LEARNING TO PLAY THE LYRE PART 6
I started playing my lyre as soon as I tuned it, I was excited t pluck each string and run my hand over all the keys as if I was finishing a song. My desire is to learn songs of worship in my private time with Father God. I don’t expect to play Amazing Grace within the next few days but, I do need to learn songs and YouTube has limited help. Playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was nt gooing t advance my repertoire of songs.
Despite the so-so reviews I purchased two books: A BEGINNER’S SONG BOOKLET for the 16 String Lyre-Harp, arranged b Melanie Allen and THE LYRE HANDBOOK: Playing Methods of the Anglo-Saxon Lyre with Directions for Construction by Mary K Savelli.

A BEGINNER’S SONG BOOKLET: If you know nothing about reading music this will not help you.
The following is the description of the book found n Amazon: “This beginner’s booklet contains ten folk/classical songs and twelve Christmas songs arranged for the 16 string lyre-harp.
The arranger presumes the musician has some basic understanding of musical notation, such as note and rest counts/beats.
There is an error on Erie Canal in measure four: the 8 8 should be 9 9.
Please provide comments with your ratings: this helps the arranger address issues and make appropriate revisions, if necessary. Thank you.”

This reviewer gave the book 3 stars and I think it was a fair assessment:
“Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2023 Verified Purchase Mostly Christmas music only 9 other songs
This has mostly Christmas music there literally are 9 other songs in here other than Christmas music. I was hopeful that I would have a few new songs to add but everything is online that is in this book. A bit disappointed really.”

THE LYRE HANDBOOK: Playing Methods of the Anglo-Saxon Lyre with Directions for Construction: If you want to build your own lyre, I don’t know if this will help, I have seen better videos on YouTube. It does give a history of the lyre from the Greek perspective. This is not a beginner or novice players book.
The following is the description of the book via Amazon: “The Anglo-Saxon lyre was once used to accompany poetry throughout England. Unfortunately, it faded from favor after the harp gained popularity in the 9th and 10th centuries. Few records were left about its construction and playing techniques. The Lyre Handbook combines information from a variety of sources to help the musician or historian who is new to the lyre. It includes instructions for constructing a basic lyre and two methods of playing are taught with drills and simple songs. This booklet also contains a bibliography that can help you with further research. With this booklet, you can be one of the people rediscovering the lyre.”

This reviewer gave the book 3 stars and I think was a fair assessment:
“3.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2019 Verified Purchase
Not enough information of learning to play it is clear on its description but I was really looking for more on playing the lyre than building one”

Though you might want to purchase those books, booklets, I don’t think they will help you progress. As I have stated before, I am a novice thus I need a real beginners tutorial and I happened to come across a YouTuber who has a website that is very helpful.

I left the Facebook group I was a part of. I am glad they were there to answer the string question but I have been on my own looking for music. In addition to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star I am learning Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace; and I have more, I found the musical arrangements via Google.

How to Teach Yourself to Play the Lyre Harp
Website: Learning the Lyre-Harp

CONGRATULATIONS! You made it through my tales of a novice lyre-ist! The foundation has been laid and the real learning can begin. I am editing this post on November 21 though it was created November 1, 2023. I am on vacation thus I, regretfully, left my lyre at home.
My next post is entitled: I want to play the lyre.

Written by Marsha L Floyd