Instruments

 

 

Versatility in playing a variety of musical instruments is one of Debra’s unique strengths. Because some are not commonly seen and heard, these brief descriptions are offered to answer the questions most often received.

Neo-Celtic Harp

Celtic harps of modern construction come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, different woods used, and materials for strings may be nylon, gut, metal, or a combination of these. Unlike the pedals which change the pitch of many strings at once on a modern concert harp, most neo-celtic harps have some kind of levers or blades on individual strings to raise or lower the pitch one-half step.

Debra performs regularly on two harps of this type. One is a 36-string 5 ½ ft cherry harp with Truitt levers which she made from a kit by MusicmakerKits and decorated with an ivy vine on the sound board. The others (see photo) is a 34-string mahogany harp with sharping blades, designed and made by Bob Cunningham. Each harp has its own individual tone and feel.

Historical Harp

Historical harps may be reproductions of extant harps, or extrapolated from harps in art and manuscripts of a particular time and consistent with known examples. The goal of “historically informed performance” is to let listeners experience music of an earlier time in as close to its original sound as possible. Authentic instruments are critical to achieving this goal, producing the appropriate tone quality and even encouraging a different playing technique than one would use on a modern instrument. Debra’s “Ghent harp”, made by Catherine Campbell, is extrapolated from a painting c.1432 by Jan van Eyck in Ghent, Belgium and from an extant harp in the Wartburg Museum, Eisenach, Germany. It has gut strings and brays, L-shaped pegs of wood that can be set to barely touch the strings, giving a distinctive buzzing sound to the tone. Because it is much lighter in weight and the strings are closer together and strung much more loosely than the neo-celtic harps, playing it is very different experience!

Flute

The flutes Debra plays range from a keyless wooden flute to a modern Boehm-system flute made of silver. Although producing a tone by blowing across the embouchure hole is much the same on all of them, the fingerings are not. The keyless flute has the basic six fingerholes needed for playing a “D” diatonic scale, with cross fingerings used to produce the other tones. The Baroque (one-key) and simple system six-key flutes work the same way, but the added keys allow another way to play the extra notes. The Boehm system, first developed in the 1830’s-40’s by Thoebald Boehm, starts with bigger holes placed for acoustic accuracy, all holes covered by padded keys connected so that they can be controlled by the available fingers. The result is greater range, greater volume, better intonation, and much greater ease of playing in any key you can imagine (and a few you’d rather not!). Even so, Debra loves the unique beauty of the sound of the older flutes, special technique used on Irish wooden flute and the challenge of learning yet another set of fingerings.

Fife

The fife is really just a small flute. Debra plays keyless 6-hole fifes that play most easily in their primary scale and one or two closely-related scales. The “D” fife plays easily in “D” and “G”, the “C” fife in “C” and “F”, and so forth. The military fifes used in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars were most often in B-Flat. The written music for all is usually notated in D and G, so only the “D” fife is sounding as it is written. Debra’s “D” and “C” fifes are made of rosewood, and “B-flat” fife is of grenadilla, the kind of wood, as well as the size and shape of the bore and fingerholes greatly affecting the tone quality.

Whistle

This instrument is variously called “tinwhistle”, Irish whistle, pennywhistle, flageolet or just “whistle”. The names “tinwhistle” and “pennywhistle” reflect the history of making whistles from rolled tin, with fingerholes punched out and the top opening crimped around a block of wood to form the fipple mouthpiece, with the whistle selling for one English penny. They are made today in various metals, woods, and even plastic. Debra’s favorite is of African blackwood. Whistles come in different sizes to play in different keys like fifes, and the fingerings are the same.

Recorder

The sweetness of its tone and sheer simple beauty of design and ease of playing make the recorder a favorite of everyone from schoolchildren to professionals. The recorder has been around at least since the 15^th century, and experienced a well-deserved revival in the 20^th century. Recorder and whistle are both “fipple flutes”, but the recorder is distinguished by the number and arrangement of its fingerholes – seven on top and a thumbhole in the upper back. Recorders come in different sizes, forming a family or consort, usually in the keys of “C” or “F”. Debra is forever grateful that Charlie Delaney made her learn to play both in concert pitch. Her recorders are all of Baroque design, with three-part construction, conical bore, lovely turnings in the wood, and Baroque fingerings.