Postgraduate Researchers

PhD Research Student - Conservatoire

Project title: Traditions and Transformations: Harping in Ireland 1960-2005

Project abstract:

This study examines harping in Ireland between the years 1960 and 2005, during which time the playing style, performance contexts and infrastructure associated with the instrument were reimagined and transformed. While the role of the harp and song tradition in the instrument’s revival in the mid-twentieth century, and the harp’s integration into Irish traditional music in the late twentieth century have both received scholarly attention (Lawlor, 2012), an in-depth investigation of the intervening period and of the infrastructure which supported this growth is lacking. This thesis explores how harping in Ireland transformed in the later twentieth century, the role which individuals and organisations played, and how this transformation interacted with the wider context of music in Ireland. The study is framed by two significant harp events in Ireland, the establishment of the national harp organisation Cairde na Cruite in 1960 and the Ninth World Harp Congress in Dublin in 2005, while reference is also made to the instrument’s long history of evolution and adaptation.  

A case study approach explores the careers and contributions of five key figures: Derek Bell (1935-2002), Nancy Calthorpe (1914-1998), Mercedes Garvey (1925-2013), Sheila Larchet Cuthbert (1923- ) and Gráinne Yeats (1925-2013). These musicians were selected due to their impact on the development of harping in the twentieth century by way of their multiple roles as performers, educators, advocates, composers and/or arrangers. Their diverse, multifaceted careers provide rich scope for research, enabling a detailed examination of events and outputs through consideration of scores, recordings, broadcasts, publications and press commentary. Recently available archival materials have been incorporated, most notably the Gráinne Yeats Collection (ITMA) and the Derek Bell Collection (ITMA/TU Dublin).  

The study is informed and contextualised by a literature review, a series of semi-structured interviews and extensive archival research. The first section of the thesis focuses on the case-studied musicians, while the latter section explores the significance, impact and legacy of their work through a broader examination of the harp landscape between 1960 and 2005 which references the wider contexts of music in Ireland and harping internationally. As a whole, the thesis interrogates the interplay between tradition and transformation in the twentieth-century revival of the Irish harp, as reflected in the title. 

The research topic is pertinent in terms of recent national and international developments including the formation of the Ionad na Cruite research cluster (2013), the Arts Council’s Report on the Harping Tradition in Ireland (2014), the establishment of Cruit Éireann/Harp Ireland (2016), the inscription of Irish harping on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2019), and ongoing educational initiatives including those led by Music Generation and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. It contributes to a growing literature in the field of Irish harp studies (Lawlor and Joyce, 2016 and 2024), addressing gaps in relation to the development of an infrastructure for the instrument and the role of individual practitioners. This project aims to honour their contributions and create a more informed understanding of the instrument’s recent past as it enters an unprecedented period of popularity. 
 

Supervisors: Professor Clíona Doris, Dr Kerry Houston

Funder: TU Dublin Fiosraigh Scholarship

 ORCID profile:  http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0265-1862