Many young Welsh harpists derive their greatest joy from accompanying their friends in the traditional art of Cerdd Dant. Nowadays, however, it is virtually impossible to obtain many of the popular older traditional tunes used for Cerdd Dant, and especially to find them in modern editions. Even more difficult is to find them in arrangements which have been specially made for the harp. Having set out to answer these problems, the original edition of Telyn y Werin (1975) was an unqualified success.

Almost thirty years later, this new edition is the fifth. The tunes and the arrangements themselves are unchanged, but whilst re-publishing and re-setting the melodies digitally, it was thought appropriate to take the opportunity of placing them in a different order. Now it is possible to play them as a 'set', and a further advantage is that this can be done on the Celtic harp as well as the concert harp. Traditionally, the celtic harp is tuned in Eb, and it will be noticed that, starting from the basic tuning, the melodies are placed in an order which follows that of 'the circle of keys'. All the necessary pedal and lever changes have been notated as and when they occur, though, of course, the performer must not forget to set the harp in the right key before beginning to play. We would, however, like to emphasise that we have ensured that the arrangements which appear here are reproduced precisely as in the tried, proved and popular original version of 1975.

Although the arrangements offered are by no means difficult, I am hopeful that they will be of real use to Welsh harpists at all levels, and that they may to some extent fill the gap created by those traditional Cerdd Dant tunes which are no longer available. Harpists - recognise your precious heritage, cherish it, burnish it and honour it, and in so doing offer praise and due appreciation to the ancient Welsh art of Cerdd Dant.

Meinir Heulyn, April, 2004