Nancy Thym (Special Event)

Harps and BalladsNancy Thym-Hochrein is a master of and expert on every sort of harp there is. She's also a ballad singer and story teller. Back in the days when she and Carly Gewirz were in the UCLA Folklore program together, the two of them were the balladeers in the group. Nancy has since become one of the world's experts on harps. A native of California, she lives in Germany these days, and comes to us on the cusp of the Boston (Mass.) Early Harp Symposium. Nancy Thym has concentrated on medieval and Scottish songs and ballads and the role of the harp in traditional narrative and song as well as unique areas such as the repertoire of the wandering German hook harp players and the music of the Norwegian Krogharpe. She also plays medieval harp, 18th and 19th century harpe styles, and blues and rock-&-roll (on the harp!).She has deepened her knowledge of traditional music and narrative with field studies of singers and storytellers in Scotland and Ireland.Nancy Thym is a regular lecturer and faculty member at the Historical Harp Conference & Workshop held in conjunction with the Amherst Early Music Workshop. She is often invited to give workshops on the use of harp and other instruments with storytelling. Through the Museum and Archive for Harp History in Freising, Germany she provides information on historical harps for harp builders, players, journalists, museum collections, libraries, etc. She has published numerous articles on the history of the harp and has lectured and performed at many international harp conferences.