I have been learning O'Carolan tunes to play on my mandolin and wondered what they would have sounded like in their original context.

A number of questions occurred to me:

Did he play the old Celtic harp or the newer neo-Celtic, git strung version which apparrently came in around his time?

Is it a Chromatic instrument? Is it more suited to some keys than others? What was its range?

Did he always play alone, was his music arranged, did he play in some form of session at all?

Did he improvise performances or parts of pieces?
These musings are purely from interest and not for anything more purposeful but I would appreciate any info you wonderfully sage and knowledgeable people would care to share.

Thanks and Happy New Year
love
Robbie