I play early clà rsach. I’m based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.
I started studying the old Irish and Scottish Gaelic harp traditions in December 1998. This is a music which goes back to over 1000 years ago, but it actually died out in the 1800s. The old Gaelic harp with metal strings, played left-hand-treble, right-hand-bass, stopped being played - the last old harpers in the early 19th century taught no students so the tradition ended.
However there are many tangible remains of the old tradition - as many as 18 harps in museums in Ireland and Scotland, and many many ancient books and manuscripts filled with tunes, techniques and lore.
So, I have a pretty exact copy of one of the famous old harps - a brand new decorated replica of the 15th century clà rsach preserved in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, known as the Queen Mary harp. The new harp was built for me in 2006-7 by Davy Patton, of Co. Roscommon, Ireland, from willow, sycamore, apple and rowan wood, hand-carved, inked, painted, and burned, with silver decoration and handmade brass fittings, and is strung with Daniel Tokar’s handmade Latten, sterling silver and 18 carat gold wire strings. In the tenor range two strings (called na caomhluighe) double the pitch of g, symbolically and practically dividing the treble and bass ranges of the harp.
I find music to play by visiting archives and libraries such as Dundee’s Wighton Collection and the National Library in Edinburgh, and rifling through antique tomes in search of forgotten and neglected gems. I have attended classes with Ann Heymann, Siobhán Armstrong, Javier Sáinz, Bill Taylor and Paul Dooley, but am almost entirely self-taught, initially from Ann Heymann’s tutor books and more recently from studying early printed and manuscript sources.
My debut CD Clà rsach na Bà nrighe was launched in 2008
