I was reviewing my interview with Mícheál Ó Catháin for forthcoming inclusion on his State of the Art interview series, and a comment on my upbringing in the English change-ringing tradition started me thinking about the potential soundscape of change-ringing in the ears of the old Irish harp tradition bearers.
Author: simonchadwick
Third time lucky
I started my blog on 17th May 2010. I shifted it to a WordPress site hosted at clarsach.scot on 4th October 2014. Now that I’m no longer based in Scotland I have let that domain go, and after some consideration, I decided to streamline things and move the blog and the archive onto my personal home page.
I still aim to post at least one thing a month – you will see from the archives that I failed this August due to my move to Armagh, and travelling to Kilkenny and Brittany.
My home page image is of my new business card. This is done as an homage to my grandfather whose business card forms the header to this post.
Thanks for reading this far and I hope to see you around here in the future as well!
A pupil of Hempson
Patrick
tolLangan
my very old teacher
a pupil of Hempson
told me
He plucked the
strings with his
long nails
J P Sherwin
Early Irish harp at Áras an Uachtaráin
On Friday I was at Áras an Uachtaráin with Siobhán Armstrong and Eibhlís Ní Ríordáin, for Culture Night. We gave a 20 minute presentation to the President’s guests; I spoke for a few minutes and then Siobhán and Eibhlís played and sang.
Saint Tugen
I was passing through the village of St Tugen, and so I stopped and looked into his church. It is a beautiful building, full of painted wooden sculpture. There was an information sheet that gave his life story, and there was a glass case with his relics.
Change of address
After 12½ years in St Andrews I have moved to Armagh – from the ancient ecclesiastical centre of Scotland, to the ancient ecclesiastical centre of Ireland.
Failte Mhic Mhuirich
I was in Edinburgh on 28th April 2018, to see the Lord Lyon King of Arms and one of his Unicorn Pursuviants presenting Dr. Robert Currie with his commission as Commander of the Name and Arms of Currie. Continue reading Failte Mhic Mhuirich
Ceòl mór at Verdant Works
Yesterday I was at Verdant Works in Dundee to play the lunchtime concert in their delightful “Music in the Mill” series. I played two big pibroch tunes, and I videoed one of them for you:
Talk and workshop at Galway Early Music Festival
Brenda Malloy sent along some photos of the talk and taster workshop last weekend. Thanks to Brenda for permission to put this one here!
Continue reading Talk and workshop at Galway Early Music Festival
Early Irish harp and modern Irish harp traditions
When I was preparing my talk for Galway Early Music Festival, I came up with a new handout which I gave to the participants and which we discussed in the talk and workshop session.
Continue reading Early Irish harp and modern Irish harp traditions