Rupert's Fun Facts
Rupert is Katie's teaching assistant. His imaginative contribution to lessons is always welcome.
Now Rupert is making his debut in writing, with some novel ideas about harps and harping.
There are lots of different meanings for the word harp - it can be a type of musical instrument, the name of a star, a kind of sea shell or even a verb.
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The Harp Star, Vega, and the constellation Lyra
Lyra by Jacquie Parkinson
During the summer months in the northern hemisphere one of the brightest stars in the sky is Vega, the Harp Star. The star is about 25 light years away from Earth, it is the first star to be seen in the night sky during July and August, visible almost directly overhead. For many years Vega was used as the zero point on the brightness scale against which other stars and planets were compared.
The Harp Star is the brightest star in the constellation of Lyra which represents the lyre of either Hermes or Orpheus, it consists of five main stars which are visible to the naked eye.
The constellation has been identified and described since ancient times. The short passage below is from Phaenomena, a poem by the Hellenistic poet Aratus, who lived from 315 to 240 BC. It describes how Hermes placed the tortoise Lyre amongst the stars:
“And the Tortoise – she’s a little one. When barely out of his cradle, Hermes hollowed her out and named her the Lyre. He put her down before the Image of the Unknown Man, bringing her into the heavens. The Image, stretched out on its legs, moves with its left knee towards the Lyre. On the other side, the top of the Bird’s head turns around her. So between the head of the Bird and the knee of the Image, the Lyre is placed”
In more recent times the Unknown Image and the Bird have become known as Hercules and Cygnus.
We are very grateful to the textile artist Jacquie Parkinson for granting permission to use her beautiful representation of Lyra. It is a detail from “Universe” one of the panels in her magnificent work “Threads Through Creation”.
27 November 2025
Celtic Harps
Queen Mary Harp
National Museum of Scotland
Three very old Celtic harps survive today
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the Trinity College Harp in Dublin, also known as Brian Boru’s harp which is thought to date from the 14th or 15th century
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the Queen Mary Harp and the Lamont Harp or Clàrsach Lumanach, both of which date from the 15th century and are displayed in the National Museum of Scotland.
Originally such harps were strung with either gut or wire, with seven strings per octave in a single key signature.
The development of the harp across Europe and the rest of the world was a process in which various different types of harps overlapped with each other. As modifications in design were made, former harps became more or less fashionable, but rarely fell completely out of favour.
Celtic or clarsach harps, which are called cláirseach in Irish and clàrsach in Scottish Gaelic, are among the oldest form of harp still in use in Europe. These harps are broadly triangular in shape with a curved front pillar and a large sound box. They are clearly recognisable as similar in design to the instrument pictured on the Nigg stone (21 October 2025).
Clàrsach Lumanach
National Museum of Scotland
13 November 2025
Early European harps
The first artistic representations of harps in Europe date from the 7th and 8th centuries AD as sculptures in Ireland and Scotland. It is not clear how the harp arrived in the British Isles but it is possible that trading nations such as the Phoenicians brought instruments from the Mediterranean.
Unlike ancient Egyptian and Sumerian instruments, these early images of harps show clearly that the harp consisted of a frame of three parts: a neck, a resonant chamber and a pillar or column. The strings run between the neck and the resonant chamber, and are broadly parallel to the column. The harp frame would have been made of wood and the strings of metal, gut or animal hair.
In Old European languages the instrument was variously called ‘harpe’ (Old English), ‘harpa’ (Norse) and ‘harfe’ (Old German).
The picture shows a pencil sketch of the reverse side of the Stone of Nigg, an eighth century Pictish cross-slab, from the parish church of Nigg, Easter Ross, Scotland. The front of the slab displays an elaborately carved cross while the reverse illustrates various images possibly relating to King David. It provides one of the oldest representations of a European triangular harp. This engraving was taken from “A Short Account of some Carved Stones in Ross-shire, accompanied with a series of Outline Engravings" by Charles Carter Petley (1780 - 1830), which was published in Archaeologia Scotica, vol IV, in 1857.
21 October 2025
The invention of the harp, as told by Homer, Katie and Rupert
The first days in the life of a god are often eventful. Hermes was the son of a Maia, a goddess who lived in a cave on Kyllini, and Zeus, king of the gods on Olympus. Gods, like most animals, are up and about from the start, and so on the day he was born Hermes set out to on his adventures…
‘As he stepped out over the threshold of the high-roofed cave, there he found a tortoise, and gained ten thousand blessings. Hermes was the first to make the tortoise a singer. He encountered her at the courtyard gate while she was grazing on the thick grass in front of his home, waddling on her feet as she went. When the luck-bringing son of Zeus saw her, he laughed and said these words:
“A sign for me, already, and a very lucky one! I’m not complaining. Greetings, lovely being, beat of the dance, companion of the feast: pleased to meet you. Where did a mountain dwelling tortoise get that beautiful toy to wear, that shining shell? I’ll pick you up and take you home. You will help me and I will not dishonour you, but first you will bring me luck. Better to be at home, since it’s riskier outdoors. For you will be a protection against evil influence while you live, though if you should die, then you’d make beautiful song.” '
Hermes on the Tortoise by Ludwig Keiser
Kunsthaus Zurich
The scene that followed may be upsetting to animal lovers and tortoises, so Rupert, like the kindly carnivore he is, insisted we cut it. Suffice it to say, before long Hermes ended up with a hollow tortoise shell that made an excellent resonant chamber, and with a few additional features became the world’s first lyre also called a phorminx, harp or kithara.
After all this creativity, Hermes was feeling hungry, so he went to look for something to eat. He stole the cattle of his half-brother Apollo, the archer god, the son of Zeus and Leto. But Apollo tracked Hermes down, dragged him from his cradle, and carried him off to face the consequences. Things were getting a bit out of hand, when Hermes had an idea…
White kylix depicting Apollo and the lyre, Delphi
Photo by Dennis Jarvis
‘Easily, Hermes softened glorious Leto’s son, the Far-Shooter, just as he wish to, even though Apollo was stronger. Taking the lyre in his left hand, with the plectrum he tried each string turn. Under his hand she rang, breathtaking. Phoebus Apollo laughed, delighted. The lovely cry of her ineffable voice went through his soul and sweet desire stirred in his heart as he listened… Love, against which all arts fail, seized the heart in Apollo’s breast, and speaking winged words to Hermes he said:
“Cow killer, artful labourer, companion of the feast: this thing of yours is worth fifty cows!” '
And thus Hermes paid for the cattle with the tortoise shell lyre he had made.
4 October 2025
Harps in ancient cultures
Harps of one kind or another have been in existence for thousands of years. The first known harps originated in ancient Sumer in southern Mesopotamia and in Egypt around 3,000 BC. These instruments were mostly either bowed with strings running from one side to the other of the bow shape or angular with strings cutting across the corner of the instrument, although there are some images of frame harps which have a fore pillar.
Angle Harp Egypt Museum 2019
Typically these early instruments, called balang in Sumer and benet in Egypt would have had up to seven strings. In later instruments the number of strings increased.
Harpists in ancient Egypt were highly esteemed and the names of several such as Hikino and Nebnefert have been found recorded over the ages.
Egyptian Bow Harp
Metropolitan Museum New York
2 September 2025
Fans of the Harry Potter books will be well aware that the first book in the series centre’s around the existence of the Philosopher’s Stone, a stone which is the source of the Elixir of Life. Hermione, Ron and Harry realise that the stone must be hidden at Hogwarts and they believe that someone is trying to steal it. However, the staff at Hogwarts have devised various hazards which any potential thief must overcome. Before the trio can reach the stone to confront the thief they must get through the Devil’s Snare plant, catch a flying key, play a dangerous game of Wizard’s Chess and solve a riddle about potions.
But first they must get past Fluffy, the huge three headed dog belonging to Hagrid, who guards the entrance to the secret hiding place. Hagrid has let slip that Fluffy can only be calmed by the sound of music. When Harry and his friends begin their quest, they find Fluffy slumbering on a trap door with a harp playing magical music to keep the dog asleep.
Like many others Rupert wonders if he might not have enjoyed being at Hogwarts.
18 August 2025
Congratulations to Katie’s former student Bethany Coggon who was awarded the inaugural Royal Welsh College Brooch for Harp Excellence by RWCMD President Dame Shirley Bassey at the College’s annual dinner in June.
The brooch, formerly used by the Official Harpist to The Prince of Wales, has been given on permanent loan by the King, who is Patron of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. It will be awarded annually to the harpist who achieves the highest mark in their summer recital.
29 July 2025
Aeolian harps are very ancient musical instruments, they are formed when strings are stretched between two or more fixed points. The sound is produced by wind moving over the strings. In some cases the strings are stretched over a sound box, but they can also be arranged simply to allow air to move past the strings. The instrument is named after Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds.
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Aeolian harps are mentioned in the Bible in Psalm 137 where the the poet says "By the rivers of Babylon ... on the willows we hung up our harps".
Prof. Henry Gurr
21 July 2025
This afternoon Rupert took part in a parachute jump from the top of the church tower at Calstock, Cornwall. He managed to successfully land in the middle of the target area and his courage was rewarded with a badge
29 Jume 2025
Thomas Moore was an Irish Catholic, the son of a Dublin grocer. His poetry and songs were popular in Regency England. In 1807 Moore wrote "The harp that once through Tara's halls" which reflects the loss of Irish culture under English rule in Ireland.
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The harp that once through Tara's halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls,
As if that soul were fled. —
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory's thrill is o'er,
And hearts, that once beat high for praise,
Now feel that pulse no more.
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that still she lives.
14 June 2025
Harps are like tulips -
Tulips don't shout for attention; they bloom in quiet grace.
21 May 2025
Katie McClaughry - Wedding Harpist