Harp Ireland Resources

Welcome to Harp Ireland’s Resource Hub.
We have a range of useful links, documents for download and videos to watch…

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On the 1st day of Christmas: Aisling Ennis plays 'The Wexford Carol' this Christmas Day, recorded at Calary Church.

Uploaded 25/12/2021

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On the 2nd day of Christmas, CÉHI brings to you: Séamus Ó Flatharta performing 'Anach Cuain' at Ballintubber Abbey, Co. Mayo.

Uploaded 26/12/2021

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On the 3rd day of Christmas we feature the magnificent harp/guitar duo of Máire Ní Chathasaigh and Chris Newman performing 'Molly St. George', composed by Thomas Connellan.

Uploaded 27/12/2021

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On the 4th day of Christmas, listen to the Triad Trio featuring Fiona Gryson, Rachel Duffy and Síofra Ní Dhubhghaill. Recorded at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda for An Chúirt Chruitireachta, The International Festival for Irish Harp, June 2021.

Uploaded 28/12/2021

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On the 5th day of Christmas Michael Rooney performs his own composition 'Lissadell' in the Alpine Gardens at Lissadell House, Co Sligo.

Uploaded 29/12/2021

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On the 6th day of Christmas Cormac de Barra plays the Intel Laser Harp at UCD, with Siobhán Armstrong (Early Irish Harp) and Rachel Duffy (Irish Harp)

Uploaded 30/12/2021

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On the 7th day of Christmas we feature the incredibly talented Michelle Mulcahy (harp) & Louise Mulcahy (uilleann pipes), performing 'Bean Dubh an Ghleanna'.

Uploaded 31/12/2021

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On the 8th day of Christmas CÉHI brings to you, another pair of musically gifted siblings!??Aisling & Séan Lyons take to the stage in the Irish Chamber Orchestra Studio at UL to perform 'Love is a Beautiful Thing'.

Uploaded 01/01/2022

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On the 9th day of Christmas: enjoy young musician of the year nominee Alannah Thornburgh performing 'Kean O'Hara' and 'Apple Blossoms'.

Uploaded 02/01/2022

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On the 10th day of Christmas enjoy a special performance by Gráinne Hambly, Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín and Séamus Ó Flatharta at Ballintubber Abbey.

Uploaded 03/01/2022

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On the 11th day of Christmas, we bring you back to the Harty Room at Ulster University, Belfast where Gráinne Meyer, Adam O'Neill and Ciara Taaffe perform 'An Róis Bheag Dhubh' and 'Bundoran Junction'.

Uploaded 04/01/2022

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On the 12th day of Christmas we bring you Aisling Urwin & Niamh O'Brien at the University of Limerick, performing 'i-89' by I'm With Her.

Uploaded 05/01/2022

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A Guide to Recording Harp Outdoors Video | Joe Ó Dubhghaill

Uploaded 19/03/2024

Sound Engineer and musician, Joe Ó Dubhghaill, shares his tips on how to make the best recording in an outdoors setting. He helps you configure the best setting for your camera phone, video camera or microphone to minimise sound interference from wind and background noises and how to get the best visual in sunlight or dull conditions.

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A Guide to Recording Harp Outdoors PDF | Joe Ó Dubhghaill

Uploaded 09/09/2021

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Harp Ireland Annual Lecture 2021 : Simon Chadwick 'Edward Bunting as a Collector'

Uploaded 06/06/2021

Harp Ireland's Annual Lecture 2021  'Edward Bunting as a Collector' - a live, online talk by Simon Chadwick, Sunday 23 May 2021, 5pm.Edward Bunting is famous for saving the music of the old Irish harpers. This talk will look in more detail at his work "on the ground", how he travelled around and met the harpers and other musicians, and how he went about the collecting process. We will look at some of his notebooks from Queen's University Belfast and talk about what we can deduce about his working methods from them.Simon Chadwick is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important international experts on the history and traditions of the early Irish harp, helping to spearhead the current revival.

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Harp Ireland Annual Lecture 2020 : Úna Monaghan 'The Challenges in Contemporary Irish Harping: New Horizons'

Uploaded 18/12/2020

Úna Monaghan is a harper from Belfast with a background in Irish traditional music and in experimental, contemporary, and computer music, as a composer, programmer, performer, and sound engineer. In this online presentation for Harp Ireland she explores some of the recent challenges and considerations in her contemporary work with Irish harp. As a resonant and multiphonic instrument, the harp presents specific challenges for the design of interfaces for computer sound control. Úna explores her motives, approach, and decision-making in developing new technologies and music for harp and electronics. Questions of rhythm and flexibility in electronics control are particularly relevant to traditional dance music. She highlights the importance of developing performance, composition, and technological plans in parallel. In addition to these ideas on technique and playing, she shares her ongoing consideration of the instrument itself, the history and associations of the harp, and how they affect her approach to harping today.

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Harp Ireland Annual Lecture 2019 : Dr. Mary Louise O’Donnell - 'The politics of the Irish Harp symbol from Henry VIII to Brexit'

Uploaded 26/03/2020

'The politics of the Irish Harp symbol from Henry VIII to Brexit' presented by Dr. Mary Louise O’Donnell.In May 2019, Cruit Éireann, Harp Ireland organised a special inaugural lecture entitled 'The politics of the Irish Harp symbol from Henry VIII to Brexit' presented by Dr. Mary Louise O’Donnell.The image of the harp, symbolic of the political and cultural landscape of Ireland for centuries, evokes strong sentiments in the collective Irish imagination. Some form of harp has been played in Ireland for over a thousand years, but the iconic instrument only became the emblem on Irish coinage in the sixteenth century. Since then it has been symbolic of Irish culture, music, and politics and, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it became a significant marker of Irish identity. The Irish harp was adopted as the official emblem of the Irish Free State in 1922 and it has remained an image of continuity and stability in Irish politics and society for almost a century.This lecture explored the shifting interpretations and representations of the Irish harp symbol, in particular, over the last two centuries.

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HARP MAKER'S CORNER Kevin Harrington

Uploaded 25/01/2021

A look at Wicklow harp maker Kevin Harrington making one his harps.

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HARP MAKER'S CORNER Tom MacUileagóid, featuring Aisling Ennis

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Dublin Harp maker, Tomás MacUileagóid (Eala Harps), talks about how his passion for harp making evolved and his journey seeking out that sound that gives the musician a palette to express what they want to say through their music. He pays tribute to one of his mentors, Colm Ó Meachair. Tomás plays 'The Flowing Tide' on flute with Aisling Ennis on harp and Aisling performs 'Nataliana' by Deborah Henson-Conant' and 'The Deer's March'.

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HARP MAKER'S CORNER Mervyn & Brian Waugh, featuring Katy Bustard

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Father and son harp makers, Mervyn & Brian Waugh (Turmennan Harps), talk about their tradition of Harp Making and feature harper Katy Bustard playing one of their harps.

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HARP MAKER'S CORNER Brian Callan

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Irish harp maker, Brian Callan, demonstrates how he adds the levers to his harps and features harper Fiana Ní Chonaill playing one of his harps.

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Harp Thoughts with Maria Cleary

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Maria Cleary, from her home in Monza, Italy, demonstrates her Cross-strung Iberian Renaissance/Baroque harp and a Cythara Anglica harp. She plays 'Luke Dillon' by Turlough Carolan and performs the tune on both harps. Maria also joined on violin by Davide Monti to perform 'Luke Dillon' as a duet.

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Harp Thoughts with Cormac de Barra

Uploaded 25/01/2021

CORMAC DE BARRA - Ó Ghlún go Glún (From Generation to Generation) Dreas ceoil ó Chormac de Barra in onóir dá shean mháthair Róisín Ní Shé agus a deirfiúr Máirín. Cormac de Barr's musical tribute to his grandmother Róisín Ní Shé and her sister Máirín.

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Harp Thoughts with William Jackson

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Lá na Cruite | Harp Day 2020 Harp Thoughts with William Jackson. William talks about the connections between Ireland and Scotland and the harp and its history. William features the music of one of the best known of the Scottish harpers, Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin, who originally hailed from Co. Derry in Northern Ireland.

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Harp Thoughts with Máire Uí Chróinín & Natalie Surina from Galway Early Music

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Harp Thoughts with Máire Uí Chróinín & Natalie Surina from Galway Early Music

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Harp Thoughts with Mary Louise and Teresa O'Donnell

Uploaded 25/01/2021

Heavenly Harps, Heavenly Cloths - The O'Donnell sisters, Mary Louise and Teresa, celebrate the musical collaborations of harper Gráinne Yeats and composer Brian Boydell.

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Guidelines on Professional Standards for Harp Teachers

Uploaded 10/12/2020

Guidelines on Professional Standards for Harp Teachers

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Sample Harp Student Registration Form 30-Nov-2020 PDF file

Uploaded 10/12/2020

PDF document

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Sample Harp Student Registration Form 30-Nov-2020 Word File

Uploaded 12/12/2020

Editable Word Document - Sample Harp Student Registration Form for teachers

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Máire Ní Chathasaigh ''The Art of Carolan' Workshop - Eleanor Plunkett

Uploaded 26/08/2020

The full sheet music for Máire's arrangement of 'Eleanor Plunkett' in this online workshop is in Máire's book, The Irish Harper Vol II: 24 pieces by Turlough O'Carolan arranged for the Irish Harp can be purchased from www.oldbridgemusic.com. It is also available her CD with Chris Newman, The Carolan Albums and can be found at http://mairenichathasaigh.com/thecarolanalbums.html. (The album is also downloadable from iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-carolan-albums/262001731.) We are not charging a fee for these workshops. However we would appreciate if you could make a donation to Cruit Éireann, Harp Ireland. You can donate at this link https://www.harpireland.ie/donate/Máire Ní Chathasaigh ''The Art of Carolan' Workshop is available on our youtube chanel at www.youtube.com/c/harpireland

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Anne-Marie O'Farrell Workshop: Bach Prelude No. 1

Uploaded 19/03/2024

Download this PDF for Anne-Marie O'Farrell Workshop on Wednesday 19th August at 5pm. The original music score can be downloaded from Anne-Marie' website at http://annemarieofarrell.com/product/ofarrell-collection-volume-2-baroque-bouquet/ We are not charging a fee for these workshops. However we would appreciate if you could make a donation to Cruit Éireann, Harp Ireland. You can donate at this link https://www.harpireland.ie/donate/. Anne-Marie's tutorial is available on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/harpireland

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Áine Ní Dhubhghaill Workshop : Mo Ghile Mear 1

Uploaded 12/08/2020

You can download the full score of Mo Ghile Mear and many other wonderful harp tunes in 'Sounding Harps Book 1' from www.cairdenacruite.com/publications. We are not charging a fee for these workshops. However we would appreciate if you could make a donation to Cruit Éireann, Harp Ireland. You can donate at this link https://www.harpireland.ie/donate/.Aine's tutorial is available on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/harpireland

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Áine Ní Dhubhghaill Workshop : Mo Ghile Mear 2

Uploaded 19/03/2024

You can also download the full score of 'Mo Ghile Mear' and many other wonderful harp tunes in 'Sounding Harps Book 1' from www.cairdenacruite.com/publications. We are not charging a fee for these workshops. However we would appreciate if you could make a donation to Cruit Éireann, Harp Ireland. You can donate at this link https://www.harpireland.ie/donate/.

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Janet Harbison Workshop - From 'Bones to Beautiful'

Uploaded 29/07/2020

Taking the Tune with Janet Harbison. Bringing a tune ‘From Bones to Beautiful’, Janet takes 'The Old Leitrim Jig' (also known as 'Leitrim's Choice') and shows you several ways to develop and embellish the melody. We suggest a €5 donation for the pdf download to Janet Harbison at info@irishharpcentre.com Janet's website www.janetharbisonharp.com has more resources and sheet music for harpers for download.Janet's workshop ia available to view on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/harpireland

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Deirdre Ní Bhuachalla Workshop : 'Harping Together'

Uploaded 05/08/2020

Deirdre Ní Bhuachalla brings harp ensemble music to you and teaches you the three parts of ‘Suantraí’. Download the Suantraí music score from www.80dayspublishing.com

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Gráinne Hambly Workshop: Celia Connellan 1

Uploaded 22/07/2020

Download this PDF for Gráinne Hambly's Workshop on Wednesday 22nd July at 5pm. We suggest a €5 donation for the pdf download to Gráinne Hambly at PayPal.me/harpconcertGrainne's workshop is available to watch on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/harpireland

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Gráinne Hambly Workshop: Celia Connellan 2

Uploaded 19/03/2024

Download this PDF for Gráinne Hambly's Workshop on Wednesday 22nd July at 5pm. We suggest a €5 donation for the pdf download to Gráinne Hambly at PayPal.me/harpconcert

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Advice for Teaching the Harp Online

Uploaded 19/03/2024

These are challenging times for everybody, and we’ve been looking at how we might make life a bit easier for teachers and their students. Three of our teachers got together to pool their knowledge and share their experience of teaching the harp on-line. Our thanks to Deirdre Granville, Gráinne Hambly and Anne-Marie O’Farrell. If you have anything to add or further ideas, let us know and we will add them to the document and post them on our social media pages.

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