Make no bones about it, Barnaby will bring history to life
A historical music expert is staying at the Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay this week to teach school pupils, museum staff and visitors about Iron Age music-making.
Historical music expert Barnaby Brown arrived at the Loch Tay visitor attraction and museum on Monday and will be sharing his expertise in ancient musical instruments to deliver lessons and interpretation to both museum staff and local community groups.
During the week-long residency ending with a concert on Sunday, September 8, Barnaby will blow through bones and get tunes out of basic stringed instruments reminding everyone that our ancestors liked entertainment round their fire just like we do today.
He’s based there this week through a National Lottery Heritage Fund project,‘The bridge that connects communities 2500 years apart’, which centres around musical artefacts found on an excavation site on Loch Tay. These date back to around 500BC.
The objects found include the bridge of a seven-stringed lyre, an object of international significance and a rare find in the collection.
Kenmore Primary School will join Barnaby for a special lyre-making workshop which will see the children making replica lyres and learning how to play them.
Barnaby will also teach the children one of the oldest known songs in history and their week will end with a performance for families and teachers.
Local groups and community organisations, including the Fearnan Ukulele Club and the Loch Tay Young Archaeologists Club will also benefit from Barnaby’s residency through a series of lectures, performances and workshops.
Those looking to find out more about the music of prehistoric Scotland will be able to meet Barnaby during his performances on the crannog on Sunday, September 8, for which no booking is required.
The Scottish Crannog Centre is open seven days, from 10am.