Description for Irish Harp Tutor, Level 1
These tutor books are Janet Harbison’s Traditional Irish Harp Method
Today, Irish harp players have the choice of becoming traditional players that interpret, arrange and accompany, spontaneously and creatively as traditional harpers have done for over a millennium - or to play already arranged ('finished') pieces of traditional Irish harp music. From ancient times, our tradition has been ‘oral’ meaning ‘given by mouth’ - or ‘aural’ meaning ‘learned by ear’ (both descriptions are correct!). And it is an improvisatory art that is ultimately flexible, constantly creative, masterfully technical and expressive by the addition of ornamentation and variation.
This is distinctive from the ‘classical’ style of learning and performance - but, like jazz and other improvisatory styles, can also exist in the classical repertoire in ‘fixed’ arrangement. Janet Harbison’s Method is designed to teach traditional players, and is the method that has produced and shaped many of Ireland's most celebrated traditional harp players today.
This is the TUTOR BOOK for Harbison’s Harp Method LEVEL 1 in which you will learn:
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the basics – the names of the parts of the harp, the strings and more
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to distinguish between melody (what you can sing) and chords (from the background harmony)
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lots of good, well-known starter tunes to play with your friends
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which chords go where – ‘listen to what fits’
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Close Position Chording – where the notes of the chords are re-arranged so you can move from chord to chord with small steps rather than leaps
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to accompany tunes as well as play them – so you have the choice
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to accompany some great dance tunes such as ‘The Sport of the Chase’ and ‘Shoe the Donkey’
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to see how written music works – by following the dots and recognising chord or interval shapes
Tunes (and songs) featured in this coursework are:
Three Blind Mice, The Big Ship Sails, Bráthar Séamus (Frere Jacques), Row Row Row your Boat, Óró Sé Do Bheatha Bhaile!, The Drunken Sailor. Instrumental tunes: Brian Boru’s March, Dusty Bluebells, Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms; The Green Glens of Gweedore; Molly Malone; John Egan’s Polka, Peg Ryan’s Polka; Báidín Fheidhlimidh, The South Wind, Sport of the Chase, The Streets of Dublin, Padraig O’Keefe’s Slide, The Rakes of Mallow and Carolan tunes: Eleanor Plunkett, Planxty Irwin and Fanny Power.
