The Saxon lyre is a simple instrument, but a versatile one. Most lyre players discover the instrument on their own and develop a playing style through experimentation, leading to a great diversity of techniques.
The goal of this book will not be to exhaustively cover every possible way to play the lyre. It will attempt to touch on several of the major schools of tuning, sounding and playing the lyre, and then eventually focus on one possible re-creation technique. Whether or not this is the best technique for you will depend on what you want to do with your lyre. You may wish to try several of the options presented until you find the one that best suits what you want to with your instrument.
Some lyre players are historical re-enactors, interested in creating a historically plausible Anglo-Saxon, continental Saxon or even Nordic musical experience. Some lyre players are Asatru, for whom the lyre and its music are an important part of their religious ceremonies, and who want to use it to create or reinforce a particular emotional or spiritual state. Some lyre players are in neo-medieval rock bands! They may be interested less in what may have been done in the past, and want to experiment with what they can do now. And some lyre players enjoy the instrument privately or personally, using it to relax or even to meditate with.
Some people want to sing along with their lyres; some want to recite poetry. Some just want to play music. They may want to play solo or in an ensemble. All of these things will affect how you tune your lyre, how you pluck or strum it, and how you play on it and compose for it.
None of the possibilities are right; none of them are wrong. They are all different, and it is up to the artist to evaluate them and select the one that is right for the artist.
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