I know there are some harpists lurking about these parts and thought they might be able to shed some light on the old technique of striking the harp strings with the back of the nail. While looking through engraved music sites (ABC, LilyPond, etc.) I stumbled on a site by John Sankey in which he discusses building a replica of an old Irish harp. In the last paragraph on the harp he states:

“The most misunderstood fact about the old Irish playing tradition is this: every authority on early Celtic that I know of insists that there was only one word used at the time for the old technique - the strings were "struck" with long nails. I am assured that there was a perfectly good word for "plucked" at the time, and it was never used for Irish harpers before the Cromwell purge. There is only one way this works anatomically - the finger has to be flicked outward so that the outside of the nail hits the string…”

Are any of the Mudcat harpists familiar with this technique? I didn't find a thread discussing it.

      - Mark