Anne Kilmer and Sounds from Silence
In 1975, Dr. Anne Kilmer, Assyriologist of University of California Berkeley, published a booklet and record about her ground breaking discoveries in ancient near eastern music called Sounds from Silence, published by Bit Enki. This book shares a transcription of the oldest known written music and the story behind this music.
Anne's Silver Lyre Replica
Shortly before the publication of Sounds from Silence, Robert R. Brown, of the Berkeley Physics Department, constructed a beautiful replica of the Silver Lyre of Ur for Dr. Anne Kilmer. Brown used dimensions provided by The British Museum of the original Silver Lyre of Ur.
The original Silver Lyre, built ca 2600 BCE along with eight additional lyres and two harps, were excavated in the 1927 by Sir Leonard Wooley in the royal graves at the archeological site of the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq. The best known instruments from the site are the Lapis Lyre (located in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia), the Silver Lyre (located in the British Museum), and the Gold Lyre.
Andy Lowings and the Lyre of Ur Project
The Gold Lyre, the most well known lyre from the royal graves of Ur, was in the Iraq Museum of Baghdad until it was looted in April 2003. Since then, Andy Lowings and a small group of musicians and craftsmen re-created a magnificent and faithful replica of the Gold Lyre. You can learn more about this group by visiting lyre-of-ur.com
In 2009, Andy Lowings contacted Anne and I to produce a recording of the Anne's Silver Lyre replica that would enable a performance of the Gold and Silver Lyre replicas playing together.
In 2012, Anne and I completed their Silver Lyre book and CD and sent it to Andy. The fruition of this project with Gold and Silver Lyre replicas playing together is shown in the recording below as an edited version of the original A Sumerian Drinking Song CD track.
Construction of My Silver Lyre Replica
I was lucky to have found David Kortier, a wonderful instrument maker, to build my own replica of the Silver Lyre of Ur. Taking the drawings and dimensions Anne generously lent to me, I sent them to David, who did a wonderful job constructing such a beautiful and interesting instrument. David built a frame that was sandwiched between a sound box and attached a lovely carving of a bulls head. The colors he chose, both light and dark wood, are striking and lovely. I am proud to have my own Silver Lyre of Ur replica in my studio.
Please visit David Kortier's webpage if you are interested in your own lyre replica.
Please visit the British Museum website for a photo of the original Silver Lyre of Ur, BM 121199.
Tuning an Ancient Lyre Replica
When I began this project with Anne, we had to think of a better way to tune her Silver Lyre of Ur replica. Conversations with Andy Lowings, who had knowledge of ancient musical instruments similar to our lyre replicas still played in Africa today, suggested that we try wrapping a strip of cloth under the wrapped string as are the African instruments. This method worked well. The cloth acted as a bearing under the wound strings, allowing the musician to be able to tighten the string with the tuning pegs but still stay tight to the cross bar. The Silver Lyre in the British Museum shows braided string under the wound strings. A tutorial of how I strung my replica of the Silver Lyre is included below.
The Silver Lyre CD and Booklet
Anne and I recorded a CD and published and booklet called The Silver Lyre in 2012. The Silver Lyre booklet contains information about Anne's Silver Lyre replica, three new compositions I composed for ancient texts that inspired Anne, and a reprinting of the Hurrian Cult Song. The ancient texts and songs are printed in ancient languages (two in Akkadian and one in Sumerian) with English translations. A pronunciation guide is included with the ancient languages for vocalists.
You can purchase the booklet, which comes with the CD, the CD alone, or digital copies of the CD. The booklets and CDs are available in my store above
You may purchase The Silver Lyre Booklet, which includes The Silver Lyre CD or the Silver Lyre CD alone at my store above.
A video introducing the Silver Lyre project, shown with Anne Kilmer's Silver Lyre of Ur replica.
Anne Kilmer, ca. mid 1970, with the Lapis Lyre, which is located in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia.
Bit Enki Photo ca 1976. Kilmer conceived the idea of building working models of ancient instruments to demonstrate the Babylonian music system and to perform the oldest piece of music yet known. Brown, from the Berkeley Physics Department, built the lyres. Crocker strung, tuned, and performed on the lyres.
Anne Kilmer and I perform our The Silver Lyre works on Anne's Silver Lyre replica at a private home in Tucson, AZ in 2011.
Andy's group, the Gold Lyre of Ur project, added Andy's Gold Lyre replica to Anne and my original recording of The Sumerian Drinking Song with additional ancient instruments and singers Andy Lowings, Jennifer Sturdy, Mark Harmer, Keith Jobling and Dr. Stef Conner to produce a wonderful vibrant song. Many thanks to the Gold Lyre of Ur project for sending us this recording.
One of the songs from The Silver Lyre is The Flood Narrative from the Gilgamesh Epic. I wrote the music to go along with this ancient Akkadian text which tells of a great flood send by the gods as found in the Gilgamesh epic.
Anne and I included four songs in our booklet The Silver Lyre. We arranged the Hurrian Cult song to be easy to read for pianists and harpists. In this interview, Anne discusses the Hurrian Cult Song and life in ancient Mesopotamia.
This video shows you how I tune my Silver Lyre of Ur Replica
This album is my first CD length project. I worked on it from 2009 to 2011 - before, during and after the birth of my daughter in spells between my small harp teaching schedule, cooperative preschool volunteering for my three year old son and general toddler-mommy-learning-curve mayhem. I began the project at the request of my husband Jeremy, to create an album to share during my harp performances. It is available in CD or digital format here.
This album is all Celtic music with fourteen selections of jigs, reels and slow airs. Most tunes were recorded on Celtic harp though the wire harp does make her appearance on several tracks. All tunes were passed down through aural tradition from musician friends and arranged for harp, save one original composition dedicated to Jeremy Govier.
My Celtic album. Available here in digital or CD format.
I named the album The Bright Green Bough for my desert home. Celtic music has many resonances with the natural world and I wanted to tie my music to the Palo Verde tree, a tree that is native to Tucson.
I played a piece not on the CD for my last selection, from a new composition called The Mermaid's daughter. There are many pauses in this piece and applause started right before the last phrase, which was a fun and laughable moment for us all.
I love simple, honest, dimensional, delicious words. When a poet strings them together just right, he or she creates a powerful memory for you to hold on to.
When I am moved by these words, sometimes I write some music to go under them.
By e. e. cummings. I composed the music in 2014.
Shel Silverstien. I composed the music in 2014.
Here are some videos of my original songs and compositions.
I wrote this song for Breast Cancer Awareness month in 2014. It is based on a cajun two-step. Some folksy fun! If you like this video, please donate to breast cancer research at www.dana-farber.org.
I wrote this song to paint a picture of what it is like to work at home in front of the computer. It is very quiet, though you are very busy. When you look up from your work, you see how slowly the world is going around you in comparison. Written in 2014.