October 2020 – Simon Chadwick

Tuning the harp

Edward Bunting wrote down the sequence for tuning the harp, into one of his collecting pamphlets. I have previously used the neatest clearest copy from Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 page 156/153/162/f76r, and I published a copy in my Progressive Lessons source book along with a video demonstration of the neat copy. However, in the context of this Old Irish Harp Transcriptions Project, I thought it might be useful to look closely at the initial “dots” version on page 150/147/156/f73r.

Madam Cole

Edward Bunting made a live transcription of the tune of Madam Cole, from the playing of an old Irish harper, probably in the summer of 1796. The transcription is in Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 page 149/146/155/f72v. However, the transcription is too fragmentary to reconstruct a performance.

Fairy Queen

There are two separate transcription notations of Carolan’s Fairy Queen in Edward Bunting’s manuscripts. I don’t think anyone had noticed them before I found them while compiling my MS29 index PDF last year, because they are fragmentary and/or hidden.

Part 1 summary

Now that I have got to the end of part 1 of Bunting’s ms29, it is a good time to review my Old Irish Harp Transcriptions Project.

Seónin Ó Raghallaigh, fear gasda

I made a video demonstration of part of the tune of Sean O’Reily, as transcribed by Edward Bunting probably in the summer of 1792.

Betty O’Brian

I was going to make a video demonstration of Edward Bunting’s live transcription of the tune of Betty O’Brian, but I didn’t because it is too corrupt.

Pléaráca na Ruarcach

I made a video demonstration of a version of Pléaráca na Ruarcach, from Edward Bunting’s transcription notation in Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 page 107/103/112/f51r.