11:45 am EDT

4:45 pm BST

3:45 pm GMT

Reconstructing historical harps always involves compromises. How authentic can or should a builder try to be? Modern wood is not like the wood used centuries ago. It is difficult to find blocks of wood large enough to make reconstructions of medieval harps. Should builders carve out the body of a medieval harp or use box construction? Should machines be used at all?

Should tuning pegs be constructed of wood, bone or metal? How should a historical reconstruction be strung? Many players of historical harps become frustrated with gut strings that frequently go out of tune, fray, unravel and break. They turn instead to modern alternatives like nylon, nylgut or carbon. But just as with wood, modern gut strings are not at all like historical gut strings. Modern strings are made from gut that is slit into many strands, soaked in glue, twisted into a string, dried and then sanded down to the correct diameter. Historical gut strings were twisted from the entire gut, using one or many entire natural guts to achieve different thicknesses. Under the direction of the instrument builder Yves d’Arcizas, Nancy Thym has experimented with making strings from natural gut. This presentation shows the process of making historical gut strings, from untangling the gut to the finished product.Reconstructing historical harps always involves compromises. How authentic can or should a builder try to be? Modern wood is not like the wood used centuries ago. It is difficult to find blocks of wood large enough to make reconstructions of medieval harps. Should builders carve out the body of a medieval harp or use box construction? Should machines be used at all?

12:30 pm EDT

5:30 pm BST

4:30 pm GMT

Marilia, Bill, and Nancy will present an ongoing research project focused on ancient Greek music culture, with particular attention to the Greek colonies of Southern Italy during the period of Magna Graecia. The proposed presentation examines the reconstruction and study of a carved column frame harp, an instrument frequently depicted on well-preserved South Italian vases dating to the 4th century BCE, which attest to its diffusion and cultural significance within the region.

The project is being developed within the cultural initiative MOYSEION and has so far led to the reconstruction of two historical harps by the instrument maker Marco Sciascia. Current research is centered on the second prototype, with specific investigation into the possible chromatic nature of the instrument, in collaboration with scholars Bill Taylor and Nancy Thym.

Particular emphasis will be placed on the interdisciplinary methodology underlying the reconstruction process, combining iconographic evidence, organological analysis, and experimental performance practice. The presentation will also discuss recent research developments, including a February workshop during which Maria Stamatopoulou and Christos Terzis presented new findings concerning one of the earliest surviving material fragments associated with an ancient Greek harp.

2:45 pm EDT

7:45 pm BST

6:45 pm GMT

12:00 pm EDT

5:00 pm BST

4:00 pm GMT

The harp is omnipresent in the literary sources and iconography of the later medieval period, yet the actual playing style of 12th- and 13th-century harpists, described in contemporary accounts as mesmerizing, virtuosic, and capable of great dynamic richness, must largely be reconstructed from indirect evidence.

This practical presentation explores one aspect of that reconstruction: the development of an ornamental vocabulary for melodic harp playing in medieval repertoires. Drawing on four complementary categories of sources, Claire discusses methodologies for approaching ornamentation in the absence of specific harp sources.

The presentation will examine:

•   discussions of ornamentation in medieval musical sources, particularly Jerome of Moravia;

•   traces of ornamental practice embedded within surviving music;

•   literary descriptions that may shed light on contemporary expectations of harp performance;

•   and later harp-specific sources, considered comparatively in search of possible “universals” of harp ornamentation.

Through live demonstration and musical examples, this presentation explores how historically informed reconstruction can help modern performers develop idiomatic and musically convincing approaches to medieval harp playing today.

1:15 pm EDT

6:15 pm BST

5:15 pm GMT

The aristocratic, wire-strung Gaelic harp flourished in Scotland and, until the 1700s, for 900+ years in Ireland. The modern Irish (aka ‘Celtic’) harp’s ancestor was invented in Ireland in the early 1800s. The prevailing narrative of the original tradition is that ‘we know as little of the harpers’ lower register…harmony or counterpoint, as we do of ‘what songs the sirens sang’.’ (Ó Lochlainn, 1959) Evidence, however, survives in field transcriptions of harpers’ performances from the late 1700s including those of the revered, aged Dennis O’Hampsay (aka ‘Hempson’). Either unknown or ignored, this has led to incorrect hypotheses about early-Irish-harp ‘basses’ and less plausible HIP reconstructions. Siobhan’s response lies within a Practice-Research framework: to reconstruct the music more plausibly than before by analysing and using evidence only from 1790s’ field transcriptions. She will present – for both the eye and ear – a taxonomy of O’Hampsay’s idiom, categorised from MS examples. Her thesis is that his performance practice made no use of the independent, continuous bass lines of 18th-century European art music nor its functional harmony. Rather, his output demonstrates a distinct, older aesthetic. Bunting’s transcriptions from harpers younger than O’Hampsay neither contradict the old harper’s idiom nor indirect evidence in Scottish sources from 150 years earlier. Siobhan’s research, therefore, has macro implications for a new, and better, understanding of historical Irish-harp performance practice more widely, enabling HIP harpists to re-evaluate how pre-1800, Gaelic harp repertory might more plausibly be performed, and giving them practical, evidence-based tools to do so.

2:30 pm EDT

7:30 pm BST

6:30 pm GMT

Tamzin will demonstrate their reconstruction of Da Mihi Manum (Tabhair Dom do Lámh, Give Me Your Hand), one of the earliest pieces associated with the cláirseach (the wire-strung historical Irish and Scottish harp). This iconic Irish tune is surprisingly first found in the Scottish Wemyss Lute Manuscript (c. 1643-4); its only connection to the Irish tradition is a much later attribution to legendary Irish harper Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin (late 16th c –

c. 1650). Da Mihi Manum is one of a collection of tunes attributed to Ó Catháin, many first appearing in lute manuscripts, and that represent the earliest evidence of the cláirseach repertoire, even if the existence of Ó Catháin is dubious.

For an aural tradition that all but died in the 19th century, these sources act as a rare ballast. Starting from the lute tablature, Tamzin will walk through my process of reconstructing Da Mihi Manum by sorting through the musical elements that are idiomatic of lute, and those that are for cláirseach. Much of what we know about the tradition — the technique of playing the wire-strung harp, fundamentals of the style — come from Edward Bunting’s field notes collecting tunes from harpers in the last decade of the 18th century. Cross-referencing the lute manuscripts with other tunes in Bunting’s field notes, I will show how I reconstruct this piece, factoring in, as always, the wonderful sonic realities of managing resonance on a wire-strung harp.

3:30 pm EDT

8:30 pm BST

7:30 pm GMT

4:00 pm EDT

9:00 pm BST

8:00 pm GMT

One of the challenges to historical performance of medieval music has been the sharp divide between music and literature in modern thinking. Medieval documents indicate that storytelling was an inextricable dimension of secular harp performance, and patterns in harp references in narrative texts themselves can significantly enhance our understanding of medieval harpers and the social context of harp performance.

Texts such as Sir Orfeo, while allegorical, include details of actual performance. The Roman de Silence not only offers vivid thumbnails of jongleur performance, but also compelling evidence that musicianship was an acceptable pursuit for male and female courtiers. Galeran de Bretagne suggests how a musician might have made herself noticed among many.

Expense records document payment to large numbers of musicians to perform at lavish feasts, and this raises logistical questions of tuning and collaboration. Romance texts such as Flamenca offer images of what such performance might have been like.

The harp was more prominent in England than mainland Europe in the Middle Ages, and narrative provides a context for understanding this.

Recognizing narrative as a significant dimension of a medieval harp player’s repertoire makes for a more balanced understanding of medieval harp performance, and exploring how the medieval harp may be suited to accompanying stories allows musicians today to consider options that can enhance other dimensions of medieval harp performance.

11:00 am EDT

4:00 pm BST

3:00 pm GMT

12:00 pm EDT

5:00 pm BST

4:00 pm GMT

12:45 pm EDT

5:45 pm BST

4:45 pm GMT

This lecture-demonstration explores the evolving relationship between harp construction and articulation through the lens of historical triple harps. Drawing on over four decades of performance and research, Dr. Cheryl Ann Fulton traces a personal and practical journey beginning with an original Bassett Jones Welsh triple harp (1980), through the reconstruction of the Barberini triple harp (in collaboration with David Brown and Mara Galassi), to performing on an 18th-century Welsh triple harp modeled after John Richards (built by Rainer Thurau).

Through live demonstration on three types of triple harps—including the 17th-century arpa doppia—this presentation examines how differences in instrument design demand distinct approaches to articulation, touch, and fingering. Repertoire including Trabaci and Handel will illustrate how historically informed techniques reveal musical possibilities obscured by modern equalized approaches to playing.

Central to this discussion is the concept of articulation as a flexible hierarchy rather than a system of equalized finger strength. By revisiting historical techniques that allow each finger—including the thumb—to function with nuance and independence, this lecture argues for a re-engagement with past methodologies as a foundation for revitalizing modern harp technique.

The presentation concludes by reflecting on the 20th-century shift toward homogenized technique and proposes historically grounded alternatives for contemporary performance practice.

2:00 pm EDT

7:00 pm BST

6:00 pm GMT

From the life and journey of one Bohemian folk hook harp

Jitka will share the story of an old folk hook harp, once the treasured possession of her great-great-grandparents and a silent witness to her earliest days. For years, it slumbered beneath the wooden stairs of a tiny house in Nechanice, Czech Republic, its strings knotted and its spirit quietly waiting. In the 1800s, master carpenters here shaped the legendary hook harps, and back then, music filled nearly every home, echoing the saying that ”Every Czech is a musician or at least a singer.” Yet life was far from simple. The 19th and early 20th centuries brought hardship, sending millions of Europeans in search of new beginnings and leaving the Czech lands rich in musical heritage that inspired composers like Smetana, Dvořák, and Janáček.

Folk harpists from places like Nechanice and Přísečnice (Pressnitz) set out on daring journeys, their bands traveling for years through neighboring countries and far beyond, reaching Russia, Siberia, Manchuria, China, Japan, and even the Americas. Along the way, they played cherished songs and carefully transcribed new tunes from each land into their songbooks, phonetically capturing foreign lyrics. The spirit of these wandering musicians mirrored the American Gold Rush, brimming with hope, adventure, and the thrill of discovery. You will be guided through the peculiarities and history of the hook harp, illustrated through stories from the musicians’ lives and interspersed with some of their beautiful local songs played by Jitka on her family harp.

3:15 pm EDT

8:15 pm BST

7:15 pm GMT

3:45 pm EDT

8:45 pm BST

7:45 pm GMT

Sara’s research recreates the musical practice of Renaissance women outside the secular sphere, where she use sthe arpa de dos ordenes (one of the most important instruments of the Siglo de Oro) and the voice to perform many of the 16th-century romances and songs written from a female perspective. The musical practice of women in the Renaissance was known primarily in its religious context. Convents maintained a strict musical practice to mark all the services of the day, and in women’s convents this practice was to be led by the women themselves.

Throughout these years of musicological research, the musical practice of women in the religious sphere has been repeatedly highlighted; indeed, the first piece to be printed in Europe composed by a woman has even been found in Venegas Henestrosa’s *Libro de Cifra nueva para tecla, arpa y vihuela* (1557): “Conditor alme”, signed by a certain Gracia Baptista, whose name appears alongside the greatest composers of the time, such as Antonio de Cabezón and Cristóbal de Morales, amongst others.

This work by Baptista is therefore the only piece composed by a woman in 16th-century Europe, bearing in mind that most works by women were probably published anonymously or under a man’s name, as was the case in the history of music until the early 20th century.

But what of women’s musical practice outside the religious sphere? Did women not engage with music for pleasure or entertainment? Until a few years ago, we had no sources to inform us of this practice, and thanks to musicological research we have discovered that many women were employed for this purpose outside the ecclesiastical sphere. Through the analysis of documents from the Inquisition, we discovered that there were women, highly skilled in music, who not only played various instruments but also accompanied themselves whilst singing, and were hired as ‘maids’ to entertain gatherings of women in the upper classes.