The Gaelic harp tradition died out over 100 years ago, and the harpers did not write any of it down. How do we rediscover lost playing techniques and idioms, for an extinct oral tradition?

Edward Bunting's work is most important. The Bunting Sources page gives an overview of his work; the Irish Terms page is a multimedia edition of the fingering gestures and figures he published in 1840.

Specific details can be gleaned from collating historical documents. I have started doing this for the use of
long fingernails,
string colours,
unison 'Sister' strings or 'Ne Cawlee',
and also for orientation - it is a notable feature of the old tradition that a left-hand-treble, right-hand-bass orientation was universally used by the old Irish and Scottish Gaelic harpers.

Contemporary depictions of harps and harpers can also be useful in searching for hints on how the instrument was held and played.

To bring the tradition back to life, I and others are playing the historic repertory using appropriate period idiom and technique on replica instruments. I have written a tutor book and these companion pages provide additional information.

Simon Chadwick