Dear Folks,
We are pleased to announce the release of a new font, free for download and use in the Irish Traditional Music (ITM) community. This font has been developed in collaboration with Grey Larsen, author of The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle, and is a significant update to the Irish Music Resources website.
For many years there has been no standard for notating the ornamentation which makes ITM so unique. The need for a clear, understandable standard for depicting these articulations has been recognized for some time. In his important work Ceol Rince na hÉireann (Vol. I), Breandán Breathnach wrote:
[…]it seemed to me better to invent a sign for the ornament for which the various musicians would not have the same notes, rather than write out notes which in any tune would suit only the instrument of the musician from whom I had it.Breathnach chose, thank goodness, to spend the majority of his time compiling vast numbers of traditional tunes; his efforts in properly notating ornamentation remained a quiet side note for a later time.
With the publication of Grey Larsen’s book “The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle,” he has taken up the challenge, and developed a series of fourteen simple symbols—for use with standard musical staff notation—which are used to show the cuts, rolls, cranns, and other articulation commonly used by traditional musicians.
In the interests of making this system available to the largest number of musicians and educators possible, I approached Grey and suggested developing these symbols as an electronic font. Called "Larsen,"it is easily used along with computer software to fully notate Irish (and other) music so that it can properly reflect the playing of master performers. This free font release includes:
i) a true type font, suitable for use with both Mac or Windows operating systems. Included are both standard musical symbols and the new ITM ornaments.
ii) a printable keyboard map, showing which keys will type which ornament symbols.
iii) the 18-page A Guide to Grey Larsen’s Notation System for Irish
Ornamentation explaning the use of these symbols in notating ITM
( also available at http://greylarsen.com/services/tunebank/vault.php )
iv) a text file with detailed installation instructions, and reminders as to where on the internet to find more information.
It is the hope of both Grey and myself that this font will be used as a powerful educational tool: one which will give insight into, and make accessible to everyone, the music that is such a powerful part of all of us.
Details of this font—and my previous free pennywhistle tablature font—can be found at the Irish Music Resources website, at: http://members.shaw.ca/dabooks/music</a](http://members.shaw.ca/dabooks/music/">http://members.shaw.ca/dabooks/music</a)>
Details and examples of ITM music notation using this system can be found at Grey Larsen’s Irish Tune Bank, at: http://www.greylarsen.com
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you may contact: dabooks@shaw.ca
Sincerely,
David Armstrong