Scoil na gCláirseach

Time-
table

SUMMER SCHOOL OF EARLY IRISH HARP

TIMETABLE OF EVENTS

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Wednesday 20th August 2008

4.30-5.30pm

Student Registration

5.45-6.45pm

Class Introduction and Orientation

7.00-8.00pm

Official Opening of Scoil na gCláirseach 2008
Guest Speaker: TBA

Thursday 21st August

9.30-10.45am
Class Tuition

Morning Coffee

11.15am-12.30
Class Tuition

Lunch

1.45-2.40pm
Beg./Int. Seminar - Siobhán Armstrong
Adv. Seminar - Ann Heymann

Two parallel seminars on the same subject.
Idiomatic Irish Ornamentation: the 'Graces' from Edward Bunting's Ancient Music of Ireland 1840
Working from facsimiles, as well as an original first edition, to study the historical grace notes, articulations and gestures used in early Irish harp music.

2.40-3.00pm
Seminar - Siobhán Armstrong
Irish Names and Titles: A Quick Pronounciation guide

Afternoon Tea

3.30-4.30pm
Lecture - Simon Chadwick
An Introduction to the Early Irish Harp Tradition
Its history and cultural background. Adv. Practice Time

4.30-5.00pm
Tutor Concert - Ann Heymann

5.00-6.00pm
Beg./Int. Practice Time Lecture - Keith Sanger
Harpers Before Carolan
A look at the harpers before 1700, from contemporary evidence and context

Friday 22nd August

9.30-10.45am
Class Tuition

Morning Coffee

11.15-12.30
Class Tuition

Lunch

1.45-2.30pm
Seminar Jim Hunter
Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin (c. 1570 - 1650)
A talk about this famous harper-composer from Coleraine, Co. Derry, who spent most of his life in Scotland.

2.30-3.00pm
Seminar- Ann Heymann
Interpretation of Ruaidhrí Dall's Music

Afternoon Tea

3.30-4.30pm
Lecture - Simon Chadwick
What is an Early Irish Harp?
An overview of its technical features
Adv. Practice Time

4.30-5.00pm
Tutor Concert - Andrew Lawrence-King

5.00-6.00pm
Beg./Int. Practice Time Lecture - Mary O'Donnell
19th Century Irish Harp Societies
Following Bunting's collecting work, these Societies attempted to continue the early Irish harp tradition by training young blind people to play the early Irish harp.

Saturday 23rd August

10.30am-6pm
All Day Exhibition of Historical Harp Makers

9.30-10.45am
Class Tuition

Morning Coffee

11.15-12.30
Class Tuition

Lunch

1.45-2.30pm
Seminar- Andrew Lawrence-King
Strong and Weak Notes
a hands-on workshop in baroque articulation.

2.30-3.00pm
Discussion- Simon Chadwick
What is the difference between an Early Irish harp and a Wire-Strung harp?
An investigation of terminological minefields.

Afternoon Tea

3.30-4.00pm
Lecture -Simon Chadwick
Harpers, Characters and Anecdotes
Amusing stories about the 18th century Irish harpers. Adv. Practice Time

4.00-4.30pm
Seminar - Simon Chadwick
Replacing a String: What To Do When One Breaks

4.30-5.30pm
Beg./Int. Practice Time Lecture - Seán Donnelly
Harpers in the Domestic Accounts of an Irish Big House, 1730-70

8.00-9.30pm
Public Concert in Rothe House, Kilkenny
Strings of Gold: Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque Music of the Gaelic World & Beyond
with Siobhán Armstrong, Ann Heymann, Andrew Lawrence-King & singer Róisín Elsafty

Sunday 24th August

9.30-10.45am
Class Tuition

Morning Coffee

11.15-12.30
Class Tuition

Lunch

1.45-2.30pm
Song Workshop - Róisín Elsafty
Learning a harpers’ song in the Irish language
Sean nos singer Róisín will teach us all the Irish words to one of the 18th century songs.

2.30-3.00pm
Seminar - Siobhán Armstrong
Fingernail Care
Hints and tips on keeping your nails strong, and repairing them if one breaks.

Afternoon Tea

3.30-4.30pm
Lecture - Simon Chadwick
Repertoire: What There Is and Where To Find It
Including a look at some of the books in the HHSI Library. Adv. Practice Time

4.30-5.00pm
Tutor concert - Siobhán Armstrong

5.00-6.00pm
Beg./Int. Practice Time Lecture - Jimmy O’Brien-Moran
Irish Folk Music Collectors of the Early 19th Century - Pioneer Musicologists

Monday 25th August

9.30-10.45am
Class Tuition

Morning Coffee

11.15-12.30
Class Tuition

Lunch

1.45-2.20pm
Seminar - Siobhán Armstrong & Andrew Lawrence-King
Other Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Harps: a Presentation of Instruments Contemporaneous to the Early Irish Harp
See and hear a Baroque Italian 'arpa doppia', a Spanish chromatic 'Arpa de dos ordenes', a buzzing medieval bray harp...

2.20-3.10pm
Workshop - Andrew Lawrence-King
Improvising over a Renaissance Ground Bass: an Introduction
Learn the basics of historic improvisation and accompaniment.

Afternoon Tea

3.30-4.00pm
Discussion
What next? Resources and Strategies to Keep you Going until Scoil 09

4.00pm
Final Student Concert and Open Platform

5.00pm
Closing Reception

Tuesday 26th August

Optional Field Trip to Dublin
(times are approximate)

8.00am

Dep. Kilkenny School of Music for Dublin

10.30-11.30am

Trinity College Dublin (Old Library; Book of Kells; Trinity College Harp; Otway Harp)

12.00-1.00pm

Arr. National Museum of Ireland, Kildare St (Ballinderry harp fragments; Breac Maedóic; Fiacail Phádraig; early Irish treasures)

Lunch break (at Collins Barracks)

2.00-3.00pm

National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks (Kildare harp, Mullagh Mast harp, Sirr harp, "Carolan" (Rose Mooney's) harp, Hollybrook harp, Cloyne harp fragments, and Cloyne reconstruction)

3.30-4.30pm

Guinness Brewery (Denis O'Hampsey's Downhill harp).

4.30pm

Dep. to Kilkenny School of Music for anyone returning to Kilkenny arr. c.19.00

CONCERTS

As well as the tutor concert in Rothe House, Kilkenny, on Saturday 23rd August 2008, there are other concerts associated with Scoil na gCláirseach:

Thursday 28th August 2008, 8.00pm
Nuns Island Studio, Galway
with Siobhán Armstrong, Ann Heymann, Róisín Elsafty
Strings of Gold: Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque Music of the Gaelic World & Beyond

Saturday 30th August 2008, 8.00pm
St. Ann’s Church, Dawson St, Dublin
with Siobhán Armstrong, Ann Heymann, Róisín Elsafty, John Elwes
The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls: A Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Moore's Irish Melodies

Beg., Int. and Adv. on the timetable refer to beginners, intermediate and advanced. Please note that this timetable is provisional and is subject to change. Updated June 2008.

Click here to view the 2007 timetable.
Click here to view the 2006 timetable.
Click here to view the 2005 timetable.
Click here to view the 2004 timetable.
Click here to view the 2003 timetable.