Monthly Archives: November 2023

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It’s not too late

One of my favorite Christmas carols is one that I don’t think I ever sang.  I still don’t sing it.  I don’t know the words.  But it’s still my favorite.

Why?  Don’t know.  It’s just another one of those tunes that wakes me up in the middle of the night, running through my head.

I learned this tune (I know, i just said I never sang it – but I do know the tune!) listening to Christmas records as a kid.  We had an album with it.  It was sung by a Boys’ Choir (could have been Vienna, St. Martin’s, Ersatz, not sure).  I imagine that I remember the cover but I think it have concocted an amalgamation of the covers of the ones I remember best.  I don’t remember ever hearing it on the radio or in the Christmas specials on TV.  But it has not left me.

I also never remembered the name of it. I never got any of the words (no liner notes – the ONLY way I ever get lyrics right!).  And so, into my adulthood, it remained this tune that ran through my head, unaccompanied by a desire to play it, to seek it out (after all, it comes up unbidden!).  Until, one day a dear friend started to tell the story of a defining moment in his life.  I won’t tell his story here (he tells it brilliantly and it is his story) but it centered on the Christmas carol, Once in Royal David’s City.  I hadn’t ever heard that one, so I asked him and he graced me by singing it (in his lovely voice).

And then I knew…it was that tune I love that I didn’t know the name of!

And that sparked a (new) desire to actually play this tune that has been on intermittent repeat (to be fair, it didn’t play in my head for years there in the middle). It is from a hymn tune originally entitled Irby written by the English composer Henry Gauntlett (1805 – 1876).  He was an interesting guy – he was a champion for Beethoven, Bach.  And apparently a brilliant organist – Mendelssohn selected him to play a premiere. Of course, I think he’s fab – he invented a new kind of organ because the ones available weren’t serving the music well enough! (OBTW, if you’re interested, the lyrics were written by Irish poet Cecil Frances Alexander, herself wonderfully accomplished as well.)

So, after all that, I really enjoy playing this carol (still don’t know the words!). But since I enjoy it so much, I wanted to share it with you!  It’s a fairly simple tune so for a little work, you could have it ready for Christmas if you like.  It’s not one everyone plays, so it’ll be a nice addition to your set.  I, of course, have written an arrangement and I’d be delighted if you play it.  But remember two important things.  First, the melody is the thing (so play at your level).  Second, be you!  This is how I might play it but feel free to start here and do you!  You’ll find it here.

I hope you enjoy it – let me know how it goes in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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It’s that time of the year when we pause to be thankful.  It is always good to give thanks for the bounties in our lives – family, friends, community.  I hope that you know how much I appreciate you being a part of my community, all of you.  Thank you for spending time with me each week and for sharing your thoughts, questions, and insights.  I am grateful for you and your time.  Happy Thanksgiving!

How to Host a Harp Circle

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How to Host a Harp Circle –

Harp Circles are one of those lovely pleasures of playing the harp.  They are the ultimate all-in-one thing because they include socializing, performing, collaborating, sharing, laughter, and snacks.  What is not to love about that?

Harp Circles come in a variety of forms – they can be recitals dressed up as a social event, they can be “additional lessons” driven by your teacher, or they can be a harp party.  In my mind the harp party is the best form because they are just fun – low stress, low anxiety, low prep, and high fun. 

Organizing a harp circle can be pretty simple.  The first two types are the easiest because they are completely organized by the teacher so as an attendee your only real job is to show up and be tuned when everyone’s ready to start.

But not everyone has a teacher.  Not every teacher wants to host these events.  In either of those cases, you might want to host the Harp Circle yourself!  After all, some people just like to host parties.  And some people just want to have an opportunity to share music.  So, what would you need to do? Here are some suggestions:

  • Like any (casual) party, select a date.  The date should be far enough in the future so that people can plan for it, but not so far that they can equally easily forget about it.  The date should be convenient for your group – weekend afternoons are often popular.  But as the host, be certain the date works for you and that you have enough time to plan and prepare before inviting everyone!
  • Figure out how many people (with harps) can fit in your space.  You probably want to stick relatively closely to the circle arrangement so there’s no “leader” or any kind of implied hierarchy.  If you have a small house (like mine) you might only be able to fit a few (I’ve calculated that if I move furniture and people play my harps (rather than bringing their own), I could get about six to eight people but I have a friend that has a room that is only slightly smaller than a football stadium and she can get a lot more people in!  Safety first – ensure that with those people and harps in the room there is enough space to move around without knocking over anyone’s harp!  Also important – make sure there is an easy way out in case of emergency.
  • Identify who you’re going to invite.  You could invite all the harp players in your area (or that you know).  You could include a “bring a friend” element to encourage the harp players you do know to bring along someone you don’t know.  If you have a small space, you might include an RSVP so you can manage the throngs that attend.
  • Decide what you’ll do at the party.  As I said above this can range from a recital to a rave – it’s up to you.  I really enjoy it when there is a little structure.  An example agenda might be:
    • Gather, chat, set up, chat, tune, chat.  Did I mention that this is meant to be social?
    • Pick someone to start. You can draw lots, select playing cards, roll dice, flick a spinner, ask for a volunteer, it’s up to you.  From that person, go around the circle with each person starting a tune that all can join in.  These tunes are for fun.  You want to hold “party pieces” in reserve for later!  This is a good time to ensure everyone is included – if you have less experienced people, play fun tunes slowly so they can join in.  You can increase speed with each repetition, but you don’t people to feel excluded or abandoned by playing everything too fast! 
    • Ensemble (either by sight reading or playing something that everyone has already worked on).
    • Party pieces – those “show off” tunes that everyone has worked on.  This can also be the time to play things in various states of repair – someone might be just learning a tune while someone else might be in the polishing phase (and everything in between!). The point is to share the music and to encourage one another to play and enjoy.  ENCOURAGEMENT ONLY!
    • Snacks and Chats – the social part of the party!
    • Return to play some more!
  • Plan your menu.  One of the best parts of a Harp Circle is the social time!  That’s because we are a community of harpers.  Community is important and requires care and feeding and snacks and beverages are an excellent way to do so!  Do you want to cater it yourself?  Do you want to invite people to do a desert potluck?  A meal potluck?  An ice cream social?  I’d suggest you only serve food that isn’t too messy (because you don’t want to have a line to wash hands when it’s time to return to the harp…and you don’t want to have to steam clean your house when it’s over!).  I also suggest that you provide the beverages – then you’ll know how many cups, glasses, spoons you’ll need to have on hand.  Fun and/or seasonable drinks typically go over well.
  • Prep.  On the day, clear out the furniture you need to move, set up your snacks area, and make sure there’s enough light in your playing space.
  • Bring in your circle and enjoy!
  • When the party’s over – of course, you’ll need to clean up but first, make some notes to capture what you enjoyed and how much fun you had!  You can also write down what you might want to change or what didn’t work (e.g., serving chocolate lava cake might have been a masterful culinary stroke but then everyone had “lava” on their fingers and there was a line for the kitchen sink).
  • Start planning the next one (or start helping someone else plan the next one – there’s no need for you to host every party).

Have you hosted a Harp Circle before?  Did I leave anything out? If not, are you motivated to schedule one (maybe after the holidays)?  Was this list comprehensive enough to start your own planning?  Let me know in the comments!

The Hand Trap

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The Hand Trap –

Aren’t we fortunate to play with two hands?  When you look at them dispassionately, they are pretty cool – mechanical artwork that also bring joy (by which I mean they bring cookies to your mouth…oh, and they help you play too!).  But for good or bad, there is also a hand trap.

That trap exists in the roles we assign to each hand as we play.  You know the thinking – the right hand takes the melody while the left hand provides the “color commentary” of harmony.  But that thinking can be really limiting.  And it creates a box (read: trap) that can be hard to get out of. 

The box is complicated and has at least three faces (it’s a metaphorical box!) which are interrelated – musical, physical, and mental.  If the hands get trapped in one (or more) that will curb the potential to do amazing things. 

What are the sides of the trap?  Musical, Physical, and Mental.  What are those limits?  How about:

Musical – using only one hand for melody may artificially bound what you play.  And the same could be true for the harmony you generate as well.  In addition, each hand has its strengths and weaknesses and keeping each role confined to each hand closes off options for the other.  The other impact of sticking to specific roles is that you may not make use of the whole harp.

Physical – We can start by going back to those individual strengths and weaknesses.  These will impact your control, power, and balance of each hand as well as your speed accuracy, and confidence.  As above, keeping the hands assigned to roles makes it more difficult to use the entire range of the instrument.

Mental – holding the music separately in your hands will impact how you think about it and potentially change how you might think about it.  This self-limitation may prevent you from identifying and using elements of your creativity.

It would be a shame to allow a rigid adherence to “handedness” limit your musicality and trap you into playing everything pretty much the same way.  Changing things up can help you expand musically, physically, and mentally by helping you develop more strengths and become more flexible.  It’s worth a try!

Like every change, if you decide to try to make a move, give yourself time to work through the kinks.  The first time you try something new it might go well – or it might run off the tracks so fast it makes your head spin!  So go slowly, carefully, thoughtfully, and gently.  An easy way to start is to play a simple tune you already know with your left hand.  Don’t worry about harmonies or tempo – or anything really.  You just want to muddle through the tune until it becomes easier (aka practice!).  Once you’re comfortable, then you can try playing the melody in both hands together.  After the melody is solid, you could then transition to putting the harmony in the right hand (after all, the left hand’s got this).   And just like that, you’ll have pulled a switcheroo!  All the while, you’ll probably learn more about the tune, how you think about it, and how you present it (which might change how you approach it…and you can see a whole iteration starting just by switching hands!). 

Make it easy on yourself.  You could start with something like Frere Jacques or Katie Bairdie.  Once you’ve done it once, each subsequent trial will be easier. 

What do you think – are you willing to give it a try?  I’d love to hear what you get up to – what tune did you try?  How’d it go at first? Are you going to keep at it?  Let me know in the comments!