Part 2: Janet Harbison - The Story of Camac’s “Janet” Harp, tips to playing Harp in Irish Music Sessions and more…

Jan 31

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Land, landscape, history, and music…

Janet Harbison is one of the most well respected celebrators of the Irish Harp and Traditional Irish Music. She has had a profound influence on the harp and trad community teaching some of the most well known harp players in the tradition like Grainne Hambly, Michael Rooney, and Laoise Kelly.

Her new solo album, “By Strangford Water” is a collection of Janet’s compositions. There is also a companion book of the compositions on this album available on Janet’s website. We discuss her relationship with Camac harps and the story behind the making of the Camac “Janet” harp, how to interpret slow airs on the harp, and other interesting topics.

Janet likes to remind players that when playing a slow air, knowing the text and how you can tell the story of that song through the music is so integral to your musical interpretation.

”We have detached the music from the story. It’s turning the meaningful music that connects us as a community into something totally superficial and sugary.”
-Janet Harbison (on interpreting a song)

Janet is so proud of her many students who have gone on to teach and perform. “To be their teacher was a privilege.” Performers and educators like Gráinne Hambly, Laoise Kelly, and Michael Rooney continue to share the tradition with a new generation of harp players.

What does it mean to learn music in the tradition?

“The way people are learning now, mostly is in workshops by rote. It’s learning by ear, but it’s not traditional. To be traditional is to start with the basics and then to evolve the arrangement yourself using a free form of ornamentation and variation and accompaniment. None of that should be present.”
-Janet Harbison

Janet believes that a musician should be able to converse with and, “be in community with the [other] players otherwise “You’re limiting yourself”.

“It’s a natural thing for a student to emulate their teachers, but it shouldn’t be that they only can play what they’ve been formally taught, by ear or by any other means. It’s about teaching somebody a language so they can speak it. And that they feel confident to commune with it with the other tradition makers. For me that’s the purpose behind teaching.”
-Janet Harbison

Playing Harp in Irish Traditional Music Sessions

“Harp players have a unique opportunity to do the traditional stuff in a traditional way that is still also ahead of the fashion, if you like.”
-Janet Harbison

On Accompanying:

“It’s all about dressing up and dressing down any piece of music…The tune is the story and the accompaniment is the fluff. “
-Janet Harbison

Session Etiquette

Janet encourages harpists to play with the best musicians you can find, not to play in slow sessions, but go and try to stretch yourself. You don’t have to play every note, but let your playing breathe and get into the feel of the music. Janet reminds us to “Watch how the musicians look at each other and the unspoken communication”.

Harpists and Poets

“The harpists had a partnership with the poets. The poets composed the epic verse. [The verse] would never be performed without the harper providing the emotional impact in the music of the suantraí, geantraí and goltraí.”
-Janet Harbison

According to tradition, there are three types of Irish melody – suantraí, geantraí and goltraí. Suantraí (lullaby) was a tune that put you to sleep, geantraí caused laughter or merriment, whereas goltraí brought the listener to tears.

www.livinglanguage.com/blog/

Janet is passionate about training and teaching traditional Irish Harp and believes that, “Irish harp music should have a much higher profile in harp music worldwide.”