The Harping Tradition - Sample Essay Flashcards
what is different to the mainstream tradition?
the harp and its music
what was the old Irish harping tradition?
aristocratic art tradition
what was the Irish harping tradition like?
highly skilled and trained
who was the Irish harping tradition unlike?
music of peasant classes
what is peasant-class music referred to as today?
mainstream tradition
Who were the old Irish and old English aristocracies until the 16th century?
the patrons of the old Irish harp
the latter group consists of families who have been to Ireland
catholic and Irish speaking
what did the old Irish speak?
catholic and Irish speaking
what did any member of the aristocracy normally have?
own harper
poet
storyteller
what was the storyteller
someone who recited poetry
harper
cruit
poet
file
storyteller
reacaire
what was the occupation of a harper like?
prestigious and stable
who was handed in from
father to son
how did the families act to the harpers
patrons
what would the families have in honor of their harper
solo piece called planxtie
famous planxty
planxty kelly
who did I listen to for planxty?
Amy Hayman playing o’carolans planxty cruit on a wire-strung harp
what was the wire-strung harp called?
the bardic harp
old irish harp
the bardic harp had how many strings?
29 to 31 strings made of wire played with nails
how tall was the bardic harp?
70 cm in height with curved pillar and a hollow sound box
where was the hollow sound box played?
on the knee of the harper
how was the bardic harp different from the neo-Irish harp
more resonant
when was the neo-Irish harp developed?
early 20th century
timbre
the tone produced is quite sharp on wire-strung harp
how did Irish society change
effects of English rule and influence on the social and economic structure of this country became more pronounced in 1601
how did this affect Harper?
members of old Irish and English classes lost power and influence and of course land and money
what were harpers forced to become?
itinerant
travelling musicians
what did the harpers do when they became traveling musicians?
traveled roads of Ireland
spending time in one big house before moving onto the next
when did the tradition begin to decline
from 16th century onwards
what happened to Harper
almost blind
what was harping considered for?
blind boys as they would have otherwise found it very difficult to make a living at that time
how did the harpers travel?
on horseback and accompanied by young boys who acted as their guides
how was there style of playing to ireland
peculiar
why was it peculiar?
they played on wire strings plucked with their fingernails which create a bell-like sound
what happened when the harper plucked their fingernails on the wire-strung harp
it would make a more resonant sound and lasted a long time
what did the harper do to stop the strings from sounding muddied?
difficult system of ‘stopping’ (damping) the strings
what was the bardic harp in total contrast to?
the sound of the neo-Irish harp
what did i listen to (2)
paul Dooley on wire strung harp paying captain o’kane
who wrote Captain O’Kane
Turlough O’Carolan
what did I hear in Captain O’Kane
feature of the baroque period
sequences and long flowing melodies
what other piece did I listen to on the neo-Irish harp?
Laoise kelly playing Tyrell’s pass (jig)
What did I hear on Tyrell’s pass?
resonance to the strings but not as much as the old Irish harp
what does laoise use?
system of ‘damping’ in the left hand
what were the patrons of the harp at this stage?
still the old Irish and old English aristocracy
who were the new English aristocracies?
families who had only settled in Ireland for a generation or two and who were English-speaking and protestant
what happened as a result to the harping tradition?
changed drastically
harpers now had to appeal to much more diverse audience with probably very different tastes much of it for foreign music
what was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries in Ireland?
italian baroque music (vivaldi and handel)
what did the Irish harpers do with the baroque music?
influenced by this style and incorporated it in to their music
who was the most famous harper that incorporated baroque into their music?
Turlough O’Carolan who lived in the late 17th to early 18th centuries
