Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

Road trip to Dublin

The early Irish wire strung harp precedes the modern day pedal harp or orchestral harp by approximately 400 years. It has a clear bell like sound when properly played with the fingernails rather than the pads of the tips of the fingers. It was a strong Irish tradition that existed for several centuries and was an essential part of the social fabric particularly for the wealthy. They were the ones that could afford to support a harper and have harps made. The tradition began to disappear in the mid-eighteenth century and there is evidence being unearthed by Simon Chadwick that individual harpers in the tradition were alive and playing in the nineteenth century. The instruments and fragments of harps we were visiting are of the earlier variety especially the two in Trinity College: the Castle Otway and Brian Boru harps. The former is not on public display and the latter is in the College Library long room that is currently empty of books. We had the privilege of up close and personal but no touching view of the instruments.

And then it was time for lunch!

The harps at the National Museum are in climate controlled storage. They are all in fragile condition with the exception of the reproduction of one of them: the Cloyne harp.

And then it was time to set off for the Guiness Storehouse Museum to see my favourite harp: the Downhill harp.

It was a long road trip day but very enjoyable. It was difficult to absorb all of the information and the fact that I was seeing the actual harps played by harpers such Dennis O’Hempsey. It was the icing on the cake of an incredible experience that was the Harp Festival.