'The Ancient Irish Music': airs of the 18th-century Irish harpers

Description

In 1792, in the waning days of the Irish harping tradition, a young organist named Edward Bunting was enlisted to write down the music played at an historic gathering of Irish harpers in Belfast. Inspired by what he heard there, he made collecting the music of the Irish harpers his life's work. Bunting published three volumes of music, but he arranged it for piano, so it is not in its original form. Many of his hand-written field transcriptions — taken directly from the live playing of Irish harpers — survived, though, and were rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century.

In this course, explore and become familiar with Edward Bunting's rare 18th-century hand-written field transcriptions, and learn where to access them online. Then, learn to play three beautiful 18th-century Irish harp tunes that Bunting included in his first published collection, The Ancient Irish Music, working from settings based directly on his field transcriptions of the Irish harpers. In hands-on class sessions, you will be guided to learning historically appropriate playing techniques and ornamentation to help you bring your own performances of early Irish harp music to life.

All types of harps welcome!