Arnold Dolmetsch harp no. 10 has finally arrived at my house. Thanks to Iris Nevins who passed it on to me, and Ann Heymann who organised shipping from the US. Continue reading Arnold Dolmetsch 10
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Events in Dundee, St Andrews and London
I am working hard this week, preparing for three events in three days. On Saturday I am in Dundee; on Sunday in St Andrews and on Monday in London.
Extended compositions or performances
I am listening to last night’s BBC broadcast of The Well-Tuned Piano by La Monte Young. This fascinating five hour performance has prompted many thoughts and half-baked ideas on the nature of this kind of music.
Gleann Lìomhann
Out today in the birch and beech woods of Glen Lyon.
Decoration on new harps
I often hear the opinion that decoration on a new harp is a kind of decadent luxury, unnecessary, a bit of an affectation. And when decoration is applied to a replica harp, it is often somewhat simplified, or sketchy, or partial.
H
After a long break I have made a new ambient electronic track which you can hear on my Soundcloud page.
Restoration of the Brian Boru harp
On Thursday I was at the National Museum of Scotland store in Granton, a suburb north of Edinburgh. I went there with Karen Loomis, to look at the plaster-cast of the Trinity College harp which is kept in the store. We had a very productive hour, inspecting, measuring and photographing the cast, and discussing aspects of the cast and how it related to the real thing in the Long Room at Trinity College, and to later illustrations and depictions of the harp.
English bog oak
I recently made two items from Cumbrian bog oak, a tuning key and a pendant.
American attitudes to Gaelic culture
Michael Newton has an interesting post on his blog, gathering opinions on attitudes to Gaelic cultural heritage and Gaelic language in North America.
I wonder how much of the kind of attitudes discussed and revealed here are related to attitudes to Gaelic harp traditions?
Gross travesties of Pictish art
After I finished the Trinity College harp neck decoration sheet, I thought again about the issues surrounding this type of art, considering the sketchy and approximate versions of this scheme that we have seen up to now even on the best copies of the harp.