AHJ, Vol. 7 No. 1, Summer 1979

36
him to just that. He accepted the challenge, and from
then on he was 'hooked.' It took him a year to produce
the first model, but typically of him, he was not satisfied
and continued to experiment with structural design,
always with the singular thought that it must be an instrument
with a simple design but a quality of tone."
Once John Quinn was sure that he had a harp that
was a practical instrument, he commenced to make
them for selected customers in Ireland, the U.S.A., and
Holland. All of this time, he continued to experiment
with various woods, tuning blades, and various types of
pins, and incorporated his new ideas into the current instrument.
He expanded his market to France, Italy, and
Germany and became internationally recognized. He
was helped by his brother Daniel, who was a piano tuner
and had ample experience in the tuning and tone
qualities of instruments. When John died in 1960 Daniel
Quinn decided to carry on the business, despite ill health
and scarcity of materials. Patrick (Paddy) Quinn
entered the business in 1966, doing both the managerial
work and practical work in harp making and harp
finishing, which is all hand-rubbed French-polishing.
Paddy's sister, Mary, and her son, John Maguire, joined
the family craft about 1972, and now Paddy's three
sons are coming into harpmaking as well. The Quinn
family's service to the R.I.A.M. goes back to the time of
its establishment in Westland Row, about 1856.
The Quinn brothers accepted my order for a new harp
(in 1973), and about six months later my hand-made
Irish harp arrived at SEA-TAC airport, still in tune
from the hands of the Dublin harpmaker. The body of
the harp is carved from one piece of mahogany, with
rounded back and no seams. The neck and pillar are
also of mahogany, French-polished to a rich brown.
The soundboard is decorated with pokerwork, while the
Dublin crest decorates the top of the pillar. The Quinn
harp is 43 inches tall and 23 inches wide, and sits upon
four little feet. It has 31 strings, of which five are fine
wound wire and the rest of thin gut. The strings of the
present-day Irish harps are noticeably thinner than the
corresponding strings used for pedal harps. It is tuned
like the Clark Irish harp, from bottom E to upper G,
and has large brass tuning blades set in the neck to raise
the pitch of each string.
I was introduced to the venerable Sister Angela
Walshe, O.P., by M~irin Ni Sh~ when I visited Sion Hill
Convent last October. I was charmed by her dignified
manner and speech, brilliant and twinkling eyes, small
and great stature in white traditional nun's garb. I
laughed to think how Paddy Quinn had shaken his head
ruefully while he told me how Sister Angela had
"pearsecuted my brither, John, until he made her a
harp."
The visionary, Sister Angela, was Mary O'Hara's
singing teacher.
• • • • • • • • •
Several new harpmakers have appeared lately in
Ireland. One is Joe Porter, who makes harps for Comhaltas
Ceoltoiri Eireann. These are available at their
headquarters, Cult~rlann na hEireann, Belgrave
Square, Monkstown, Co. Dublin.
Another fine harpmaker is Calm Maher (Calm b
Meachair), a former schoolteacher who has been making
harps professionally for several years now. Calm
has a fine workshop at The Craft Courtyard, Marley
Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. His harps, which I have
played, are well made and have very good tone.
All Irish harpmakers that I am acquainted with prefer
to use the traditional gut strings, for best tone, with
fine, wound wire strings in the bass.
Wire-strung Harps
Another whole category of Irish Harp, which, unfortunately
I cannot cover now for lack of space and time,
is the revival of the wire-strung harp. This very interesting
subject deserves serious consideration, and, I
might say, special technique. Alan Stivell, of Brittany,
and Derek Bell, of Ireland, are the principal artists who
perform on the wire-strung harps. Christopher Warren
has done considerable research on the subject. A young
American woman, Sylvia Woods, who tours and performs
with Robin Williamson and His Merry Band,
plays the wire-strung harp very expressively.
Derek Bell
Derek Bell came into my life, musically speaking,
during the spring of 1975 when, laid up with a broken
leg and unable to drive or play my pedal harp, I had
plenty of time to listen to records. Fortunately I had just
rewarded myself for completing extended University
studies by the purchase of a recording with Irish Harp
which I had noticed advertised in Folk Harp Journal:
The Chieftains 4, with Derek Bell, harp. Until that time
my sole source of inspiration in Irish Harp was Mary
O'Hara and, as far as I knew at that time, she would
always be apart from us, in the monastery to which she
had retired years before. Derek brought me another,
fascinating example of Irish Harp - solely instrumental,
played expressively and fluently, both as solo and in
the company of such jolly lot of musicians as I had
never heard before! I was rejuvenated from the efforts
of academic research, from the discouragements of attempting
to play pedal harp in orchestra, and the confusion
in my own mind about the existence of the instrument
to which I had devoted so much lonely, academic
study: the Irish Harp. Here was someone who really
knew Carolan, who could pronounce for me the sounds
I needed to hear to believe in the life of Irish instrumental
music. It was an important turning point for me.
From the anxiety that I would never play the harp again,
since I couldn't play my pedal harp and wouldn't play
my Irish harp, depressed as I was about the condition of
Irish music at that time, I eventually coaxed my Irish
harp to imitate the sounds of the lovely air, "Carrickfergus",
and then the lively tune, "Morgan
Magan", and even the mysterious "Mn~ na hEireann."
heard for the first time as Derek played them. I even
went out to play these tunes at the Northwest Regional
Folklife Festival, on Memorial Day 1975, cast and all,
and discovered other devotees of Irish music, right in
my own back yard, one might say, and delightful music
that I had never heard in all the years of classic music
study at the University. By the next winter I received
AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL