Myanmar has its own traditional musical instruments. Among them, the harp, a string instrument is a highly regarded musical instrument not only for Myanmars but also for foreigners. In Myanmar music circle, harp is considered as the king of music. Harp consists of various essential parts, such as body, arm, tail-piece, loop of string tethered to the neck of the harp, end piece on the arm in the shape of a banyan-leaf, hole in the body, and buttress. Like projection of the joint at the neck and the body, rounded end of the sound-box, and bulge on the resonator between the tail-piece and the butt. It is an instrument that dates back to the early days of Myanmar history.

Now, we would like to present step by step on how the harp is made. Nowadays, skillful artistes use ‘Keys’ on the arm of harps so that they can play them more easily. In the part, gum Kino tree is used to make the harp and of present ‘Mau’, a kind of wood, is used.

First, 28 inches of ‘Mau’ is cut by cross-cut saw. The excessive wood from both sides are cut off by bow-sow. To make if more smooth, ironed plane is used. After which, the middle part is curved by gouge. Now, we get the saw shape of the harp’s body. The surface is also cut by knife and then, a carpenter’s plane is used to smooth them out.

Now, let’s see how the arm of the harp is made. First, we chisel the Margosa tree to be round in shape. Then, we make the scale of shape of banyan-leaf and the arm of the harp and stick them with glue. The joint-place is made to be smooth and homogenous with one another.

The arm and the body of the harp is joined with screws. Buttress and body is connected with string to make it more firmly. The joint is painted with burnt paddy husk and resin to fade out the joint.

The smooth tail-piece is made with holes to attach the strings. If the distances of holes are not even we can’t get the melodic sound. Even though the body of the harp is good, without the quality of tail-piece, you won’t get a melodic sound. Thus tail-piece is the most essential part of the harp.

Goat’s leather is used to cover the body with small nails and hole to attach to the tail-piece firmly and the leather is placed in water before use. It is then dried in the sun for two hours to fit with the body. After drying in the sun, the three holes over the leather are made in order to get a clear sound.

The body is painted black with a mixture of burnt paddy husk and resin. It takes up to three days to dry. You have to evenly mixed resin and burnt paddy husk and then by pounding them, you get them soft then by and made strings. These strings are mould to the required shape. These strings are decorated on the body of the harp. The body is stuck with gold leaves. Then, strings and loop of strings are tied together.

The top of the string is tied to the bulge on the resonator, between the tail-piece and the butt. Loop of string is also tied on the arm of the harp and finally the sound of the harp is tested. Then the harps are ready for the market. Nowadays, the Myanmar harp is gracefully and majestically placed as an ornament in the living room, and also being sold abroad to be played by Myanmar harp enthusiasts around the world.