Born near Dudley in the West Midlands, Sally Harper completed her doctorate at Oxford University on music and medieval liturgy (Magdalen and Brasenose colleges) in 1989, following Bachelor and Master's degrees at Birmingham University. Following a brief period in academic administration at the University of Warwick, she began teaching at Bangor in 1991, where she discovered a passion for Wales, its people and its language. She was appointed Senior Lecturer in Music in 2006 and was for a period Director of the Centre of Advanced Welsh Music Studies and co-editor of the bilingual journal Welsh Music History / Hanes Cerddoriaeth Cymru. Sally has published widely on various aspects of music in medieval and early modern Wales as well as on medieval liturgy and church music. She is an elected Fellow of both the Learned Society of Wales and the Royal Historical Society.

Sally took early retirement from the University in 2018 to train as a priest in the Church in Wales, but continues her association with Bangor as an Honorary Research Fellow. She is also Honorary Professor in Cathedral and Sacred Music Studies at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, UK, and KTP Academic Supervisor for a research project based at Liverpool Cathedral.

2022

  • PublishedSecular Music before 1650
    Harper, S., 29 Sept 2022, A History of Welsh Music. Herbert, T., Clarke, M. V. & Barlow, H. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, p. 78-99 22 p.
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

2019

2017

  • PublishedShaping an “Indigenous” Liturgy: the Case for Medieval Wales
    Harper, S., Oct 2017, Music, Liturgy, and the Veneration of Saints of the Medieval Irish Church in a European Context. Buckley, A. (ed.). Brepols, p. 253-265 13 p.
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

2016

2013

  • PublishedGwalch Cywyddau Gwŷr’: Essays on Guto’r Glyn and Fifteenth-Century Wales
    Harper, S. E., Evans, D. F. (Editor), Lewis, B. (Editor) & Owen, A. P. (Editor), 17 Dec 2013, Gwalch Cywyddau Gwyr: Ysgrifau Ar Guto'r Glyn a Chymru'r Bymthegfed Ganrif / Essays on Guto'r Glyn and Fifteenth-century Wales. 2013 ed. University of Wales,Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, p. 177-202
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

1999

  • Bangor Pontifical Project

    01/02/2011 – 30/09/2011 (Finished)

  • The Bangor Pontifical Project - Phase 1

    01/02/2010 – 31/05/2010 (Finished)

    Description

    The Bangor Pontifical Project is an initiative of Bangor University’s 125th Anniversary Celebrations. A collaboration between the University and Bangor Cathedral, the project has enabled the Bangor Pontifical – a hidden and precious treasure of medieval Bangor – to be made universally accessible via a permanent, high resolution website. The Pontifical is owned by the Dean and Chapter of Bangor Cathedral and it is still brought to the cathedral for special occasions, although it is now kept for safety in Bangor University Archive.

    The Bangor Pontifical is an exceptional manuscript. It is the only complete liturgical manuscript known to survive from the medieval diocese of Bangor, and one of just two extant books from medieval Wales as a whole to contain substantial plainchant notation. Inscribed as belonging originally to Anian ‘Sais’, bishop of Bangor between 1309 and 1328, the Pontifical is now confidently dated to the first quarter of the fourteenth century. It contains texts and detailed instructions for the liturgical observances to be conducted by a bishop: the dedication of churches, altars and cemeteries; the enthronement and consecration of an archbishop; and special blessings given during the canon of the Mass and on other specific occasions. The manuscript also contains a very substantial corpus of plainchant, all copied onto a four-line stave. Several of these chants are known from no other source.

    The Bangor Pontifical Project provides free, global access to this unique manuscript. This website enables users to examine the book in its entirety, to zoom in on its intricate decoration and musical notation, and to hear some of the chants performed.

    Links:

  • The Bangor Pontifical Project Phase 1

    01/02/2010 – 01/08/2013 (Finished)

  • The Experience of Worship in Late Medieval Cathedral and Parish Church: Investigation, Realisation and Interpretation

    01/12/2009 – 01/08/2022 (Finished)

  • Beyond Text: Experimental Workshops comparing the musical performance of vernacular poetry

    01/10/2008 – 20/05/2010 (Finished)

  • Welsh studies international conference

    31/07/2008 – 10/07/2009 (Finished)