| Sharpsichord | |
| Background: | string |
| Classification: | Chordophone |
| Inventors: | Henry Dagg |
| Developed: | 21st century |
| Musicians: | Björk |
The Sharpsichord is a musical instrument created by Henry Dagg in Faversham, Kent.[1] It is a pin-barrel harp that plays music using a system of pegs, like a music box.[2] [3] The pegs slot into a grid of 11,520 holes to program songs onto a 46-string harp using a chromatic scale.[4] The harp is then amplified by a pair of large horns. The instrument can also be played more traditionally using a keyboard. The Sharpsichord is solar-powered and can play 90 seconds of music at a time.[5] [6] It is made of stainless steel and weighs altogether.[7] Dagg has stated that the Sharpsichord is intended as a tribute to Cecil Sharp, a collector of folk music.
It took around four years for Dagg to create the Sharpsichord after he was enabled to do so following a commission from the English Folk Dance and Song Society in 2006. The society asked Dagg to create a trio of instruments to use in a "sound garden" following a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. Dagg only produced one instrument: the Sharpsichord. Due to the Sharpsichord being perishable it was not able to be used in the garden and Dagg later had to refund the money. The instrument took a total of £90,000 to build. The Sharpsichord was used by Björk on her Biophilia tour for the song Sacrifice.[8] [9] [10] [11]