Filmed entirely on location in Ireland, this is a preview of the upcoming documentary on John Doan’s “A Celtic Pilgrimage.” It showcases the journey he took repeatedly to explore the Celtic history and spiritual places he calls the “thin places” where spirit and earth meet.
John talks about the project and the stories of how he came to compose the beautiful music behind his Eire – Isle of the Saints, Wayfarer, and A Celtic Pilgrimage albums.
In an ancient cottage on Aran Isle in Ireland, John Doan plays for his fellow pilgrims on his own pilgrimage after completing the album, “Eire – Isle of the Saints.”
At the 2006 Guild of American Luthiers Festival (GAL) in Tacoma, Washington, John Doan performs his best known tune, “Farewell,” from his A Celtic Pilgrimage and Eire – Isle of the Saints.
At the 2006 GAL Festival in Tacoma, Washington, John Doan dazzled audiences with his harp guitar in this collection of tips from the Guild of American Luthiers Festival.
In 2005, I hosted the third International Harp Guitar Festival (Sept. 3-4) at Willamette University where I am a professor of music. The event managed to attract a large crowd consisting of many students, faculty and staff, and members of the community nearly filling Hudson Hall for the evening concert.
We had just over 71 people attending the workshops and presentations from 4 countries and 14 states. Over a dozen harp guitarists came to perform (and I might add mystified the audience with their playing), an equal number of noted luthiers discussed their latest designs, along with three published scholars who made presentations of their research. The stage in Hudson was an absolute spectacle displaying 65 antique to modern harp guitars (a display the first of it’s kind). This was largely due to the temporary loan of two crates of rare instruments shipped up from Los Angeles from the Miner Museum.
It is a humble group that has grown in numbers over the years and promises to continue to evolve. Go to Harp Guitars for information on the next Gathering.
You can see comments and photographs of the event and pictures of the International Harp Guitar Festival workshops and concerts.
by John Doan, published originally in the September 1988 issue of Frets magazine
Until recently, harp guitars usually graced the back walls of pawn shops and junk stores, or played the ignoble role of mascot in the old guitar emporium downtown. Collectors of the offbeat and curious kept them piled in instrument mausoleums, or hung like stuffed spearfish over the home entertainment center, but no more. Today many guitarists are experimenting with different tunings and custom-designed instruments–often with additional bass or treble strings. The harp guitar may be an instrument whose time has come again.
Our interest in instruments with many strings is not without precedent. During the Renaissance (1400-1600), the new polyphonic musical style gave a privileged role to all instruments capable of producing several notes at once. String instruments developed during this period included the mandora, bandora, orpharion, penorcon, stump, cittern, and lute. The guitar at that time had four pairs of strings, and was used primarily to accompany singing. It would be some 200 years before it would evolve to approximate what we call the guitar today, with its characteristic six single strings and EADGBE tuning. The lute, however, had already acquired five pairs of strings (each pair of strings known as a course) by the 1400s, six courses by the 1500s, and, by the end of the century, seven- and eight-course instruments were common.
As the Renaissance gave way to the Baroque (1600-1750), lutenists strove to keep pace with the new developments in music. They composed more and more pieces in alternate tunings, lowering basses (bass strings), and ultimately adding more strings to increase the range and flexibility of the instrument. The problem they confronted was the limited reach of the left-hand fingers to stop the strings. There was only so far that the width of the fingerboard could be extended. And in order to get a good tone in the lower register, the strings needed to be longer. Continue reading
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