The Autoharp

You may recognize it most from Mother Mabel Carter of the Carter family. The autoharp is a stringed instrument with a series of chord bars attached to dampeners that come in contact with the strings. When a cord bar or button is pressed all the strings except for the strings that form the chord pressed are deadened. Only the string producing the desired chord will play. This is instrument is not technically a hard but a zither. In 1882 Charles F. Zimmerman gave this instrument the name "autoharp" but Karl August Gütter created the shape that is still applied to all autoharps made today. The U.S. Music Corporation owns the trademark of the term "autoharp" so the only manufacturer of this instrument is Oscar Schmidt division. Two types of autohaprs are made: diatonic and chromatic. The diatonic harp have only a limited number of chords it can play and restricted to 4-5 five buttons. The chromatic harp can play most chords on the scale and range from 15-21 buttons. While the chromatic harp is easier to play with a wide array of songs the diatonic is preferred among more skilled players with particular songs.

In Appalachia, music has always been such an important part of life. Family reunions or get-togethers just arn't truly get-togethers unless someone pulls out the instruments and play a while. The autoharp was designed to be able to play and follow along without having to know finger positions. As long as you know where and when to change chords you can play along with any song on the autoharp. 

Mother Mabel Carter brought the autoharp into the spotlight, however it was Cecil Null who introduced the upright way of playing this instrument. Previously, it had been played by laying it across one's lap. The Carter family routinely used this position and since then most players use this method. 

Though this is a simple instrument to play it can be picked and plucked to make extraordinary sounds! Jo Ann Smith is a distinguished player of the autoharp and my personal inspiration of learning to play. My grandpa Doc owned an autoharp and it was passed down to my Dad. I had never paid much attention to it before but one day I started plucking around on it. I stumbled on to Jo Ann playing Amazing Grace and have been playing ever since.  

Jess