November/December 2023

January 2024

Robert ap Huw Manuscript Online Courses with Bill Taylor

In the new year, the Wire Branch of the Clarsach Society will offer two courses via Zoom with Bill Taylor in playing music from the Robert ap Huw manuscript. There will be split levels to welcome both new players and intermediate players, who have had some previous experience learning and playing from the tablature.

The music in the Robert ap Huw manuscript contains the earliest harp music from anywhere in Europe. The pieces were composed in the Late Middle Ages, taught aurally for several hundred years, written down in the 16th century and copied by Robert ap Huw himself in the early 17th century. We will learn how to read the tablature, allowing us to interpret both the letters, giving the names of the strings on the harp, and also the signs indicating the figuration. These provide instructions for moving between the strings, using a rigorous damping technique to distinguish between more-important and less-important strings.

The course will take place over six Saturday dates in 2023: 14th January, 4th February, 25th February, 18th March, 15thApril, and 13th May.

All harps are welcome, and please visit the Wire Branch website for more information. https://wirebranch.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=724225