: C Major and G Major – 8 Chords: D minor, F Major, E Minor, G Major, A Minor, C Major, B Minor, D Major