Historical Harp Society of Ireland

Scoil na gCláirseach 2011 Report

2011-12-22T19:19:00.008Z

SCOIL NA gCLÁIRSEACH
Summer School of Early Irish Harp
Kilkenny, Ireland
August 2011

Here is a photo album: http://www.irishharpschool.com/2011/photos/

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland held its ninth annual Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp from Wed. 17^thto Tues. 23^rd August at Kilkenny School of Music, Ireland. This year, Scoil na gCláirseach was officially opened for us by one of Ireland's leading historians, and HHSI board member, Prof. Dáibhi Ó Cróinín of N.U.I. Galway.

We chose a Scottish theme for 2011: our tuition, lectures, talks and concerts concentrated on Gaelic harp repertory, which has survived in Scottish manuscripts and printed sources.

STAFF
The Scoil director and staff tutor, Siobhán Armstrong [IRL], was joined by some of the cream of the world's historical harping tutors, performers and lecturers including the doyenne of the modern international revival of the early Irish harp, Ann Heymann [USA] and Dr. Andrew Lawrence-King [Guernsey], probably the world's foremost historical harpist.

Our academic staff included Simon Chadwick, organologist and founder of earlygaelicharp.info. He was joined by our scholar-in-residence: Ireland's primary published authority in the area, Seán Donnelly.

We were particularly delighted this year to welcome to Kilkenny two Scottish guest performers and scholars who are outstanding in their fields. Scotland's pre-eminent historical piper, Barnaby Brown, is dedicated to revealing the ancient artistic traditions of Scotland’s music. Griogair Labhruidh, is one of Scotland's foremost young Gaelic singers who has resurrected numerous songs and tunes, which have been forgotten in contemporary Gaelic Scotland, through his research into his tradition.

We were also joined by Karen Loomis, a PhD student in Music at the University of Edinburgh, who is researching the construction of the early Gaelic harps of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, using modern technology to unlock the secrets of these historical instruments. For the second year in a row, she gave us breath-taking, 3-D images of the Lamont harp and the Queen Mary as part of her riveting talk. It was quite a thrill for Scoil staff, and students alike, to be able to explore the internal structure of late medieval harps using 21^st century technology.

STUDENTS
Notwithstanding the global recession, which continued in 2011, we were delighted that the Scoil had only a few less than its usual numbers: twenty-three players and additional auditors each day from twelve nations: Ireland (both south and north), England, Scotland, France, Czech Republic, the Canary Islands, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, the USA, Canada and Japan. The harpists ranged from children to adults and amateur to professional standard. The auditors were likewise drawn from Ireland, both north and south of the border and from abroad: harpists and other musicians, historians, Irish language experts and those working in media.

We were particularly pleased, this year, to have some very enthusiastic Irish teenagers take part in the Scoil. Since we exist to help revive the playing of the early Irish harp, both here in Ireland as well as further afield, having younger Irish people take such an active interest is to be celebrated.

SYLLABUS
As usual, each morning, the students divided into three groups, which were taught in turn, intensively, by the three tutors. Each afternoon was taken up with practical seminars, talks and lectures on relevant subjects. Our 2011 timetable is still visible at http://www.irishharpschool.com/timetable.htm

Scoil students study the techniques and repertory played on the instrument from medieval times to the 18th century. Our unique two-tiered system of lectures for less and more advanced students continued this year along with masterclasses, seminars and lectures on such wide-ranging subjects as

Uncovering the Magic of Medieval Music:
A Practical Guide to Irish Music Modes

 “When Love on Time and Measure makes his Ground”  
Rhythm in 17th-century music

An Introduction to the Early Gaelic Harp Traditions:
Their history and cultural background

“The Harper’s Humours”
Authentic Passions in Early Music

An Introduction to Ceòl Mór

The Canntaireachd Sources of Ceòl Mór
Full immersion in the historical mode of transmission: singing

How to study, how to practice
Training mind and fingers: lessons from the ceòl mór tradition

Harping in Scotland
From a piper’s perspective

Ireland and Scotland
An overview of the connections, similarities and differences between Gaelic harp traditions across Ireland and Scotland

Learning to sing a song in Gaelic from the early Gaelic harpers’ repertory

The Brave New World of the Old Gaelic Harps: How CT scanning has transformed our understanding of these iconic instruments
The latest discoveries and more astonishing images of the Queen Mary and Lamont harps

An Introduction to ‘Figures’ from Historical Sources

The Inchcolm Antiphoner c.1340:
Learn to read and perform plain chant from one of the earliest surviving Scottish music manuscripts

Understanding the Scottish sources
Comparing Scots and Gaelic; vocal, pipe and fiddle; 17th, 18th and 19th century.

It was, I think, for all of us, an inspiring and intensive week of playing and academic study but the energetic students (and staff!) as usual somehow managed both to work hard by day and carry on practising, making music, socialising and playing sessions late into the evening, both at the School of Music and in various establishments in the city!

We went on our now traditional field trip to Dublin on our final summer school day to study many of the surviving instruments held in museum, university and private collections. Our thanks to The Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin; The National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks and The Guinness Storehouse Museum for their kind help with our field trip.

SCOIL INSTRUMENTS
Thanks to the HHSI's Student Harp Bank and the generosity of friends, we were able to provide student copies of historic harps, which we needed for Scoil students who did not have their own harp. Students played copies of the Trinity College, Queen Mary, Lamont, Otway and Downhill harps from the HHSI Student Harp range. These instruments are currently available through our on-line shop, which can be visited at http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

HHSI SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
There were in-house tutor concerts on three of the afternoons given by Ann Heymann, Siobhan Armstrong and Andrew Lawrence-King. Each of the three concerts concentrated on different aspects of Scottish Gaelic repertoire.

Also noteworthy in Andrew Lawrence-King’s concert was that he played some 17^th century English music on an experimental and beautiful chromatic Irish harp, based on the Cloyne fragments, designed and built by the English scholar and player, Tristram Robson, who kindly donated the instrument, along with his library, to the HHSI this year, a bequest which honours us greatly.

The support of the Deis funding scheme at An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council) made it possible for the HHSI to present three public concerts in our Summer Concert Series this year, in addition to our in-house concerts:

Mac-talla nan Dun: Echoes of a Gaelic Chieftain’s Court
This was a unique presentation of the kind of music that might have been heard at a Gaelic chieftain’s court from the late Middle Ages to the 18^th century: the ancient and very evocative triple pipes, ceòl mór on the great pipes, and late medieval Gaelic vocal repertory, together with reconstructions of medieval to 18^th century harper compositions.

The five Scoil staff performers, with the addition of Gaelic singer Talitha MacKenzie, performed in St. Patrick’s Church, Kilkenny; the medieval Holy Trinity Church in Fethard (in assoc. with Fethard Historical Society) and in one of Dublin’s oldest and most appropriately historical churches, St. Audoen’s.

Despite the economic downturn of the last few years, Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp continues to flourish each year and to bring together wonderfully interesting people from all round the world who share a passion for early Gaelic music and culture and who wish to deepen their knowledge of, and ability to perform on, early Gaelic harp. For many of those who attend, it is their sole possibility each year to spend time with other students and experts in the field. The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is grateful to its first-rate international teaching staff, who support this unique event and is also particularly appreciative of the dedicated Scoil students, without whom none of this would take place.

Our thanks also to An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council), Philip Edmonson and Kilkenny School of Music, Jane Carter, Maura Uí Chróinín, Galway Early Music, John Elwes and all our HHSI Patrons, Supporters and Associate Members, for whose support we are very grateful. We would also like to thank the staff of the Office of Public Works at St. Audoen’s, and the Canon and parish of St. Audoen’s, in addition to Fethard Historical Society and the Parish of St. Patrick’s, Kilkenny.

We very much look forward to 2012, when we will be celebrating the tenth Scoil na gCláirseach! This will take place 8^th-14^th August.

Le meas,

Siobhán Armstrong
Director
Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp

http://www.irishharpschool.com

http://www.irishharp.org

The HHSI (http://www.irishharp.org) was founded in 2002 and leads a revival of Ireland’s historical harp. In addition to Scoil na gClairseach, the Society’s activities include providing an international information service; providing year round nationwide tuition; a members’ lending and reference library; a student harp rental scheme and an on-line shop. For more information, and to become a member, please visit www.irishharp.org

Scoil na gCláirseach is kindly supported by An Chomhairle Ealaíon / The Arts Council.

Early Irish harp workshop in Dublin Castle and HHSI tuition Season 2011-2012

2011-09-21T19:17:00.007+01:00

This Friday, September 23^rd the Historical Harp Society of Ireland in conjunction with Music Network is presenting the Early Irish harp workshop with Siobhán Armstrong. It is taking place at The Coach House, Dublin Castle, at 5 pm.

Siobhán Armstrong will lead the audience in the exciting journey of the early Irish harp world. At this workshop you will find out about the history of the Irish harp and will even have a chance to play a tune on HHSI student models of Ireland's oldest instruments. This workshop is highly recommended for the beginners, adults and children alike. Admission is Free.

For more details about Music Network Culture Night events, please click here. This event is a part of all Ireland Culture Night.

This event also opens the HHSI tuition season 2011-2012 with Siobhán Armstrong giving monthly lessons in Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny and Cork. If you have any queries about a possibility of taking early Irish harp lessons and renting an early Irish harp, please do not hesitate to contact us at chair@irishharp.org or on the phone +353(0)86 8623430. For the tuition schedule please visit our calendar.

HHSI Summer Concert Series 2011

2011-08-03T15:09:00.009+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is delighted to present its 2011 summer series of three concert of 16^th—18^th century Gaelic harp, vocal and piping repertoire:

Mac-talla nan Dun:

Echoes of a Gaelic Chieftains' Castle

FETHARD Holy Trinity Church (c. 12^th century) on Saturday, 19^th August at 8.00 p.m.

KILKENNY St. Patrick Church, College Rd. on Saturday 20^th August at 8.30 p.m.

and

DUBLIN St. Audoen's Church, Cornmarket, Dublin 8, on Friday, 26^th August at 7.3o p.m.

with three of the world' s finest historical harpists Ann Heymann (USA), Andrew Lawrence-King (Guernsey) (19^th and 20^th August only), and Siobhán Armstrong (Ireland), playing early Irish harps strung in brass, silver and gold wires. They will be joined by Scotland's premier historical piper Barnaby Brown, and acclaimed Scottish traditional singers Griogair Labhruidh (19^th and 20^th August) and Talitha MacKenzie (26^th August).

Over the centuries, Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and Islands have shared a common culture, language and musical heritage. Irish harpers travelled to Scotland and were valued at Scottish chieftains' courts for their skill and beautifully evocative music. Much of the older Irish harp repertoire, which has been lost in Ireland, can be found in Scottish manuscripts and other sources, while Scottish piping and vocal traditions have preserved much common Gaelic musical heritage. These concerts explore and celebrate that heritage and these musical connections, established many centuries ago.

This is a rare opportunity to hear early Irish harps, the ancient instruments depicted in Ireland’s national emblem, in contemporaneous surroundings, in the medieval churches of Fethard and Dublin. Exquisite replicas of the Trinity College or ‘Brian Boru’ harp, Ireland's only surviving medieval harp, will be heard and audiences will have a rare opportunity to experience the meltingly beautiful sound of brass, silver and 18-carat GOLD strings played in the old manner with fingernails by three of the world’s foremost early Irish harp players.

Our harpists will be joined by Scottish singer and piper Griogair Labhruidh (19^th and 20^th August), whose family has been steeped in the musical traditions of Argyll for centuries; acclaimed Gaelic singer Talitha MacKenzie (26^th August) and historical Scottish piper, Barnaby Brown, whose haunting early 19th century pipes complements the harps and voice so perfectly.

These concerts are part of the international Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp, which takes place at Kilkenny School of Music 17th-23rd August, 2011.

Ticket information:

Fethard - €12/€10.

Kilkenny - €18/ €12, payable at the door.

Dublin - €18/€12, payable at the door, pre-booking is highly recommended due to a limited venue capacity.

Bookings: 087 113 0578

HHSI Chair plays for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

2011-05-18T11:34:00.008+01:00

The HHSI is proud that its founder and chair, Siobhán Armstrong, represented the Society and played her replica of the Trinity College harp at the event in the Long Room of the Old Library of Trinity College yesterday at which Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip inspected the Book of Kells and then the Trinity College harp: Ireland's illustrious medieval harp and Ireland's national emblem.

The Queen, accompanied by Trinity College Provost, Dr. John Hegarty, listens to Siobhán Armstrong’s explanation of the early Irish harp
Image copyright MerrionStreet.ie used under license

One of a small number of people who play the early Irish harp, the HHSI's chair was delighted to demonstrate the instrument to Her Majesty and explain the differences between the old Irish harp–the national emblem of Ireland–with its almost 1000 history and the more familiar neo-Irish harp, which was invented in the 19th century just as the other harp finally died out.

"It was a great honour to represent my own university, the Historical Harp Society of Ireland and Ireland's illustrious medieval harp on such a historic occasion" said Ms. Armstrong, who graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1986 and who performs and records internationally on a variety of historical harps with some of the most prestigious period instrument ensembles and orchestras in the world.

The early Irish harp is the Gaelic world’s illustrious medieval harp strung in brass and sometimes even silver and gold. Played in Ireland & Scotland from at least 1000 and made famous by harpers such as Carolan, it died out in the early 19th century.

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland was founded in 2002 by Siobhán Armstrong. Its purpose is to support a revival of the playing and building of Ireland's largely forgotten medieval musical instrument, which is depicted in the national emblem: the early Irish harp.

External links:
Siobhán Armstrong sound clips and more information
The Guardian (with photo)
RTE news report (video)
Full video coverage of Royal visit to Trinity College - the Long Room section starts at 52:00 minutes; the Queen looks at the harp and talks to Siobhán Armstrong at 1:05.

Director's Report

2010-12-06T16:30:00.007Z

SCOIL NA gCLÁIRSEACH
Summer School of Early Irish Harp
2010

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland held its eighth annual Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp this year from Wed. 18th - Tues. 24th August at the School of Music in Kilkenny, Ireland. This year, Scoil na gCláirseach was officially opened for us by one of Ireland's leading historians—and HHSI board member—Prof. Dáibhi Ó Cróinín.

Our theme for this year was A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes, the first collection of Irish music ever to be published in Ireland, in the early 18th century. Much of the repertoire in the collection is harp-related. 2010 saw the publication of a new, and very handsome, facsimile edition edited by Nicholas Carolan of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, so it was with pleasure that we invited him to give a talk about the collection to our students and staff as one of our Scoil presentations.

STAFF
The Scoil director and staff tutor, Siobhán Armstrong [IRL], was joined by some of the cream of the world's early Irish harping tutors, performers and lecturers including the doyenne of the modern international revival of the early Irish harp, Ann Heymann [USA] and Dr. Andrew Lawrence-King [Guernsey], the world's foremost historical harpist.

Our academic staff included Simon Chadwick, organologist and founder of earlygaelicharp.info. He was joined by our scholar-in-residence: Ireland's primary published authority in the area, Seán Donnelly. Dr. Mary O'Donnell gave us a guest presentation of her work to date on early 19th century harps. One of our most breath-taking presentations ever was a lecture given by Scoil attendee, Karen Loomis, who has begun to undertake in-depth organological study of some of the surviving instruments, at the University of Edinburgh. She presented us with the first ever 3-D CAT-scan imagery of the internal structures of the Queen Mary and Lamont harps.

STUDENTS
Notwithstanding the global recession, which continued in 2010, we were delighted that the Scoil was one of our largest ever: twenty-six players and additional auditors each day from ten nations: Ireland (both south and north), England, Scotland, France, Norway, Poland, Russia, the USA, Canada and Japan. The harpists ranged from children to adults, amateur to professional harpists. The auditors were likewise drawn from Ireland, both north and south of the border and from abroad: harpists and other musicians, historians, Irish language experts and those working in media.

SYLLABUS
Each morning, the students divided into three groups, which were taught in turn, intensively, by the three tutors. Each afternoon was taken up with practical seminars, talks and lectures on relevant subjects. Our 2010 timetable is still visible at http://www.irishharpschool.com/timetable.htm

Scoil students study the techniques and repertory played on the instrument from medieval times to the 18th century. Our unique two-tiered system of lectures for less and more advanced students continues each year along with masterclasses, seminars and lectures on such wide ranging subjects as

An introduction to 18th century music manuscripts:
With particular reference to Bunting MS 29, Edward Bunting’s notebook at the 1792 harpers’ meeting in Belfast
“The Grand Secret”: in search of 18th century Irish harp technique
An Introduction to the Early Irish Harp Tradition
Its history and cultural background
Mary Maguire’s Notebook: Minuets Step by Step
Binary Music Systems and Stirling Head 20
‘A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes’
John & William Neal, Dublin 1724: The earliest Irish publication of Irish music.
Q & A session with Seán Donnelly, Scoil na gCláirseach’s scholar-in-residence
Bunting's Irish Harp Techniques: in Theory & Practice
“The True Art”: 18th century style and aesthetics
Styles & Genres; Patrons & Fashions:
A look at early Irish harp repertory: those who played it and the people who listened.
Learning to sing a song in Irish from the early Irish harpers’ repertory
‘Molly Halfpenny’ by William Connellan from A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes
A new look at two ancient harps: the Lamont and Queen Mary give up their secrets. Images and results revealed for the first time at Scoil na gCláirseach
‘faithfully Corrected by the best Masters here’
Editorial intervention in Neal’s A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes, Dublin 1724: issues of pulse, metre, structure, mode and phrasing.
Instruments, Replicas and Terminology
What are we doing and why?
A discussion of issues relating to historical music and modern performance

As usual, it was a very intensive week of practical performance and study but the energetic student body (and staff!) managed both to work hard by day and carry on practising, making music, socialising and playing sessions late into the evening! As is usual each year, we went on a field trip to Dublin on our final summer school day to study many of the surviving instruments held in museum, university and private collections. Our thanks to The Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin; The National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks and The Guinness Storehouse Museum for their kind help with our field trip.

SCOIL INSTRUMENTS
Thanks to the HHSI's Student Harp Bank and the generosity of friends, we were able to provide the twelve student copies of historic harps, which we needed for Scoil students who did not have their own harp. Students played copies of the Trinity College, Queen Mary, Lamont, Otway and Downhill harps from the HHSI Student Harp range. These instruments are currently available through our on-line shop, which can be visited at http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

HHSI SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
There were in-house tutor concerts on three of the afternoons given by Heymann, Armstrong and Lawrence-King.

The support of the An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council) and Kilkenny County Council, in a difficult financial year, made it possible for the HHSI to present just one public concert in our Summer Concert Series this year.

‘The Most Celebrated Irish Tunes’: Haunting Airs of the Old Harpers and Exquisite Arias by Mr. Handel took place in the lovely 19th century setting of St. Patrick’s Church in Kilkenny. Ann Heymann and Siobhan Armstrong played repertoire from Neals’ Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes on early Irish harps. In addition to thrilling transcriptions of Handel, played on Irish harp, Andrew Lawrence-King accompanied tenor John Elwes, on chromatic Italian baroque harp, in some of the most beautiful and virtuosic of Handel’s arias. The latter was closely associated with the Neals during his time in Dublin. The HHSI would like to thank Fr. Dan Carroll and St. Patrick’s Parish, Diocese of Ossory, for their kind help with—and sponsorship of—this concert.

__________________________

Despite the economic downturn of the last two years or so, Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp continues to flourish each year and to bring together people from all round the world who share a passion for early Irish music and culture and who wish to deepen their knowledge of, and ability to perform on, early Irish harp. For many of those who attend, it is the sole possibility each year to spend time with other students and experts in the field. The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is grateful to the teaching staff who support such a unique international event and is also particularly appreciative of the dedicated Scoil students, without whom none of this would take place.

Our thanks also go to An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council), Mary Butler and the Arts Office of Kilkenny County Council, Philip Edmonson and Kilkenny School of Music, Jane Carter, Maura Uí Chróinín, Sylvia Crawford and Galway Early Music, John Elwes and all our HHSI Patrons, Supporters and Associate Members, for whose support we are very grateful.

Le meas,

Siobhán Armstrong
Director
Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp

http://www.irishharpschool.com

__________________________
Photo credits: Pat Moore, Pat Moore, HHSI, Karen Loomis, Christine Rolin. Please click here to view the Scoil 2010 photo album.

Ye Lord Mayor's Delight

2010-04-12T13:36:00.003+01:00

This concert will take place on Tuesday 13th April 2010 4.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m.

In Handel’s Day, Temple Bar was the happening place! The Neals, who were Handel’s publishers, ran the Musick Hall in Temple Bar where Messiah was premiered and they published the earliest collection of Irish music in 1724. Find out more about the Neals and hear music from this collection performed live at this event, presented by Nicholas Carolan, Director of the Irish Traditional Archive (www.itma.ie). Nicholas will be joined by four eminent performers: Siobhán Armstrong (early Irish harp), Áine Uí Cheallaigh (sean nos singing), Paul O’Shaughnessy (fiddle) and Paul McGrattan (flute).

Venue: St Audoen’s Church, Cornmarket (near High Street), Dublin 8
Tickets: FREE - Tickets required. Click here for booking information http://www.templebar.ie/home_ns_21.html

This event is brought to you by Temple Bar Cultural Trust in partnership with the Irish Traditional Music Archive as part of In Handel's Day. More info at http://www.templebar.ie/home_ns_28.html

HHSI Funding Cuts

2010-03-03T15:28:00.005Z

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland has taken a severe funding cut for 2010 from our Arts Council. Overall, we have just over a quarter of the funding that we had in 2008. The Arts Council's decision forces us to substantially review what will be possible for our calendar of events for the year and to scale back drastically.

We understand that the current economic crisis must inevitably have repercussions for the arts sector but we feel that such a severe decrease is disproportionate and undervalues our unique work as the only resource organisation in Ireland solely dedicated to promoting a revival of the original Irish harp. The irony that this neglected instrument is depicted on all government documents will not escape many of you.

Siobhán Armstrong, Simon Chadwick and Natalie Surina have worked hard since 2002 to make the HHSI an organisation of which the members—and indeed Ireland—can be proud. As you know, we now have

the HHSI Student Harp Rental Bank, full of unique student replica harps; a first anywhere in the world;
the HHSI library of printed material, sound recordings and ephemera; again a world-wide first;
monthly historical harp tuition in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Kilkenny and Waterford;
talks, workshops and beginners' Taster Days;
Scoil na gClairseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp: the premier international summer school for the instrument;
the HHSI summer concert series presenting some of the cream of the world's historical harping community in concert in Ireland each August.

We would like to ask those of you who are not yet associate members of the HHSI to consider taking out membership this year as each membership subscription will help us. You can do so on-line (please click here) or you can send us a cheque (in euros or in your currency's equivalent), made payable to 'HHSI'. If you can afford to patronise the Society by giving us a donation larger than the membership fee, we would be particularly grateful.

In addition, if you have any ideas on how you think we might raise additional funds, we would welcome them. If we can't raise enough funds to function, over the coming years, then, unfortunately, the existence of the Society cannot be taken for granted. This would be a real waste of the time and effort that has been invested over the last eight years. For our part, we who deal with the day-to-day running of the Society will do our utmost to see how we can fill
the funding gaps. If there is anything you think you can do to help, then, again, we would be very grateful. Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@irishharp.org or by phone +353 (0)51 646286

2010-02-01T16:34:00.003Z

The HHSI has pleasure in announcing
a concert by four Japanese members and friends of the HHSI:

Okurayama Harp Festival

Gaelic Baroque Music on Four Clairseachs

Okurayama Memorial Hall, Yokohama, JAPAN

http://o-kurayama.jp/index.html

Friday, 12th March at 7.00 p.m.

with

Tomoyuki KIDA, Clairseach, Flute, Whistle

Naoko KIDA, Voice

Mari TANAKA, Clairseach, Neo-Irish Harp, Bodhrán

Oyuki, Clairseach

Keisuke TERAMOTO, Clairseach, Neo-Irish Harp

Tickets: 3,000 yen

For further information please contact

queenmaryharp@gmail.com

http://sites.google.com/site/okurayamaharpfes/

Director's Report

2009-09-27T17:17:00.000+01:00

SCOIL NA gCLÁIRSEACH
Summer School of Early Irish Harp
2009

Director's Report

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland held its seventh annual Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp this year from Saturday 15th to Friday 21st August at the School of Music in Kilkenny, Ireland. At this year's official opening, Simon Chadwick [UK], and staff tutor, Ann Heymann [USA], gave a joint introduction to this year's Scoil na gCláirseach theme: celebrating the 200th anniversary of Edward Bunting's landmark 1809 collection of early Irish harp music: The Ancient Music of Ireland.

STAFF
The Scoil director and staff tutor, Siobhán Armstrong [IRL], was joined by some of the cream of the world's early Irish harping tutors, performers and lecturers including, once more, the doyenne of the modern international revival of the early Irish harp, Ann Heymann [USA]; Ann's presence each year is invaluable to the work of the Scoil na gCláirseach. We were also delighted to welcome again Andrew Lawrence-King [Guernsey], the world's most famous historical harpist, who treated us to mesmerizing performances on 17th century continental harps in his Scoil concert and who played an HHSI Student Downhill harp in the HHSI Summer Concert Series.

Our academic staff included Simon Chadwick, organologist and founder of earlygaelicharp.info. Simon was joined by our two scholars-in-residence this year: Scotland's foremost academic in the field, Dr. Keith Sanger, and Ireland's primary published authority in the area, Seán Donnelly. Prof. Breandán Ó Madagáin, joined us this year for the first time as a visiting lecturer and captivated his audience with his presentation on 'The supernatural functions of music, vocal and instrumental, in the native Irish tradition.'

STUDENTS
Notwithstanding the serious global recession in 2009, the Scoil student number, though reduced on other years, was still ample: twenty-one very engaged players and additional auditors each day. The harpists ranged from children to adults, both Irish and foreign, amateur to professional harpists. The auditors were likewise drawn from Ireland, both north and south of the border and from abroad: harpists and other musicians, historians, Irish language experts and those working in media. This brought the daily numbers to around 25 from nine countries on three continents: from the USA to the British Isles to continental Europe to Japan.

SYLLABUS
Each morning, the students divided into three groups, which were taught in turn by the three tutors. Each afternoon was taken up with practical seminars, talks and lectures on relevant subjects. Our 2009 timetable is still visible at http://www.irishharpschool.com/2009/timetable.htm

In 2009, for the first time, we had master class slots each day in which students were invited to participate, while their fellow students audited. These were enthusiastically received by everyone and will continue to be a feature of our future timetables.

Scoil students studied the techniques and repertory played on the instrument from medieval times to the 18th century. Our unique two-tiered system of lectures for less and more advanced students continued this year along with seminars and lectures on such wide ranging subjects as

* A practical guide to Irish music modes
* Exercises to develop technique
* 'Vrai mouvement': 17th century dances
* Instrument design, morphology and replicas
* Learning to sing a song in Irish from the harpers' repertory
* Discovering repertory and moving on

among other favourites such as Edward Bunting's Graces: the ornamentation used by the Irish harpers, and an introduction to early Irish harp history.

As ever, it was a very intensive week of practical performance and study but the energetic student body managed both to work hard by day and carry on practising, making music, socialising and playing sessions late into the evening! As is usual each year, we went on a field trip to Dublin on our final summer school day to study surviving instruments held in museum, university and private collections. Our thanks to The Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin; The National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks and The Guinness Storehouse Museum for their kind help with our field trip.

SCOIL INSTRUMENTS
Thanks to the HHSI's Student Harp Bank and the generosity of friends, we were able to provide the twelve student copies of historic harps which we needed for Scoil students who did not have their own harp. Students played copies of the Trinity College, Queen Mary, Lamont, Otway and Downhill harps from the HHSI Student Harp range. These instruments are currently available through our on-line shop, which can be visited at http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

HHSI SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
The generous support of the An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council), in a difficult financial year, made it possible for the HHSI to present a Summer Concert Series in Kilkenny and Galway, in association with Scoil na gCláirseach.

There were in-house tutor concerts on three of the afternoons given by Heymann, Armstrong and Lawrence-King, and, on the evening of Wednesday, 19th August, the HHSI presented the first in its public 2009 Summer Concert Series in the Parade Tower in Kilkenny Castle: The Ancient Music of Ireland—A Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Edward Bunting's landmark 1809 collection of early Irish harp music. This exceptionally well-attended concert presented music in the 1809 volume sung by Grammy-award nominee, tenor John Elwes, accompanied by Ireland's foremost early keyboard player, Malcolm Proud, who played an early 19th century square piano built by Clementi, who was also Bunting's publisher. Then Heymann, Lawrence-King and Armstrong presented more of the collection's repertory in versions closer to the original harp music.

The Galway concert, on the following Sunday, at Nun's Island Theatre, ' ... the Sound so Melting ... Harp Music of the Old Gaelic World and Beyond' presented Ann Heymann and Siobhán Armstrong in concert, with guest historical uilleann piper, Dr. Jimmy O'Brien-Moran.

Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp continues to flourish each year and to bring together people from all round the world who share a passion for early Irish music and culture and who wish to deepen their knowledge of, and ability to perform on, early Irish harp. For many of those who attend, it is the sole possibility each year to spend time with other students and experts in the field. The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is grateful to the teaching staff who support such a unique international event and is also particularly appreciative of the dedicated Scoil students, without whom none of this would take place.

Our thanks also go to An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council), Philip Edmonson and Kilkenny School of Music, Maura Uí Chróinín, Sylvia Crawford and Galway Early Music, Brenda Malloy and John Elwes.

Siobhán Armstrong
Director
Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp
http://www.irishharpschool.com

New York Times: For a Rare Discarded Harp, a Chance to Sing Again

2009-08-10T17:32:00.002+01:00

...Last month Ms. Finch stood on her toes to peer into the Dumpster outside her building on West 26th Street and found a blue wooden harp distinguished mainly by caked layers of grime and dust and a snarl of broken strings....

For the rest of the story visit http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/nyregion/10harp.html

200th anniversary of Edward Bunting's 1809 Collection

2009-07-15T20:24:00.007+01:00

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Edward Bunting's General Collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland. This book, published by Clementi in London in 1809, presented the results of seventeen years of fieldwork, collecting Irish music from the last of the old harpers. As well as the old Irish tunes, the book includes a significant historical dissertation, and engravings of two of the old Irish harpers, Denis O'Hampsey and Arthur O'Neill.

This year's Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish Harp, which runs from 15th to 21st August 2009, in Kilkenny, Ireland, will use Bunting's 1809 collection as its theme.

The class tuitions and workshops at the Scoil will use tunes almost exclusively from the 1809 book, highlighting the diversity of Bunting's collecting, which included Gaelic songs and ancient traditional tunes as well as the more up-to-date compositions of Carolan and Connellan. Because Bunting made the tunes into Romantic piano arrangements for publication, the versions studied in class will be taken from his original field notebooks which are preserved in Queens University Library, Belfast. The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is very grateful to Queens University Library for providing high quality facsimiles of Bunting MS29 & MS33 for use in class.

The 1809 theme will also extend to the public concert in the Parade Tower of Kilkenny Castle, which will be at 8pm on Wednesday 19th August. As well as early Irish harp music from the collections, performed on replica early Irish harps by Scoil tutors Ann Heymann, Andrew Lawrence-King and Siobhán Armstrong, the concert will feature Romantic songs and piano arrangments from Bunting's 1809 book, performed by Grammy award nominated tenor, John Elwes, accompanied by Ireland's leading historical keyboard specialist, Malcolm Proud, playing an early 19th century Clementi square piano.

An original 1809 first edition copy of A General Collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland by Edward Bunting, which belongs to the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, will be available to consult in Kilkenny during the week of events. The photo shows the HHSI's first edition copy, on the music stand of the Clementi piano.

Download a free PDF facsimile of Edward Bunting's 1809 collection:
http://www.hiddenglen.com/pdfs/Bunting1809.pdf

View an online facsimile of Bunting's first field notebook, from 1792 to 1805:
http://digitalcollections.qub.ac.uk/digital-image-gallery/bunting/
(Note: this website has been unavailable recently)

Read more about Bunting's manuscripts and publications:
http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/sources/bunting.htm

Scoil na gCláirseach—Summer School of Early Irish harp, Timetable of Events:
http://www.irishharpschool.com/timetable.htm

Historical Harp Society of Ireland Library:
http://www.irishharp.org/library.htm

Radio programme featuring the Trinity College harp

2009-06-24T14:50:00.005+01:00

HHSI Chair Siobhán Armstrong appeared this week on Lyric FM.

In the first of two programmes on the Musical Treasures of Trinity College, she discussed and played her replica of the medieval Irish harp which is one of the treasures preserved in Trinity College Library.

The programme was broadcast at 8.30 am on Saturday 20th June. However you can listen back on the Lyric FM website at http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/features/

Click here to listen

The harp extract is 51 minutes in.

Scoil na gCláirseach 2009 - timetable and Booking info

2009-06-02T16:10:00.003+01:00

The timetable for Scoil na gCláirseach 2009 is now available on the website, at www.irishharpschool.com/timetable.htm

This year's timetable introduces some significant changes from previous years. As well as the usual class tuition, there will be workshops and also a new series of masterclass sessions, which provides summer school participants the opportunity to have individual 'hands-on' time with one of the three tutors.

Tuition staff for 2009 are Ann Heymann, Andrew Lawrence-King and Siobhán Armstrong, with lectures from Breandán Ó Madagáin, Seán Donnelly, Keith Sanger and Simon Chadwick.

The popular public tutor concert will be held in the Parade Tower of Kilkenny Castle, on Wednesday 19th August, and the all-day harpmakers exhibition will be on Sunday 16th August.

For more information please visit the Scoil na gCláirseach web page at www.irishharpschool.com

Places are still available. Application forms (available online) and deposits are due by 15th June 2009.

Early Irish Harp Lessons Now in Cork

2009-02-12T15:31:00.000Z

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is delighted to announce that from this month, February 2009, we are now offering historical harp tuition in Cork city, in association with University College Cork. Tuition will take place in the Music Dept, UCC, once a month.
This brings the venues at which the HHSI offers tuition to five nationwide: Dublin, Galway, Cork, Kilkenny and Carrick-on-Suir. Our students range from children to adults and many play harps from our Student Rental Harp Collection, all copies of surviving early Irish harps from 15th-18th centuries, their own HHSI Student harps or full facsimiles of historical Irish harps.

For more information, please contact us at info@rishharp.org.

Antique historic harp donated to the Society

2009-01-15T15:47:00.000Z

On 21st December 2008, Mrs. Elsa Warren of Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, greatly honoured the Historical Harp Society of Ireland by kindly donating an antique harp to the Society.

The instrument in question is a very rare Royal Portable harp built by Dublin harp builder, John Egan, in the 1820s. This kind of harp was his new invention, based on his pedal harps, but smaller in size and therefore more portable. Strung in gut and with Egan's own 'dital' system of string pitch changing mechanism–based also on pedal harp mechanisms–this harp is the ancestor of the modern neo-Irish harp: the most usual Irish harp in use in the 21st century.

This harp was owned for many years by Mrs. Warren and her husband, the late Rev. Christopher Warren. Christopher Warren was one of the very first people in Ireland to research–and to revive the playing of–the early Irish harp in Ireland, in the 1970s. He built and played his own early Irish harp based on the late medieval Trinity College harp, and also played this Egan Royal Portable harp.

We are particularly thrilled with this donation as this is the very first original historic harp acquired by the HHSI. The Society is now deciding what our policies towards conservation and renovation of historic instruments should be. Based on these, we will undertake sensitive preservation work on the instrument in 2009. We hope that the harp, which is in fair condition, with some damage, may be brought to playing condition.

It is hoped that this instrument will be the first in an HHSI national collection of original historic harps of the 18th to 20th century.

The HHSI would like to thank Mrs. Warren for her enormous generosity in entrusting this exquisite harp to our care.

Director's Report

2008-09-14T21:45:00.006+01:00

SCOIL NA gCLÁIRSEACH
Summer School of Early Irish Harp
Director's Report

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland held its sixth annual Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp this year from Wednesday 20th to Tuesday 26th August at the School of Music in Kilkenny, Ireland. At this year's official opening we had the pleasure of being addressed by Dr. Proinsias Ó Drisceoil, the scholar and author, who opened Scoil na gCláirseach for us.

STAFF
The Scoil director and tutor, Siobhán Armstrong [IRL], was joined by some of the cream of the world's early Irish harping tutors, performers and lecturers including, once more, the doyenne of the modern international revival of the early Irish harp, Ann Heymann [USA]. We were also delighted to welcome to Ireland Andrew Lawrence-King [Guernsey], the world's most famous historical harpist, who joined the teaching faculty for the first time in 2008 and who treated us to mesmerizing performances on 17th century continental harps in his Scoil concert and in the HHSI Summer Concert Series.

Our academic staff included Scoil na gCláirseach Assistant Director, Simon Chadwick [UK], founder of earlygaelicharp.info, who also had the Irish launch of his new CD at Scoil na gClairseach 08. Simon was joined by our two scholars-in-residence this year: Scotland's foremost academic in the field, Dr. Keith Sanger, and Ireland's primary published authority in the area, Seán Donnelly.

Our 2008 debut lecturers were Jim Hunter, a local historian from Coleraine who gave us the folk history view of Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin; Mary O'Donnell, a doctoral student at the University of Limerick working on 19th century Irish harp history, and Dr. Jimmy O'Brien-Moran, Ireland's leading historical piper, who gave us an overview of late 18th and 19th century Irish music collectors.

STUDENTS
The Scoil had twenty-six student players and additional auditors each day. The players ranged from teenagers to adults, both Irish and foreign, amateur to professional harpists. The auditors were likewise drawn from Ireland, both north and south and from abroad: professional neo-Irish harpists and other musicians, historians, Irish language experts and those working in media. This brought the daily numbers to around thirty–from thirteen countries on three continents: from the USA to the British Isles to continental Europe to Japan.

SYLLABUS
Each morning, the students divided into three groups, which were taught in turn by the three tutors. Each afternoon was taken up with practical seminars, talks and lectures on relevant subjects. There were in-house tutor concerts on three of the afternoons and, on the evening of Saturday 23rd August, the HHSI presented the first in its public Summer Concert Series in Kilkenny's medieval Rothe House.

Scoil students studied the techniques and repertory played on the instrument from medieval times to the 18th century. Our unique two-tiered system of lectures for less and more advanced students continued this year along with seminars and lectures on such wide ranging subjects as

* Interpretation of Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin's music
* 19th century Irish harp societies
* Strong and weak notes: a hands-on workshop in baroque articulation
* Harpers in the domestic accounts of an Irish big house 1730-1770
* Learning to sing a song in Irish from the 18th century Bunting MSS
* Improvising over a Renaissance Ground Bass: an introduction

among many other favourites such as Edward Bunting's Graces: the ornamentation used by the Irish harpers; an introduction to early Irish harp history and a presentation of other European Renaissance and Baroque harps contemporaneous with the early Irish harp.

It was a very intensive week but the energetic student body managed both to work hard by day and carry on practising, making music, socialising and playing sessions late into the evening! As is usual each year, we went on a field trip to Dublin on our final summer school day to study surviving instruments held in museum, university and private collections.

SCOIL INSTRUMENTS
Thanks to the HHSI's Student Harp Bank and the generosity of friends, we were able to provide the ten student copies of historic harps which we needed for Scoil students who did not have their own harp. Students played copies of the HHSI Student Trinity College, the HHSI Student Queen Mary, the HHSI Student Lamont, the HHSI Student Otway and the HHSI Student Downhill harps.

INSTRUMENT EXHIBITION
Saturday 23rd August 2008 saw our second and–given that the revival of early Irish harp in Ireland is in its infancy–surprisingly successful All Day Exhibition of Historical Harp Makers, with no less than four early Irish harp builders represented: Paul Dooley, Paul Doyle, David Kortier [USA] and Davy Patton. This was a first for Ireland, to have a pool of enticing instruments under one roof, allowing the HHSI to support early Irish harp builders by providing them with a unique opportunity to meet with potential customers and allowing Scoil students to have a unique opportunity to compare available instruments. We are particularly pleased that three of the builders were Irish.

Apart from the HHSI Student range, some harps which were not sold at Scoil na gCláirseach are currently available through our on-line shop: notably a Kortier Lamont and a Doyle Trinity College.

HHSI SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
The generous support of the An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council) and Kilkenny County Council made it possible for the HHSI to present a Summer Concert Series 'Strings of Gold' around Ireland in association with Scoil na gCláirseach.

Our concert on Saturday 23rd August at Kilkenny's medieval Rothe House presented performances by the three Scoil tutors with guest sean-nós singer, Róisin Elsafty.

The performers in Galway at our concert on Saturday Thursday 28th August in Nun's Island Studio were Ann Heymann and Siobhán Armstrong together with Róisín Elsafty and historical Irish piper, Jimmy O'Brien-Moran.

The HHSI presented a unique concert at St. Ann's Church in Dublin on Saturday 30th August: 'The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls' was a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies. Moore adapted much of the repertoire collected by Edward Bunting from the last of the 18th century Irish harpers to which he added new English words and for which he commissioned piano accompaniments.

The first half of our concert presented the music hopefully in as close to its original form as possible, with harpists Ann Heymann and Siobhán Armstrong joined by Róisín Elsafty. The second half presented a selection of Moore's Melodies in as close to its original form as possible, performed by 2008 Grammy award nominated tenor, John Elwes, accompanied by Ireland's foremost historical keyboard player, Malcolm Proud, on an 1825 Clementi square piano, which sponsors had bought especially for this concert.

Thanks to the work done by our PR officer, Natalie Surina, and with much generous help on the ground in Galway by Galway Early Music and in Dublin by Brenda Malloy and Martha Rose Howard, all three of our concerts were very well attended indeed.

These public performances are a wonderful way of publicising the existence of the early Irish harp in a country where it is–although the national emblem–not a familiar sight or sound. It is also a rare opportunity for us, here in Ireland, to hear some of the best of the international talent in the field of historical harps.

FOOD
At Scoil na gCláirseach, we take our food seriously! We ate superbly well each lunchtime with locally sourced and home-grown, mainly vegetarian, organic food cooked for us by Pat Glavin of The Food Company, Carrick-on-Suir, helped by Owen O'Shaughnessy.

I would like to thank my assistant director, Simon Chadwick, the HHSI PR officer, Natalie Surina together with the tutors, lecturers and performers whose advance preparation and non-stop hard work and enthusiasm at Scoil na gCláirseach enabled us to present the best possible programme we could devise for our students. Thank you also to each of our students, whose support makes Scoil na gCláirseach possible.

I would also like to thank the following for all their kind help and generous support:

An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council); Mary Butler, Arts Officer, Kilkenny County Council; Philip Edmondson, Director, Kilkenny School of Music; Jennifer Gough, Curator, Art and Industrial Division, National Museum of Ireland; Dr. Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts, and the library staff of Trinity College Dublin; the Guinness Storehouse Museum, Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, NUI Galway; Maura Uí Chróinín, Sylvia Crawford and Galway Early Music; Ann and Charlie Heymann; Brenda Malloy, Dr. Marian Rabbitte and Martha Rose Howard.

To see a photo album of Scoil na gCláirseach 08 please visit http://www.irishharpschool.com/2008/photos/

Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp 2009 will take place 15th to 21th August in Kilkenny.

Is mise le meas,

Siobhán Armstrong

Director–Scoil na gClairseach
www.irishharpschool.com

Chair–Historical Harp Society of Ireland
www.irishharp.org

chair@irishharp.org
+353 (0)51 646286

Replica harp for sale

2008-09-04T22:49:00.005+01:00

David Kortier sent a replica of the 15th century Lamont harp to the makers' exhibition at Scoil na gCláirseach 2008. This instrument is now for sale in Ireland through the HHSI. Click here for full details.

Scoil na gCláirseach 2008

2008-07-09T17:50:00.008+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland announces the sixth

Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp

Kilkenny, Ireland

20th-26th August 2008

We look forward to welcoming old and new friends. Come and join international participants from the USA to Europe to Japan, to immerse yourself in the Gaelic world's ancient and exquisite historical harp with intensive tuition, lectures, informal talks, concerts and a ﬁeld trip to museums to see surviving instruments.

The Scoil extends a particularly warm welcome to absolute beginners. Harpists who don’t yet play early Irish harps but who are interested in historical playing techniques and repertoire are also very welcome to attend.

There will be a limited number of historical Irish harps available to rent on a ﬁrst-come, ﬁrst-served basis. Our rental instruments, made for us by master luthier, David Kortier, are accurately copied from surviving historic harps and are ﬁtted with brass and sterling silver strings. Scoil na gCláirseach caters for all levels, from raw beginners to advanced and professional players.

In accordance with our usual policy, we will have a dedicated Beginners class in addition to Post-beginner / Intermediate and Advanced levels. We will also have our usual tasty menu of lectures and talks given by staff and guest scholars (incorporating our unique two-tier lecture system, with parallel streams both for beginner to intermediate level and also for very advanced students), in-house and public concerts and a trip to see many of the surviving instruments held in Irish collections.

This years faculty includes old Scoil friends

Siobhán Armstrong (Ireland) Director,

One of Europe's leading historical harpists

Simon Chadwick (UK) Assistant Director

Organologist and founder of earlygaelicharp.info

Ann Heymann (USA)

The world pioneer of the modern revival of early Irish harp

Seán Donnelly (Ireland)

and

Keith Sanger (Scotland)

The latter two scholars are the respective leaders in the field of early Gaelic harp research in Ireland and Scotland.

In addition, we are delighted to announce that

Andrew Lawrence-King (Guernsey),

the world's foremost historical harper, will be joining the faculty for the first time as a tutor and performer.

Our other Scoil debut guest lecturers are

Mary O'Donnell (Ireland)

A University of Limerick doctoral student who is researching 19th Irish harp history

and

Jim Hunter (N. Ireland)

Author of several publications on Irish harpers such as O'Hampsey and O Cathain, among other musical subjects.

For more information and to download an application form, please visit http://www.irishharpschool.com We need to receive your completed application form and deposit by 20th June to confirm your place. EARLY BOOKING BONUS: Deposits paid on or before 20th April entitle the participant to a Euro 25 discount on the balance of the Scoil fees. If you would like a printed version of the Scoil brochure and application form, please let us know.

N.B. Kilkenny is a busy tourist destination in August; if you are planning to come, do get in touch as early as possible so that we can help you to find reasonably priced accommodation.

Beginners' Workshop for Early Irish Harp at Galway Early Music Festival

2008-07-09T15:25:00.013+01:00

On Saturday 17th of May, the HHSI collaborated with Galway Early Music, to provide a Beginners' Taster Workshop for Early Irish Harp at Galway Civic Museum, as part of the Galway Early Music Festival, 2008. This highly regarded early music festival is at the forefront of bringing historically informed concert performances to Ireland, so the HHSI was delighted to accept the invitation to present Ireland's historical harp to a new audience with the help of a short illustrated lecture and a 'hands on' workshop.

The workshop, conducted by the HHSI's Western Harp Circle, attracted an extensive audience of over 30 people not only from Ireland but also from other parts of the world including France, Germany and Japan. The participants learned about the history of the early Irish harp from Maura O Cróinín (early Irish harpist and Galway Early Music chair), about harp construction from Natalie Surina (apprentice to Paul Doyle - Galway harpmaker). Then, with the help of Sylvia Crawford (early Irish harp player and music teacher), fifteen lucky participants had a unique chance to try their hands on the HHSI Student Trinity College and Downhill harps as well as on a new Trinity College harp copy built in Paul Doyle's workshop just three months before.

Prior to the workshop, audiences at Galway Early Music Festival had a unique chance to hear the sound of Ireland's historical harp as well as a continental Renaissance harp at a concert in the Poor Clares closed order chapel on Friday 16th May, performed by historical harpist and Scoil na gCláirseach 2007 tutor, Javier Sáinz.

The HHSI would like to thank Galway Early Music, Brenda Malloy, Western Harp Circle, Eibhlin Ní Hír, Catherine and Mimi La Farge and all the participants for supporting and collaborating in this event.

Photos - courtesy of Peter Walsh.

Historical Harp Lessons in Dublin and Galway

2007-12-04T12:03:00.001Z

DECEMBER 2007 - JUNE 2008 SCHEDULE

The HHSI is offering individual lessons in early Irish, Renaissance and baroque harps every three to four weeks in both Dublin and Galway. The Dublin venue is 24 Finn St, Dublin 7 and the Galway venue is Western Writers' Centre, 34 Nun's Island, Galway. Our thanks to Brenda Malloy, Dublin and Fred Johnston and the Western Writers' Centre, Galway (http://www.twwc.ie/), for kindly providing the Society with teaching venues.

HHSI Lessons

December

DUBLIN

Friday 7th December

Saturday 8th December

GALWAY

Sunday 9th December

January

DUBLIN

Friday 18th January

Saturday 19th January

GALWAY

Sunday 20th January 2008

February

DUBLIN

Friday 8th February

Saturday 9th February

GALWAY

Sunday 10th February

March

DUBLIN

Friday 7th March

Saturday 8th March

Friday 28th March

Saturday 29th March

GALWAY

Sunday 9th March

Sunday 31st March

June

DUBLIN

Friday 6th June

Saturday 7th June

GALWAY

Sunday 8th June

For more information, please phone us: 051 646286 or email info@irishharp.org

DENNIS O’HAMPSEY (1695-1807) Bicentennial Celebration in Ireland

2007-12-01T02:43:00.000Z

Liam Flanigan, Chief Executive of Limavady Borough Council, and Valerie Richmond, Director of Development, with students Sophia Smyth (14) and Michael Og McCloskey (13), enjoy the HHSI's replicas of Denis O'Hampsey's 'Downhill' harp. Photo courtesy David Larmour.

On Saturday, 10th November, Limavady Borough Council, Co. Derry, N. Ireland in association with the Historical Harp Society of Ireland celebrated the bicentenary of the death of the early Irish harper Dennis O'Hampsey (also known as Hempson).

O'Hampsey was the last Irish harper to play the harp in the medieval way using his fingernails to strike the strings. He had an old-fashioned style and repertory even by 18th century standards, considering Carolan's music rather ‘modern’. He was from Co. Derry and toured Ireland and Scotland in his lifetime. In 1745 he was in Edinburgh, where he played before Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The old Irish harp tradition, to which he belonged, was the ancient, high status music of the Gaelic kings and chiefs. O’Hampsey’s harp was an early Irish harp: the kind of aristocratic, medieval instrument–strung in brass, sometimes also silver and perhaps even gold wire–of the kind which was played in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands from the early Middle Ages until it died out around 1800. This is the instrument depicted in the national emblem of Ireland. The now much more familiar gut or nylon-strung neo-Irish harp, invented in the 1820s, bears no relation to the courtly original.

However, the disappearance of the early Irish harp was not entirely without trace. Some of the old repertoire has come down to us thanks to the work of Edward Bunting, the young man who sat beside O'Hampsey in the 1790s, scribbling down the tunes and settings as fast as he could into his pocket notebook. Thankfully, this is preserved in the library of Queens University Belfast. O'Hampsey's instrument–the Downhill harp–also still exists and is on display in the Guinness Storehouse museum in Dublin.

--------------------------------------------------------

The bicentennial celebrations in Limavady began with two beginners' workshops given by Siobhan Armstrong, Chair of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland. Sixteen participants had a chance to play replicas of surviving historic Irish harps supplied by the HHSI, including copies of O'Hampsey's Downhill harp from 1703.

Later in the day, Siobhan gave a talk about Dennis O’Hampsey and his importance in the early Irish harp tradition. This was followed by an evening concert given by members of the nearby Hampsey Harp School playing their neo-Irish harps and with Siobhan playing, among other items, some of O’Hampsey’s repertory on early Irish harp.

“I was completely bowled over by the welcome I got and the interest that local people had in the early Irish harp tradition, which once thrived in the area.” said Siobhán Armstrong. “The Limavady and Magilligan area, where Dennis O’Hampsey lived, is not only one of outstanding natural beauty but absolutely steeped in layer upon layer of history from prehistoric times to the early Christian era and on into the Middle Ages and much later. The O’Hampsey Celebration events took place in Roe Valley Park just outside Limavady, home to the ancestral castle of the Ó Catháins, a family that gave us a famous 16th century Irish harper–Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin.

I had the good fortune of having been given a guided car tour of the entire region by the erudite Jim Hunter, the local scholar who has himself published several booklets about the area’s history, including one on O’Hampsey himself.

He was fascinating about diverse subjects: from the geology of the area to the early Christian monastic settlements nearby, to the exploits of the amazingly broad-minded bon viveur bishop
Hervey Bruce, of Downhill, who patronised O’Hampsey. He also recounted some hilarious local stories including one or two concerning US troops billeted in the region in the Second World War.”

Siobhan Armstrong and the Historical Harp Society of Ireland would like to thank Limavady Borough Council for their collaboration in celebrating Dennis O’Hampsey in this his bicentennial year.

For more information about

Dennis O’Hampsey go to www.earlygaelicharp.info/hampsey/
Early Irish Harp go to http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/
Siobhan Armstrong go to http://www.siobhanarmstrong.com/
Limavady Borough Council go to http://www.limavady.gov.uk//

Denis O'Hampsey 200th anniversary, November 2007 - events in Scotland

2007-11-29T17:31:00.000Z

November 2007 was the 200th anniversary of the passing of the most important of all the old Scottish and Irish harp players: Denis O'Hampsey (1695 - 1807), and events were held in Scotland and Ireland to commemorate the anniversary at the beginning of November.

Although the main events were held near O'Hampsey's home in Co Derry, N. Ireland, HHSI Honorary Secretary Simon Chadwick also organised events on the East coast of Scotland. He led a workshop at the Wighton Heritage Centre, Dundee, on Saturday 10th November, which explored the music of Denis O'Hampsey. Attendees were able to look at music from the Wighton Collection's old music books, including original editions of Bunting's collection with a rare engraved portrait of Denis O'Hampsey, and a facsimile of Bunting's field notebook provided by Queens University Belfast, as well as being able to play on one of the HHSI Student Downhill harps.

On Sunday 11th November Simon played a concert at the St Andrews Museum, in Kinburn Park, St Andrews. The capacity audience - some latecomers had to sit on the floor - listened to a selection of pieces from O'Hampsey's repertory played on the replica Downhill harp. The recital also featured Simon's fantastic new replica of the medieval Scottish 'Queen Mary' harp.

With thanks to
The Friends of Wighton www.friendsofwighton.com
Fife Council Museums Service www.fife.gov.uk

For more information about Denis O'Hampsey: www.earlygaelicharp.info/hampsey
Fore more on the historical harp traditions of Ireland and Scotland: www.earlygaelicharp.info

Beginners' Workshop for Early Irish Harp at Fota House, Co. Cork

2007-11-20T19:17:00.000Z

On Saturday 22nd September, the HHSI collaborated with East Cork Early Music Festival to provide a Beginners' Taster Day for Early Irish Harp at Fota House in East Cork as part of the 2007 East Cork Early Music Festival. This highly regarded baroque music festival is at the forefront of bringing historically informed concert performances to Ireland so the HHSI was delighted to accept the invitation to present Ireland's historical harp to a new audience with the help of an illustrated lecture and a 'hands on' workshop. Both the planned lecture and workshop took place in a very beautiful room with sensational plasterwork ceiling in the Regency-style building just east of Cork city.

The HHSI's chair, Siobhán Armstrong, had an engaged and lively audience for her illustrated lecture and Q&A session on the history, repertoire and international travels of the early Irish harp with live music examples and visual images on an overhead projector. This was followed by a workshop for eight participants from Co. Cork and further afield, with a chance to play some of the HHSI's unique collection of student facsimiles of surviving historic instruments. One of the participants even arrived fully armed with her own exquisite early Irish harp, a stunning carved and painted facsimile of the Scottish Queen Mary harp, built for her by Ireland's newest and most exciting historical harp builder, Davy Patton, of Roscommon.

Audiences at ECEMF had a further chance to hear the unique sound of Ireland's historical harp at a concert on Sunday 23rd September in which Siobhán Armstrong, together with festival director, Sarah Cunningham, bass viol, performed together with star Australian baroque violinist, Elizabeth Wallfisch and Ireland's traditional fiddle virtuoso, Gerry O'Connor.

The HHSI would like to thank Sarah Cunningham and ECEMF, Fota House and all the participants for collaborating in this event.

http://www.irishharp.org/

http://www.eastcorkearlymusic.ie/

The HHSI is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

O'Hampsey on the BBC

2007-11-09T14:06:00.001Z

Listen to an interview with Siobhán Armstrong on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Extra, 6.30pm, 9th November 2007

The programme should be available for a week afterwards on 'Listen Again'

For more information on O'Hampsey's life and music please visit www.earlygaelicharp.info/hampsey

Denis O'Hampsey Anniversary Celebration

2007-11-06T21:45:00.000Z

Limavady Borough Council
in association with the
Historical Harp Society of Ireland
presents a

200th Anniversary Celebration
of the early Irish harper
Denis O'Hampsey
(1695–1807)

Saturday, 10th November
Limavady
Co. Derry
N. Ireland

Programme of Events

11.30 Workshop Registration

12.00–13.15
Hands-On Beginners' Workshop for early Irish Harp
The Earls Room
Radisson SAS Roe Park Resort

For children aged 10+ and adults

19.00
Illustrated Talk: Denis O'Hampsey and the Early Irish Harp
Roe Valley Country Park

20.00
Cheese and wine reception

20.30
Concert
with the young harpers of the Hampsey Harp School and Siobhán Armstrong, Early Irish Harp

The early Irish harp is Ireland’s illustrious medieval harp strung in brass, silver and perhaps even gold wire. Played from at least 1000 to 1800 – and also the national emblem of Ireland – it was made famous by harpers such as Turlough Carolan. When it died out in the early 19th century it was replaced by the now much more familiar neo-Irish harp strung in gut and also, nowadays, nylon.

November 2007 is the 200th anniversary of the death of one of the last and most important of the early Irish harpers, Dennis O'Hampsey (1695–1807), from Magilligan in Co. Derry. Limavady Borough Council in association with the Historical Harp Society of Ireland invites you to come and discover the early Irish harp and to celebrate the life and music of Denis O'Hampsey.

On Saturday, 10th November, the Denis O'Hampsey Anniversary Celebration will begin with a 'hands-on' beginners' workshop given by Siobhán Armstrong, Chair of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, with a chance to play beautiful student facsimiles of surviving early Irish harps supplied by the HHSI, including copies of O'Hampsey's Downhill harp from 1703. This workshop is suitable for participants from the age of ten to adults. Venue: Radisson SAS Roe Park Resort .

The evening events will take place at Roe Valley Country Park. Firstly, Siobhan Armstrong will give an illustrated talk: Denis O'Hampsey and the Early Irish Harp on the fascinating history, repertoire and travels of this ancient instrument and O'Hampsey himself. This will be followed by a recital at 8.00 p.m. with Siobhan Armstrong and members of the the Hampsey Harpers' School.

Siobhan Armstrong is one of a very few harpists worldwide who play harps from earlier centuries and who research historical playing techniques appropriate to these instruments. She has an extensive collection of instruments from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the baroque era. Siobhan is particularly interested in encouraging the revival of the early Irish harp, which has suffered almost complete neglect in Ireland since 1800. She founded and chairs the Historical Harp Society of Ireland. She plays a copy of the medieval Trinity College Harp – the national emblem of Ireland – built by David Kortier of Duluth, Minnesota, and strung in brass and 18-carat gold. Her solo recording on this instrument – Clairseach na hEireann/The Harp of Ireland – was released on Maya Recordings in 2004.

For more information and bookings, please contact:

Geraldine Smyth
Events & Cultural Officer
Limavady Borough Council

geraldine.smyth@limavady.gov.uk

Tel :028 777 60304
Fax: 028 777 68107
mobile: 07966 725 327

--
Historical Harp Society of Ireland

info@irishharp.org
www.irishharp.org
+353 (0)51 646286

Scoil na gCláirseach 2007

2007-10-06T00:58:00.001+01:00

Summer School of Early Irish Harp

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland presented its fifth annual Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp this year from Wednesday 22th to Tuesday 28th August at the School of Music in Kilkenny, Ireland. Scoil students studied the techniques and repertory played on the instrument from medieval times to the 18th century. This year our focus was one of the most interesting of the early Irish harpers: Denis O'Hampsey, in this, the 200th anniversary of his death.

The Scoil director, Siobhán Armstrong [Irl], was joined by tutors, performers and lecturers including the doyenne of the modern international revival of the early Irish harp, Ann Heymann [USA] and Spain's most prominent performer on historical harps, Javier Sáinz [Spain / IRL]. In addition, our academic staff consisted of the Scoil Assistant Director, Simon Chadwick [UK], founder of earlygaelicharp.info, and our scholar-in-residence this year was Scotland's foremost academic in the field, Keith Sanger. We were particularly pleased to welcome a Scottish member of staff for the first time, coming, as he does, from the other Gaelic homeland of the instrument.

The Scoil had twenty-five enthusiastic students–and additional auditors each day–from ten countries on three continents, from the USA to Europe to Japan. Each morning, the students divided into three groups, which were taught in turn by the three tutors. Each afternoon was taken up with practical seminars, talks and lectures on relevant subjects. There were in-house tutor concerts on three of the afternoons and, on Saturday 25th August, the HHSI presented a public concert in Kilkenny's medieval Rothe House. It was a packed and intensive programme each day but still the energetic student body managed both to work hard by day and carry on practising, making music and socialising late into the evening! There was a Scoil field trip to Dublin on our final day to see and study surviving instruments held in museum, university and private collections.Our unique two-tiered system of lectures for less and more advanced students continued this year along with seminars on with such wide ranging subjects as

* the life and music of Denis O'Hampsey
* the Scottish MacLean Clephane Sisters and their MS
* harp music in Scottish Lute MSS
* the morphology of early Irish harps
* learning to sing a 17th century harper-composer's song in Irish
* theme and variation: Gaelic and baroque

among many other favourites such as Edward Bunting's Graces: the ornamentation used by the Irish harpers; an introduction to early Irish harp history and a presentation of three European Renaissance and Baroque harps contemporaneous with the Irish harp.

Thanks to the society's Student Harp Bank and the generosity of friends, we managed to make 13 student copies of historic harps available for Scoil students to play. It was a real delight to see, for example, five HHSI Student Downhill harps being played in an anniversary year of the original harp's owner. Students also played HHSI Student Trinities, Lamonts, Otways and a Queen Mary.In addition, this year was the first year that facsimile instruments were built by two early harp builders with the inaugural Scoil Instrument Makers' Exhibition in mind. Davy Patton, a new Irish builder, brought an exquisite Trinity College harp replica, carved and painted in the manner of the original. We were particularly pleased tosee this development in the Irish revival: a new builder building high-end early Irish harps. US luthier David Kortier sent, most fittingly, a Downhill facsimile, which was unfortunately held up at customs until too late for it to be at the Scoil. Both can be seen at http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

The generous support of the An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council) and Kilkenny County Council made it possible for the HHSI to present three concerts in association with Scoil na gCláirseach: one in Kilkenny and one each in Galway and Dublin presenting the three Scoil tutors in concert with guests sean-nós singer, Róisin Elsafty and historical uilleann piper, Jimmy O'Brien-Moran. This is a wonderful way of publicising the existence of the early Irish harp in a country where it is, alas, though the national emblem, not a very familiar sight or sound. It is also a rare opportunity for us, here in Ireland, to hear some of the best of the international talent on the instrument.

Once more, at Scoil na gClairseach, we ate like kings! Pat Glavin of The Food Company, Carrick-on-Suir, helped by Owen O'Shaughnessy, provided a vegetarian feast each lunchtime and not content with that provided us with mid-afternoon home-baked treats for our tea breaks. I'm not entirely sure if the students travel half way around the world for the tuition: perhaps they are simply coming for the food?!

I would like to thank my assistant director, Simon Chadwick, and the tutors, lecturers and performers whose advance preparation and non-stop hard work and enthusiasm at Scoil na gCláirseach enabled us to present the best possible programme we could for the students. Thank you also to all of our students, whose support makes Scoil na gClairseach possible.
I would also like to thank the following for all their kind help and generous support:

An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council); Mary Butler, Arts Officer, Kilkenny County Council; Philip Edmondson, Director, Kilkenny School of Music; Jennifer Gough, Curator, Art and Industrial Division, National Museum of Ireland; Dr. Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts, and the library staff of Trinity College Dublin; Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, NUI Galway; Maura Uí Chróinín and Galway Early Music; Ann and Charlie Heymann; Natalie Surina; Brenda Malloy and Dr. Marian Rabbitte.To see a photo album of Scoil na gCláirseach 07 please visit http://www.irishharpschool.com/2007/photos/

Scoil na gCláirseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp 2008 will take place 20th to 26th August in Kilkenny.

Is mise le meas,

Siobhán Armstrong

Director–Scoil na gClairseach

Concert in Trinity College Library

2007-09-07T23:24:00.000+01:00

On Friday 14th of September 2007, Trinity College Library will welcome the historical harper, Javier Sainz, to perform a selection of pieces, taken from 17th-19th century Irish and Scottish musical manuscripts. Javier will be playing an early Irish harp, the prototype of which is the famous medieval harp, held in the Long Room of the Library.There will be three half-hour performances starting at 6.45pm, 7.45pm and 8.45pm respectively.
This event forms part of the Dublin Culture Night 2007 and also includes free guided tours of the Old Library and the Book of Kells exhibition. Admission to the performances is free.

For more information about Dublin Culture Night, please visit www.culturenight.ie.

Decorated replica harps now in the HHSI shop

2007-09-06T16:06:00.000+01:00

For the first time, the 2007 Scoil na gCláirseach - Summer School of Early Irish Harp included a harpmaker's exhibition. As a result of the HHSI's invitations to harpmakers in Ireland, Scotland and abroad, we are delighted that there are now in Ireland two beautiful, one-off, handmade replica early Irish harps available for sale!

One is a replica of the medieval Trinity College harp, by Davy Patton (Co. Roscommon, Ireland), which presents the instrument in its original medieval state - without the jewelled fittings that were later additions, but with a striking red and blue painted colour scheme copied from traces of pigment on the original instrument in Trinity College, Dublin.

The other is a replica of the 'Downhill' harp of 1702, by David Kortier (Duluth, MN, USA), which as well as the bold yet subtle carving of the original also includes the poem lettered on the soundbox giving the date and maker of the original.

Both of these instruments were completed in the summer of 2007 and have been strung and brought to pitch in Ireland under the auspices of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland. Both are available to purchase through the Society, and can be inspected by appointment.

For more information and photographs please vivit the HHSI shop web pages: www.irishharp.org/shop/ or email shop@irishharp.org

Concerts: Harp Music of the Old Gaelic World

2007-08-04T10:45:00.000+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is delighted to present three concerts:
Harp Music of the Old Gaelic World

at Rothe House, Parliament St, Kilkenny on Saturday 25th August at 8.00 p.m.
Galway Arts Centre, Nun’s Island, Galway on 30th August at 8.00 p.m.
and at St. Ann’s Church, Dawson St, Dublin on Saturday 1st September.

In these unique concerts historical harpers Ann Heymann (USA), Javier Sáinz (Spain) and Siobhán Armstrong (Irl) will perform traditional, Renaissance and Baroque harp music from Ireland and Scotland together with traditional Irish song sung by Connemara’s prizewinning young sean-nós singer, Róisín Elsafty and the unique uilleann pipes playing of historical piper Jimmy O’Brien-Moran.

This will be a rare opportunity to hear
Three of the world’s foremost players of the medieval instrument which is the national emblem of Ireland
The authentic sound of brass and 18-carat GOLD strings played in the traditional manner with fingernails
Exquisite replicas of Ireland’s only surviving medieval harp: the Trinity College Harp, as well as replicas of a famous 18th century Irish harp, the 'Downhill' of 1702.

The concert promises to be a great delight to all historical and traditional music lovers.

The event is part of the international Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp, which takes place at Kilkenny School of Music 22nd-28th August.
The concerts start at 8.00 p.m. and admission is €15 / €10 (Kilkenny, Galway), and €18 / €12 (Dublin), payable at the door.

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland is kindly supported by the The Arts Council and Kilkenny County Council.

Scoil 2007 timetable

2007-06-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

The full timetable for Scoil na gCláirseach 2007 has been posted to the website:
www.irishharpschoolcom/timetable.htm

Please note that the timetable is provisional and is subject to change.

Scoil na gClairseach 2007

2007-05-08T14:20:00.000+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland's fifth Scoil na gClairseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp will take place in Kilkenny, Ireland 22nd-28th August 2007. We very much look forward to welcoming old and new friends to it.

2007 sees us having our usual luxuriously small class numbers with a dedicated Beginners class in addition to Post-beginner / Intermediate and Advanced levels. We will also have a tasty array of lectures and talks given by staff and guest scholars (incorporating our unique two-tier lecture system, with parallel streams for normal and also very advanced students), concerts and a trip to see many of the surviving instruments held in Irish collections.

This years faculty includes, among others,

Siobhan Armstrong, Director (Ireland)
Simon Chadwick, Assistant Director (UK)
Ann Heymann (USA)
Javier Sainz (Spain/Ireland)
Sean Donnelly (Ireland)
Keith Sanger (Scotland)

For more information, please have a look at http://www.irishharpschool.com. Please note that this year's timetable is still being finalised and has not yet been uploaded. Also, we need to receive your completed application form and deposit by 19th June to confirm your place.

EARLY BOOKING BONUS: Deposits paid on or before 15th May entitle the participant to a Euro 20 discount on the balance of the Scoil fees.

Historical Harp Lessons in Dubin and Galway

2006-09-28T13:55:00.000+01:00

The HHSI is now offering individual lessons in early Irish, Renaissance and baroque harps every three to four weeks in both Dublin and Galway. The Dublin venue is 24 Finn St, Dublin 7 and the Galway venue is Western Writers' Centre, 34 Nun's Island, Galway. Our thanks to Brenda Malloy, Dublin and Fred Johnston and the Western Writers' Centre, Galway (www.twwc.ie), for kindly providing the Society with teaching venues.

Autumn 2006 Schedule

SEPTEMBER
Dublin: Sat 23rd
Galway: Sun 24th

OCTOBER
Dublin: Sat 7th
Galway: Sun 8th

NOVEMBER
Dublin: Sat 4th
Galway: Sun 5th

For more information, please phone us: 051 646286 or email info@irishharp.org

Scoil na gCláirseach 2006 Director's Report

2006-09-21T12:23:00.000+01:00

The fourth annual Scoil na gClairseach–Summer School of Early Irish Harp took place 19th-25th August 2006. It was our best-attended summer school yet with twenty-eight enthusiastic students from nine countries on three continents. Our overseas students outnumbered students based in Ireland seventeen to eleven. There were six US based students, five from England and Scotland, two from Germany and one each from Italy, Spain, Poland and France. The classes divided into three groups of nine beginners, seven intermediate and twelve advanced students. As usual, it was a packed and intensive programme but still the student body managed both to work hard by day and party by night!

Our tutors and seminar presenters were Ann Heymann [USA], Javier Sáinz [Spain], and myself, Siobhán Armstrong [IRL]. In addition, Paul Dooley [IRL] visited as a guest tutor and performer on Tuesday, 22nd August.

Our unique two-tiered system of lectures for less and more advanced students continued this year: Simon Chadwick [Scotland], Seán Donnelly [IRL] and, for the first time, Edward Bunting’s biographer, Roy Johnston [N. IRL], gave talks.

The HHSI’s latest student harp model – the HHSI Student Downhill – made its appearance in class for the first time with three belonging to the Society rented to Scoil students in addition to others played by their owners. These were in addition to many of the HHSI’s Student Trinities, rented or owned by some participants. For more information on HHSI student harps please visit http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

The generous support of the Scoil by the Arts Council made it possible for the HHSI to present three concerts in association with Scoil na gCláirseach: one in Rothe House, Kilkenny with The Irish Consort and one each in Galway [Nun's Island Studio]and Dublin [St. Ann's, Dawson St.] presenting the three Scoil tutors in concert with guest sean-nós singer, Róisin Elsafty. All of the concerts were well attended with standing room only in Kilkenny.

The importance and positive effect of eating well at a summer school cannot be overestimated. The Scoil lunches this year were particularly well received by all. Pat Glavin of The Food Company, Carrick-on-Suir, provided a vegetarian feast each lunchtime and not content with the work that that involved, soon started providing us with mid-afternoon home-baked treats for our tea breaks. Sincere thanks to Pat for his wonderful contribution to the week.

I would like to thank my assistant director, Simon Chadwick, and the tutors, lecturers and performers whose advance preparation and non-stop hard work, good humour and enthusiasm at Scoil na gCláirseach enabled us to present the best possible programme we could for the students.

I would also like to thank the following for all their kind help and support:

Fergus Shiel and the An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council); Philip Edmondson and Kilkenny School of Music; Maura Uí Chróinín and Galway Early Music; Brenda Malloy; Pattie Moore; Niamh Tumelty; Marian Rabbitte; John Elwes; Charlie Heymann and Ealasaid Gilfillan.

To see a photo album of Scoil na gCláirseach 06 please go to http://www.irishharpschool.com/2006/photos/

Siobhán Armstrong
Director–Scoil na gCláirseach
http://www.irishharpschool.com

Photo album uploaded

2006-09-13T16:28:00.000+01:00

Photos from Scoil na gCláirseach 2006 are now available to view on the Scoil website. To view the photo album click here or visit www.irishharpschool.com and click "Photos".

PRESS RELEASE: Concerts in Dublin & Galway

2006-08-18T13:06:00.000+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland will present two concerts:

Harp Music of the Old Gaelic World

featuring Ann Heymann (USA), Javier Sáinz (Spain), Siobhán Armstrong (Irl) and special guest, Róisín Elsafty, sean-nós singer, at

Nun’s Island Studio, Galway on Monday 28th August
and at
St. Ann’s Church, Dawson St, Dublin on Wednesday 30th August.

The programme of these unique concerts features traditional, Renaissance and Baroque harp music from Ireland and Scotland together with traditional Irish song sung by Connemara’s prizewinning young sean-nós singer, Róisín Elsafty.

This will be a rare opportunity to hear

• Three of the world’s foremost players of the medieval instrument which is the national emblem of Ireland

• The authentic sound of brass and 18-carat GOLD strings played in the traditional manner with fingernails

• Newly commissioned copies of Ireland’s only surviving medieval harp: the Trinity College Harp.

The event is part of the international Scoil na gCláirseach –Summer School of Early Irish Harp, which takes place at Kilkenny School of Music 19-25 August.

The concerts start at 8.00 p.m. and admission is €15 / €10 (Galway) and €18 / €12 (Dublin), payable at the door.

For further information, please visit www.irishharpschool.com or contact the Historical Harp Society of Ireland on tel +353 (0)51 646286.

Downloadable photos at http://www.siobhanarmstrong.com/portraits.htm
http://www.clarsach.net/Ann_Heymann/portraits.htm
http://www.javiersainz.org/portraits.htm

PRESS RELEASE: Concert in Kilkenny

2006-08-18T12:24:00.000+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland will present a concert,

Gael and Gall
Two Worlds of Music from Renaissance Ireland

featuring
THE IRISH CONSORT

JOHN ELWES Tenor
RÓISÍN ELSAFTY Traditional Irish Sean-Nós Singer
REIKO ICHISE Bass Viol
SIOBHÁN ARMSTRONG Early Irish Harp; European Renaissance Harp

in Rothe House, Parliament St, Kilkenny on Wednesday 23rd August at 8.00 p.m.

The concert starts at 8.00 p.m. and admission is €18 (concessions €12), payable at the door.

This concert presents the sound of the two music traditions in 17th century Ireland: the music of the old Gaelic world and the new music of the English colonists. The evocative florid style of unaccompanied 17th century song in the Irish language is juxtaposed with the melancholic genius of the English lute-song composers such as the legendary John Dowland, whose music would have been familiar in the great colonial houses of Ireland. Virtuosic viol music accompanied by the bell-like and melting sound of an early Irish harp strung both in brass and 18-carat gold wire rubs shoulders with renditions of lively Irish instrumental music which became fashionable among the 16th and 17th century English. This programme shows off the musical beauty to be found on both sides of the cultural divide in early Ireland.

The Irish Consort was founded by Siobhán Armstrong in 2002 to explore the music of early Ireland in the wider context of contemporaneous British and continental repertoire. Comprising the best Irish performers together with invited guests, the Irish Consort presents the sound world of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Ireland.

The is an event of the international Scoil na gCláirseach –Summer School of Early Irish Harp, which takes place at Kilkenny School of Music 19-25 August.

For further information, please visit www.irishharpschool.com or contact the Historical Harp Society of Ireland on tel +353 (0)51 646286.

Downloadable photos at http://www.siobhanarmstrong.com/portraits.htm

PRESS RELEASE: Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp

2006-08-12T11:17:00.000+01:00

Scoil na gCláirseach –
Summer School of Early Irish Harp
19-25 August 2006
Kilkenny
Ireland
Historical Harp Society of Ireland

A unique summer school devoted to the early Irish harp, which is being held in Kilkenny this month, has attracted participants from as far afield as the USA, Italy and Japan.

Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp will be held in Kilkenny 19th – 26th August with lectures and concerts as well as instrumental tuition from the world authorities on this harp, Ann Heymann (USA), Javier Sáinz (Spain) and Scoil director Siobhán Armstrong (Ireland).

Organised by the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, the Scoil is now in its fourth year and has become the premier international event for early Irish harp. Scoil students will study the techniques and repertory played on the instrument from medieval times to the 18th century, and will explore the history of Ireland’s historical harp.

“This summer school is part of a concerted effort by the Society to bring about a revival of the playing of our magnificent national instrument”, said Siobhán Armstrong, chair of the HHSI, who along with Ann Heymann, will perform on copies of the medieval Trinity College harp – the Irish national emblem – strung with both brass and 18-carat gold strings.

The HHSI (http://www.irishharp.org) was founded in 2002 to promote Ireland’s forgotten national instrument, the wire-strung cláirseach: the historical harp of Ireland and the country’s national emblem.

“The early Irish harp, of which the Trinity College harp is the most famous example, is almost unknown in Ireland and rarely heard now”, said Ms. Armstrong.

“The demise of this harp around 1800 led to the invention of the modern gut- or nylon-strung neo-Irish harp which is now ubiquitous but which bears no resemblance to the original Irish harp’, she added.

She said that the original Irish harp was famous not only in Ireland but also throughout Europe from the early Middle Ages for the beauty of its sound and for the skill of the Irish harpers who played it with their finger-nails.

Further details on the summer school, the tutors, lecturers and performers are available through contacting tel +353 (0)51 646286 or info@irishharpschool.com and can be seen on http://www.irishharpschool.com.

Downloadable photos are available at http://www.irishharpschool.com and at at http://www.siobhanarmstrong.com/portraits.htm
http://www.clarsach.net/Ann_Heymann/portraits.htm
http://www.javiersainz.org/portraits.htm

//ends//

Beginners' Workshop at Galway Early Music Festival

2006-06-06T11:30:00.000+01:00

On the afternoon of Saturday, 20th May, Galway Early Music Festival and the HHSI co-hosted a Beginners’ Taster Workshop at Galway Arts Centre. The take-up for the workshop was excellent with nine active participants, mainly adults, and several auditors. It was an international group with players from six different countries including Russia and the USA though, happily, many of them are based here in Ireland.

The HHSI provided six harps and participants themselves brought three more – thank you Sylvia, Eibhlín and Paul!

The result of this event has been to plan more regular teaching in Galway for those interested, with the first lessons planned for Saturday, 17th June. For more info contact info@irishharp.org

A very warm ‘thank you’ to Maura Uí Chróinín of Galway Early Music for initiating and hosting such a successful event. For more information on this annual festival, held each May, please visit http://www.galwayearlymusic.com

Siobhán Armstrong
Chair–HHSI

chair@irishharp.org

Hon Sec moves to Scotland

2006-03-14T21:25:00.000Z

The Hon Sec of the HHSI, Simon Chadwick, has just moved from Oxford, where he has been resident for many years, to another beautiful university town, St Andrews, in Scotland. There, in addition to his work at earlygaelicharp.info, he will be available to teach, demonstrate and lecture on all aspects of early Gaelic harp. We wish him well in his new home!

Siobhán Armstrong
Chair – HHSI
www.irishharp.org

Replica 18th century Irish harps

2006-03-12T18:32:00.000Z

The latest three instruments in the HHSI's student replica series of early Irish harps were delivered to the Society by the harpmaker David Kortier last month.

These instruments copy the "Downhill", now on display in the Guinness Storehouse museum in Dublin. Kortier visited the museum in 2002 and took detailed measurements and observations of the original; these measurements have been combined with his specially-developed laminating and mass-production techniques to produce an affordable yet reliable and accurate replica.

The original Downhill harp was built by Cormac O'Kelly in 1702, and was owned and played for most of his life by Dennis O'Hampsey (1695 - 1807). When Edward Bunting was collecting the last remnants of the ancient Irish harp tradition in the late 18th century, O'Hampsey was one of his main informants, and the only one who retained the old fingernail playing style. His repertory included many very unique old pieces that are now key to our understanding of the instrument and its music. The Society is delighted that Gaelic harp students - as well as teachers and professionals! - will now be able to study that music on replicas of the very instrument from which it was noted down.

HHSI Student Downhill harps are available for sale or rent. For more information, specification and prices please visit the HHSI shop at www.irishharp.org/shop

The HHSI would like to express their sincere thanks to the Arts Council, whose generous 2005 Minor Capital funding grant to us enabled us to buy two of these new HHSI Student Downhill harps.

Scoil na gCláirseach 2006

2006-02-03T14:32:00.000Z

The HHSI has announced the dates for this year's Scoil na gCláirseach - Summer School of Early Irish Harp

The Scoil will run from 19th to 25th August 2006, at Kilkenny School of Music, Kilkenny, Ireland.

Tutors will include Ann Heymann (USA), Alison Kinnaird MBE (Scotland), Siobhán Armstrong (Ireland), and Javier Sáinz (Spain)

Please see the Scoil website - www.irishharpschool.com - for more details, as well as fees and booking information and to download an application form.

HHSI Student Harps in Oxford

2005-12-15T09:47:00.000Z

As well as the seven delivered to Ireland and strung in Dublin (see News, 1st December 2005), the latest batch of Student Trinities included four instruments sent by David Kortier to Oxford, for new owners in England. The Society is particularly pleased that one of these measured replicas of the medieval harp preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, was ordered by the Bate Collection at the Music Faculty of Oxford University. This instrument is to be used for demonstrations and workshops as part of the education handling collection.

HHSI secretary Simon Chadwick took the instrument to the Bate on Thursday 8th December, and with the assistance of Bate curator Dr Hélène La Rue and Museum Assistant Andy Lamb, the harp was assembled and strung.

The Society is pleased to see interest in the early Irish harp spreading to institutions, and hopes that Universities and Music Departments in Ireland will soon follow Oxford's lead.

The three other instruments were strung by their new owners; one remains in Oxford with HHSI Secretary Simon Chadwick and the other two are with students in Cornwall and Wiltshire.

Click here for more photos (pictures courtesy of the Bate Collection)

The Bate Collection: http://www.bate.ox.ac.uk

Historical Harp Society of Ireland: http://www.irishharp.org/

Student Trinity Specifications and Prices: http://www.irishharp.org/shop/studenttrinity.htm

Arts Council Funding Success

2005-12-01T16:59:00.000Z

The HHSI has been successful in attracting a 2005 Minor Capital Funding grant from The Arts Council. This funding of €5,000 will enable the HHSI to buy

+two HHSI student harps
+reels of historical brass wire
+an Apple iBook lap-top computer
+ an external computer hard-drive
+a tripod projector screen and
+music publishing software

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Fergus Shiel and The Arts Council for this very generous and welcome support.

Siobhán Armstrong
Chair–HHSI
http://www.irishharp.org

Latest Arrival of HHSI Student Harps

2005-12-01T13:40:00.000Z

The HHSI is very pleased to announce the delivery of our second shipment of student harps. Built to the Society’s specifications by master luthier David Kortier – http://www.kortier.com – the batch just delivered consisted of eleven instruments, ten of which were HHSI Student Trinity harps. For information on these, please visit http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

Additional excitement was generated by the eleventh harp in the group: this is the very first copy we have received of our NEW and LATEST MODEL: the HHSI Student Queen Mary, copying one of the two existing medieval Scottish harps. For more details and specifications of this latest addition to the HHSI student harp family, please see the HHSI on-line harp shop – http://www.irishharp.org/shop/. For information on the original, please visit http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/harps/QM.htm

On Sunday, 27th November, five of the new Student Trinities were strung in brass and sterling silver at a stringing party which took place upstairs at The Castle Inn in Dublin’s city centre. The HHSI’s chair, Siobhán Armstrong, and historical harper Javier Sáinz, guided the instruments’ new owners through learning how to measure, cut, wrap and attach strings to their new instruments. Many thanks to the new stringers for the speed with which they became proficient at the job, and also to experienced stringers, Róisín Allen and Brenda Malloy, for all their hard work!

Our sincere thanks go to The Castle Inn for sponsoring our venue for the stringing party.

Given the Society’s remit to help revive the playing of the early Irish harp, particularly here in Ireland, it is very encouraging to see that eighteen HHSI student harps have found owners, mainly in Ireland, this year.

If you would like to know more about our Student Instrument Bank of rental harps, please contact us at info@irishharp.org. If you would like to check out new HHSI student harps to buy, together with used instruments, please visit http://www.irishharp.org/shop/

+++ Watch out for an announcement of details of our THIRD new HHSI student harp model at the end of this year. This exciting new harp, on which we are currently working, will be a student copy of an 18th century Irish harp. +++

Click here for more photos

Siobhán Armstrong
Chair–HHSI
http://www.irishharp.org

Professional early harper moves to Ireland

2005-10-20T20:05:00.000+01:00

The HHSI is very pleased to welcome to Ireland Javier Sáinz, the Spanish historical harper who has just moved from his native Cantabria in northern Spain to Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny.

Javier is already familiar to many of Ireland’s early harpers since he was a guest tutor at Scoil na gCláirseach 05. A specialist in early Irish harp, he will shortly start giving lessons in the city centre in Dublin each Saturday. His areas include early Irish and Scottish repertoire on wire-strung harp and also English and continental Renaissance and baroque repertoire on single and multi-row gut-strung harps.

Anyone interested in taking this opportunity to study with him should contact him directly:

Javier Sáinz
C/o Vaughan
Columcille
Thomastown
Co. Kilkenny

Tel: 056 7793323
Email:javier.sainz@clarsach.net
Web: http://www.clarsach.net/javier.sainz/

To have a professional historical harper available for tutoring on a regular basis in Dublin is a very exciting plus in the world of early Irish harp, so we wish him all the very best here!

Siobhán Armstrong
Chair – HHSI
www.irishharp.org

Photos of Student Trinity harps under construction

2005-09-22T22:46:00.000+01:00

David Kortier has posted some new photos on his website, showing the first batch of Student Trinity harps under construction. Click here to view the pictures.

Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp

2005-09-04T00:11:00.000+01:00

The HHSI's third annual summer school - Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp - has just come to a successful conclusion. It was the biggest Scoil to date: six staff tutors and lecturers, twenty students and five auditors from nine countries including Japan, Poland and the USA.

This year's Scoil was memorable for many reasons:

This year saw the introduction of the position of Assistant Director at the Scoil, now ably filled by Simon Chadwick (UK), who was also one of our lecturers.

Our guest tutors/performers included the instrument's doyenne, Ann Heymann (USA), visiting the Scoil for the third year in succession, and for the first time, Javier Sáinz (Spain). Other guest staff were Paul Dooley (Irl) returning for the second time to tutor and perform and Seán Donnelly (Irl), the pre-eminent scholar of early Irish harp history who has also lectured at each of the previous Scoileanna. We had the pleasure of being addressed by Ireland's first ever professional player of the instrument in modern times, Gráinne Yeats, at our official opening.

Perhaps one of the most heartening aspects of this year's Scoil was the fact that for the first time, the number of Irish students exceeded that of foreign students. Eight Irish students (children, teenagers and adults) made up the beginners' class. Given that the purpose of the Scoil is not only to foster interest in the early Irish harp in general and to help revive the playing of the instrument, but to do so particularly here in Ireland, this has to be seen as a very encouraging development indeed. One unexpected and delightful spin-off from this year's Scoil has been the setting up, by Scoil students, of an independent early Irish harp circle in Dublin, which will meet monthly from this autumn.

The advanced class this year was also the largest to date, with eight participants. This also demonstrates the continuing and welcome development in the expertise of existing players.

This Scoil saw students being offered the Society's new HHSI Student Trinity harps from the HHSI Student Harp Bank to play on for the first time: measured copies of the Trinity College harp strung in brass and silver, incorporating the unison tenor G strings known as 'na comhluighe' and the idiosyncratic string spacing of the original, built in 2005 to the Society's specifications by master luthier David Kortier (USA). One new student was so impressed that she bought one from the Society on the spot!

This year, all the Scoil tutors played replicas of surviving instruments. This, together with the Society's new strategy of making affordable student copies of surviving instruments available to students, has crystallised our intention to press forward along this path: strongly to encourage the use of accurately measured student- or facsimile copies of surviving Irish harps. The Society sees this as the best way, for historical harpers, to gain insight into and practical knowledge of the early Irish harp.

In addition to having our usual three distinct levels of tuition (beginner, intermediate and advanced), this year, for the first time, our lecture timetable offered a new two tier system, with parallel streams for beginners and more advanced students; all-in-all, we had a mesmerizing array of talks, lectures, seminars and concerts.

This has also been the first year where the Scoil has attracted a considerable body of auditors including Irish language scholars, professional harpists and builders of Irish harp.

Each lunchtime, we ate wonderful food prepared for us by our fellow musician and professional cook Danette Milne, who put aside her flute to become the Scoil lunch cook for the week!

I would like to thank sincerely my assistant director, all the staff, students and auditors for their extraordinary enthusiasm, concentration, hard work and good humour during Scoil 05; it all contributed to a very memorable event indeed.

Many thanks for their invaluable financial help:

Fergus Shiel and An Chomhairle Ealaíon (The Arts Council)
Mary Butler and Kilkenny County Council

Thanks also to

our associate presenters: Philip Edmondson and Kilkenny School of Music
Maura Uí Chróinín and Galway Early Music
Jeffrey Skidmore, Susan Proud and Kilkenny Arts Festival
David Kortier
Brenda Malloy
John Elwes
Marian Rabbitte
Treasa Ní Cheannabháin

The modern revival of the early Irish harp depends on all of us working together. Thank you so much to all who played their part this August in Kilkenny.

Siobhán
--
Siobhán Armstrong
Chair - Historical Harp Society of Ireland

Early Irish harp lecture/recital at the the National Concert Hall

2005-07-27T10:33:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, 23rd July, The Education Programme of the National Concert Hall, Dublin collaborated with the HHSI for the first time to present a lecture/recital on the early Irish harp in the aptly named Carolan Room of the NCH, followed by a Hands On beginners' workshop.

Both events were very well attended with most of the lecture audience remaining to observe the progress of the six participants who took part in the beginners' workshop. This was the first occasion on which four of the Society's new HHSI Student Trinity harps – recently built to the Society's
specifications by David Kortier – were placed in the hands of students. It was a rare pleasure to see these students place these measured copies against their left shoulders and begin to play!

Five of the participants, and indeed also some of the observers, have signed up for individual lessons which will begin in Dublin in the autumn.

Our thanks go to Lucy Champion, Education and Community Outreach Manager at the NCH for all her kind support.

PRESS RELEASE: Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp

2005-07-05T10:02:00.000+01:00

Scoil na gCláirseach –
Summer School of Early Irish Harp
17-23 August 2005
Kilkenny
Ireland
Historical Harp Society of Ireland

A unique summer school devoted to the early Irish harp, which is being held in Kilkenny next month has attracted participants from as far afield as the USA and Japan.

Scoil na gCláirseach – Summer School of Early Irish Harp will be held in Kilkenny 17th – 23rd August with lectures and concerts as well as instrumental tuition from the world authorities on this harp, Ann Heymann (USA), Javier Sáinz (Spain) and Scoil director Siobhán Armstrong (Ireland).

Organized by the Historical Harp Society of Ireland in association with Kilkenny School of Music, the Scoil is now in its third year and has become the premier international event for early Irish harp. Scoil students will study the techniques and repertory played in Ireland from medieval times to the 18th century, and will explore the history of the early Irish wire-strung harp.

“This summer school is part of a concerted effort by the Society to bring about a revival of the playing of our magnificent national instrument”, said Siobhán Armstrong, chair of the HHSI, who along with Ann Heymann, will perform on copies of the medieval Trinity College harp – the Irish national emblem – strung with both brass and 18-carat gold strings.

The HHSI (http://www.irishharp.org) was founded in 2002 to promote Ireland’s forgotten national instrument, the wire-strung cláirseach: the historical harp of Ireland and the country’s national emblem.

“The early Irish harp, of which the Trinity College harp is the most famous example, is almost unknown in Ireland and rarely heard now”, said Ms. Armstrong.

“The demise of this harp around 1800 led to the invention of the modern gut- or nylon-strung Irish harp which is now ubiquitous but which bears no resemblance to the original Irish harp’, she added.

She said that the original Irish harp was famous not only in Ireland but also throughout Europe from the early Middle Ages for the beauty of its sound and for the skill of the Irish harpers who played it with their finger-nails.

Further details on the summer school, the tutors, lecturers and performers are available through contacting tel +353 (0)51 646286 or info@irishharpschool.com and can be seen on http://www.irishharpschool.com.

Downloadable photos are available at www.irishharpschool.com and at www.clarsach.net/Siobhan_Armstrong/portraits.htm
//ends//

PRESS RELEASE: New medieval harps in Ireland

2005-06-14T15:48:00.000+01:00

The Historical Harp Society of Ireland (HHSI) has just taken delivery of eight copies of the Trinity College harp. The harps are to be lent out or sold to students across Ireland, and are to be used at the HHSI's annual summer school, Scoil na gCláirseach, held in Kilkenny each August.

The original Trinity College harp, which the HHSI's new instruments reproduce, was made in the 14th or 15th Century, and is preserved in a glass case in the Long Room of Trinity College Old Library. Due to its great age and fragility it can no longer be played. This means that the new generation of harp students, who are bringing back to life Ireland's previously lost historical harp tradition, depend on accurate and faithful reproductions being available.

These new instruments, with brass and sterling silver strings, were made to the Society's order by the harp maker and historical instrument expert, David Kortier.

David Kortier is best known in Ireland for his meticulous decorated facsimiles of early Irish harps, such as the beautiful replica of the Trinity College harp owned and played by Siobhán Armstrong, chair of the HHSI. The cost and time involved in making such a detailed facsimile however means that students were rarely able to afford one. The new harps ordered by the society adhere exactly to the dimensions and proportions of the original in every respect, but their structure is simplified for ease of construction. The result is a unique series of instruments, the like of which has never been seen in Ireland, or elsewhere, before: an affordable accurate replica of one of the surviving medieval instruments.

“The early Irish harp, of which the Trinity College Harp is the most famous example, is almost unknown in Ireland and rarely heard now”, said Ms. Armstrong.

“The demise of this harp around 1800 led to the invention of the modern gut- or nylon-strung Irish harp which is now ubiquitous but which bears no resemblance to the original”, she added.

She said that the early Irish harp was famous not only in Ireland but also throughout Europe from the early Middle Ages for the beauty of its sound and for the skill of the Irish harpers who played it with their finger-nails.

http://www.irishharp.org
Historical Harp Society of Ireland

http://www.irishharpschool.com
Scoil na gCláirseach - Summer School of Early Irish Harp

http://www.siobhanarmstrong.com
Siobhán Armstrong

Click here for photos of the first 8 Student Trinity harps being assembled and strung.

Click here for purchasing information