Tuning and playing the Anglo Saxon Lyre

This video was taken from the video introduction on my Lyre making CD-Rom, it gives a quick guide to tuning and playing. The tuning is a diatonic scale in G, a great voice pitch to sing along to!
The Lyre making CD is available here

www.michaeljking.com

I will do my best to answer if you have any questions!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Saxon
• lyre
• harp
• anglo
• viking
• leier
• making
• playing
• tuning
• reenactment
• early

[jakeaboo40]

What type of lyre are you using in this video I am very interested in buying that type from you

[michaeljking]

@jakeaboo40 They are both Anglo Saxon Lyres, message me, I normally can offer a student model Anglo Saxon lyre within a month if you need it, otherwise the museum quality replicas take a lot longer and need commissioning and cost much more

[iannandale]

Hello

I have a 13 string lyre made in Australia for my son's Steiner school. what note should I start with when tuning it - G or E?

Thanks for your wonderful video

[michaeljking]

@iannandale Google the makers of your instrument and inquire with them...these are made in various sizes, mostly to a pentatonic tuning but beyond that i cannot say

[lsur04]

Thank you! This is a very informative video and pleasantly presented. Did you ever hear of the 'lyre' that Arnold Dolmetsch made for Florence Farr? She developed a style of reciting to the instrument though i think the details have been lost. Thanks again - you have given me some ideas!

[michaeljking]

Thanks for your commenst, and for that Dolmetsch note, its a fascinating period or rediscovery, I did find some pictures online of Florence Farr with a lyre, It looks like a Psaltery with an angled Lyre frame, similar to some modern Lyres in Germany, maybe there is a connection. Dolmetschs company later made the reconstruction Anglo Saxon Lyre for the British Museum

[ImperialistRunningDo]

@jakeaboo40 Have you gone to his web page? He has a number of different models and price ranges.

I'm a crazed woodworker and have built several based on his plans. This guy's the read deal.

[jakeaboo40]

What type of lyre are you using in this video I am very interested in buying the type you are playing in this video from you and how much does it cost?

[MacDonald989]

what is that

[MoorOfDundee]

VERY Interesting!

[MarkAllanBarnes]

Is there an equivalent to a guitar capo that is used on lyre? So that you could change the tuning from G A B C D E to C D E F G A for example? If it doesn't exist I'll probably invent one, but I wondered if it's already been done.

[MarkAllanBarnes]

I have recently built a 6 string electric lyre (not to be confused with my previous lyre guitars etc.) and tried it out on stage. One of the things that interests me about this instrument is that it offers chords in a wide variety of intonations and temperaments just by retuning strings (with guitar I have to make necks with different fret patterns). I intend to use this lyre in place of rhythm guitar in recordings. Can you suggest an instrument to take the place of bass guitar please?