Simon Chadwick

Hugh O’Donnell

Bunting wrote the tune of Hugh O’Donnell into his little collecting pamphlet, perhaps in 1792. You can see the tune written neatly and clearly on Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 page 12/12/021/f5v.

Miss Kelly

Some time in the 1790s, Edward Bunting made what looks like a live transcription notation of the tune of Miss Kelly.

An gearrán buidhe

The Yellow Horse is a curious little song air. We have three independent transcription notations of variants or versions of this tune, under two different titles, in Edward Bunting’s transcription notebooks from the 1790s. They are all three a bit tricky to understand.

An londubh agus an chéirseach

The Blackbird and the Thrush is a very beautiful old tune. We have what may be a live transcription of a traditional harp performance, noted down by Edward Bunting in the 1790s. However, as usual with Bunting’s work, all is not straightforward, and he has messed us around a lot.

Doctor Hart

Edward Bunting made a two-page live transcription notation of a traditional Irish harp performance of the Carolan tune, Doctor Hart. I think this was done in 1792 from Hugh Higgins. You can see the manuscript pages online at Queens University Belfast Special Collections MS4.29 pages 90 and 91.

Jeremy Duigenan in Drumshanbo and Murhaun

Passing by Drumshanbo recently, I took a moment to stop and look for traces of Jerome Duignan.

Planxty Irwin

On the same manuscript page as The Beggar, Bunting also wrote what looks like a live transcription notation of the tune of Planxty Irwin (DOSC 59). You can see both of these tunes on Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 page 7.

Sylvia Crawford’s new book

I am very proud to be able to publish Sylvia Crawford’s new book, An Introduction to Old Irish Harp Playing Techniques.

Colonel Irwin

In Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 page 20, there is a line of dots which I have always marked as “unidentified tune”. I just could not work out what is going on here.

However Sylvia Crawford has analysed the mode of the dots and suggests that they represent Bunting’s first attempt to transcribe a harp version of the tune of DOSC 60 Colonel Irwin.

Edward Bunting as Collector

This is the video of the online talk I gave for Cruit Éireann last month, summarising some of my work on the Old Irish Harp Transcriptions Project. I hope you find it interesting and useful!