Yes, there's that Robert ap Huw source, and I *think* there is some harp tab in the Skene MS. I could be wrong about that.
Cynthia Cathcart is a clarsach player who comes to mind on the subjects of both harp tab and lute tab. She's the local guru on clarsach-related subjects in the Washington DC area: she plays strictly wire-strung (on very beautiful Ardival harps!). I don't know if she actually sightreads the old Scottish lute tab but (just to keep things lute-related here) I know she's able to utilize it to make arrangements for the wire-strung harp. In a way I guess that's sort of like transcribing Chillesotti from guitar notation back to lute tab! On Jan 26, 2006, at 3:41 PM, marigold castle wrote: > Actually, many folk harpers don't play by ear. Most of us amateur > folk harpers, being lazy dogs, just buy books of predigested harp > music converted into modern musical notation. We leave the playing > (and arranging) from original sources to the likes of Grainne Yeats > or Alison Kinnaird. ;) So do I! They do it so well! Alison Kinneard's arrangements are very wire-strung friendly! But what I meant about playing by ear was that after I've learned a tune I'm able to play it without having the sheet music in front of me. I can make my own arrangement of it. I do this with all the tunes I know on both clarsach and hammered dulcimer. Unlike the lute, which I have to play from the tablature every time. David R To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
