A belated reply to this theme. Two B strings together on a clarsach (knee) harp? This message comes from a friend who performs on various instruments including this one...
"We are of the opinion that the earliest picture of an undeniably wire strung harp referred to in writing associated with the picture as an Irish (or Scots) harp, much later to be known as clarsach, is from Michael Praetorious, early 1600's. He would, therefore, dispute the term 'medieval'. Even until Haydn the formal orchestra had no standardized tuning for string instruments so it is pointless to try and impose such an idea on the renaissance let alone medieval. The note B relative to A being 440 hertz did not occur in history until Edwardian times in the early 20th century so to call a note B earlier than this seems pointless. In Scotland folk music was still being written as 'hyang hyang hinne hinne hyang hyang' to mimic the sound of the bagpipes or flutes even into the 18th century. This is not to say that more educated lowlanders could not write music as we write it today. However, the concept of lowlanders being Scots and not just English north of the border only starts to become a concept at this time. As for the Irish before the 19th century ................ well............. it's just 'beyond the pale'! In other words if people wish to have academic discussions with each other about medieval folk music then that's fine, just don't attach too much weight to it, that's all." No mention here of the clarsach having `two-sisters' (matching strings), being the main reason I asked for clarification. If this occurred, my guess is that it was a `midway' indication where both hands meet during play. But surely there is often `cross-over'? Having two strings sounding the same would affect the melody at that point if they were not being plucked together? But we must return to topic soon. Sorry. I think we already know that music notes were not defined for tuning the lute. Best Wishes Ron (UK) -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
