ABOUT THESE ACCOMPANIMENTS

As in the other five volumes, the accompaniments in this fourth volume of Travels With My Harp are suitable for piano and for pedal or lever harp but they were specifically written or adapted for the latter. Since making my first singing radio broadcast in Ireland at the age of sixteen, I accompanied myself on the Irish harp. Over the years my repertoire expanded to include songs from other parts of the world. This volume offers a spriniding of my favourite songs - songs I have perfonned many times in concert, on radio and on television, recorded on LP, CD and DVD.

It has been said that the Irish harp is the closest of all instruments to the human voice and I only ever used the harp as an accompanying instrument. The harp’s role for the self-accompanist is to enhance the singing without drawing undue attention to itself. All along, my aim had been to keep my harp accompaniments simple without being dull, interesting without being fussy or drawing attention away from the actual song. I memorised my harp accompaniments and never wrote them down. Now at last I’m committing them to paper.

Over many years of performing on stage and on television, as any professional singer will tell you, one’s interpretation of songs evolves and likewise the accompaniments. My recordings of the songs in this book were made at different times, sometimes part of live performances, and what is on the various recordings may not always in every detail accord exactly with what appears on paper here. I’ve avoided over-burdening the user with tco many directions. Singing and the interpretation of songs is a personal matter, best left to the individual singer to work out on his or her own. My own interpretation can be heard on the CD that accompanies each of these volumes. There is one contemporary song in each volume but most are traditional. More information: www.maryohara.co.uk

Of the hundreds of songs I have recorded, fewer than a third are with harp accompaniment only. Most are with harp, piano and flute — my regular concert lineup — and many with orchestra. For this book, I’ve selected a cross section of the songs I sang with the harp only.

To help you understand these songs more fully, knowledge of the songs’ backgrounds or my own connection with them may be helpful.

The Lark in the Clear Air. This most romantic of love songs with it’s beautifully matching words and music seems to have the power to sweep the performer (and let’s hope the listener) upwards to the free, open spaces of the sky with the singing lark.

The Bonny Earl o’ Moray. One of the many beautiful Lowland Scots songs I learnt during my frequent trips to Edinburgh in 1960-61. David Munson, at that time editor of the Scottish National Dictionary and headquartered at the Schcol of Scottish Studies, encouraged me in my pursuit of Scottish songs and very painstakingly went over every syllable with me. He was an expert in braid Scots and taught me not only how the words were pronounced in a particular region, but during a particular period in history.

Ailiú Éannai. A dream song if ever there was one. And for a different reason, like The Lark in the Clear Air, as it were, sings itself. So evocative of bright tranquil early summer mornings and new love.

Willie’s Gane Tae Melville Castle. The undentable self-confidence of this dashing young man, who has all the local lovelies at his feet, is awesome.

Never Weather-beaten Saile. I call this type of song ‘God-song’ and my discovery of this particular one was in the early 70’s while I was recuperating at the Benedictine monastery in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The happy discovery decided me to start including Elizabethan song in my repertoire. Besides giving it an airing now and then in concerts and on TV, I included it on one of the last CDs I recorded, ‘Celebration of Love’ in 1989.

Tant Con Je Vivrai. Adam de la Halle’s 13th century song was given to me exactly as it is printed here by my friend Michael Morrow, painter and musician. I was 17. He accompanied me on the lute and had great plans for our doing programmes of Elizabethan songs for the BBC Third Programme, now known as Radio Three.

My Aunt Jane. This catchy children’s song I’ve always sung with a Northern Ireland accent, simply because I heard it sung that way by Teresa Clifford (who was from the North) whenever she sang it on ‘Take the Floor’, a Radio Éireann variety show on which we both often sang in the early 5Os.

Plaisir d’Amour. My first hearing of Joan Baez’s enchanting recording of this song decided me to make it my own. Some years later I included the frill original French art song version in my concerts. Regrettably, I never got round to recording that original.

The Bonny Boy. This song was on my first LP for Decca Records (1956).

Haigh Didil Dum. A perennial favourite with adults and children alike. It’s about the adventures of a kitten and its mother riding in the rain to Galway on the back of a drake.

The Gartan Mother's Lullaby. Gartan is a remote area in County Donegal in the west of Ireland. As children we used to go bathing at Rosses Point, in north Co. Sligo, adjacent to Donegal. One day, back from wandering off by myself to the deserted ‘far strand’, I reported having seen a ‘red bee’. ‘No such thing’, I was told. But the ‘red bee’ is well and truly celebrated in the first line of this lullaby.

Prayer of the Badger. In 1974, the Scottish writer and close friend, George Scott-Moncrieff gave me a copy of his ‘A Book of Uncommon Prayer’. When I wondered why my friend, the badger, had been overlooked among all the other devout little creatures, George generously obliged with ‘The Prayer of the Badger’. I needed two verses but by the time I got around to setting it to music, George had died. His son Michael obligingly supplied a second verse.

I have now been retired from singing for some years and I have hung up my harp for good but I hope these harp accompaniments of mine will give you some pleasure and that you’ll find them useful in your work.

A word about accidentals and enharmonics:

All Irish harps are tuned to either Eb or Ab. I choose to tune mine to the key of Ab major (4 flats) and all my instructions regarding the accompaniments stem from that. In the key of Ab major (a key I was comfortable with, having a high voice), all the levers (blades) are in the neutral position and thus the tone of the harp is at its best — when a lever is engaged, the tone of the string is slightly affected. I have indicated how to get accidentals in a way that I see to be easiest for the player of the Irish and similar lever harps. Incidentally, the next much favoured key for me was Eb. To get from the key of Ab to Eb, simply engage the D lever.