Pre-Festival Workshop and Play-along Opportunity
Some of the most-loved moments of our Festival are when we get to play the harp together: at the late-night sessions, in our courses, or, when the weather allows, under the blossoming cherry trees at Merchiston.
We’ve been missing these opportunities and so want, as part of our online Festival, to give you the chance to play along – whether you’ve signed up to a course or not.
A special version of the tune Rory Dall’s Port has been filmed for the double celebration of the 90th Anniversary of The Clarsach Society and the 40th EIHF and will feature at the end of all three “A New Generation” concerts (free to view at 1pm on Saturday 10th, Sunday 11th and Monday 12th April): we’d love you to join in and play along, too!
To help you do so, harp teacher and performer Màiri Macleod has filmed a workshop, taking you through the tune, arranged by our own Isobel Mieras.
You can download the sheet music for it here: HERE
Please note p1&2 on sheetmusic are the individual parts, p3 onwards is the full score)
We hope you enjoy learning the tune and can’t wait to have you play it with us during the festival!
Rory Dall’s Port (arranged by Isobel Mieras)
This wonderful, strong tune, believed to have been composed by the blind harper Roderick Morison (1656- 1714), harper and bard to John Macleod of Dunvegan, is one of the few old Scottish harp tunes which have survived. “Port” comes fom the Gaelic for a tune and it would have originally been played on the wire harp, while this arrangement, originally made for na Clarsairean, the harp orchestra of the Edinburgh Branch of The Clarsach Society, is suitable for all kinds of harps. The tune was used by Robert Burns for his famous song of parting “Ae fond Kiss and then we sever.”