The harps of Fanning, Black and Mooney
Arthur O' Neill remarks in his memoirs that thirty five strings on a harp were generally
considered to be enough. This raises the question, enough in relation to what?
Charles Fanning, Daniel Black and Rose Mooney all attended the Belfast Harp Festival in
1792. The stringing of their harps is described by Dr James McDonnell in Bunting MS35 f26r.
This gives the following totals: Fanning 35, Black 34, Mooney 33. It is not clear how
McDonnell identified where the sisters were. If the sisters were traditionally positioned in a
commonly recognised way at a well-defined juncture between the more widely spaced treble
strings and narrowly spaced bass strings, or if the harps were sufficiently in tune, then of
course there would be no problem determining the position of the sisters.
Knowing the position of the sisters allows us to identify the treble ranges of these harps, if we
assume the pitch of G used by Hampsey and Byrne for the sisters. This produces agreeable
results for the treble. Notably, all three gamuts can encompass the Downhill tuning of thirty
strings which Bunting says was 'the usual number of strings found on all the harps at the
Belfast meeting, in 1792'. He would perhaps have been able to write 'minimum number'.
Fanning's gamut is noteworthy in relation to that of the Downhill as Hampsey received some
instruction from Fanning's father. Daniel Black, the elder of the three harpers, would appear to
have had the most highly pitched gamut. Any attempt to identify the tunings of their bass
ranges is conjectural. The Downhill téad leagaidh (falling string) seems to have been a
genuine tradition but it might not have been regarded as necessary on harps with an ample
bottom range. On the other hand, there might have been more than one on such harps.
To be brief, I will present the following suggested tunings as a springboard for the reader's
own ingenuity. For simplicity, I have presented the pitches below the crónán merely as
following on from the téad leagaidh in straightforward scales, but numerous options are
presentable below the crónán. It is possible to depict Fanning's gamut as stopping at GGG
and Black's at CC by removing the téad leagaidh.
Fanning (35)
eee
ddd
↕
a
G
G
F
↕
Γ
FF/EE
DD
CC
BB
AA
GGG
FFF
|
Black (34)
ggg
fff
eee
ddd
↕
a
G
G
F
↕
Γ
FF/EE
DD
CC/BB?
AA?
|
Mooney (33)
ddd
↕
a
G
G
F
↕
Γ
FF/EE
DD
CC
BB
AA
GGG
|
Fanning's harp had 35 strings, 14 below, & 19 above the Sisters the 11 upper
strings of iron wire ... Black's had 11 below, & 21 above the Sisters ... Rose
Mooney's had 13 strings below, & 18 above The Sisters ...