A' chàirdean,

Bliadhn' Ùr Mhath dhuibh uile: a Happy New Year to you all.

I hope to have the work on Carolan's C mode repertoire going up on
the www.calumcille.com website under the 'harp keys' tab within the
next few days. As I do so, I'm correcting errors. If you notice any
clear errors, do let me know.

One of the fascinating possibilities presented by the evidence is
that Carolan did use a particular system of finals. In the keys of C
natural, A natural, G natural and G one sharp, he seems he may have
used an upper final to end his instrumental tunes and a lower final
to end his songs.

I haven't noticed such a system in the harp repertoire outwith that
of Carolan, perhaps because there might have been more one modal
system. The thought that's occupying my mind at the moment, though,
is why he wouldn't have used similarly paired finals in the keys of D
natural and E one sharp ...

Beannachdan,



Alasdair




--- In clairseach@..., "Alasdair Codona"
<calumcille@...> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> Carolan for Christmas!
>
> I've finally completed my work on the Carolan's D, A and G modes
and
> I'm in the middle of putting it up on my website www.calumcille.com
> under the harp keys tab. I've also updated some of the material in
the
> harp tuning section accordingly. If you've got some time over the
New
> Year, you might want to have a browse.
>
> Some of the suggestions are perhaps quite daring and I've been
> surprised myself with some of the conclusions that have come out of
the
> research.
>
> One of the reasons I started this work is because, despite Carolan
> being a singing harper, the Carolan volume was (understandably)
heavily
> edited to make tunes available to the musical masses.
Unfortunately,
> this obscures and defigures the material for the Gaelic singer and
> harper and there was no one providing a list of advised harp keys.
I
> was determined to sift through the edition, with reference to
original
> sources, to look for the diatonic evidence behind the accidental-
prone
> notations and publish this. Obviously, Carolan's own vocal range
would
> impact on the keys enormously and, in my tables, I've tried to take
his
> vocal range into account when ascribing keys.
>
> However, some material is attributed quite weakly perhaps to
Carolan
> and, where I though appropriate, I have put those tunes into a more
> natural key for the harp. I hope the results generate some
discussion
> in the group.
>
> Beannachdan,
>
>
> Alasdair
>
>
>
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM&eurl=
>