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How to Play


yew bergh apton lyre
In this picture ( Bergh Apton Model) you can see the basic playing position of the left hand, the hand in this example being used to support the Lyre for playing standing.




To futher aid your understanding I have uploaded 5 minutes of a tuning and playing video to Youtube, it can be seen at the bottom of this page.

Instead of fretting notes as on a guitar, On the Lyre you damp out the notes you do not wish to sound. Part of the Lyres enduring popularity is probably due to the ease and simplicity of this technique, providing your lyre has been tuned anyone can play it, and still there is plenty of room for expression by the more musically endowed!

With all the surviving bridges having quite narrow string spacing it is likely that the instrument was mainly strummed. No evidence has been found of plectrums but thin horn ones (or guitar picks) sound well on these gut strings and make the best of the shallow soundbox.

 For these sound samples I have simply used the flesh or pads of my fingers only.

X notes are ones where your fingers touch the strings

O notes are open strings

//// number of strums

There are many patterns which you can learn to create different chords and notes between chords, here are some examples

G chord     O X O X O X

C chord     O X X O X O

D chord     X O X X O X

Am             X O X O X O
Strumming pattern example

                    X O X X X O ////  X O X X O O //// X O X O X O /////

                    XO O X X O////   X O X O X O /////

                     X O X X O O ///// X O O X X O ///// X O X X X O 

 

Sound Samples

 

Here are some sound examples, recorded very simply with a Webcam microphone:

 

Lyre Tuning in G

 

Plucking and strumming

 

Hymn to St. Magnus