Are you planning to attend the 32nd Annual Ohio Scottish Arts School in Oberlin OH from 26th June – 2nd July, 2010????

I sure hope so!  This is a fantastic opportunity.  You might get to see more of the world famous Ohio Tartan:

But also, regardless of your level of experience – from beginner to master, OSAS has something to offer you!  Much of this information is directly from the OSAS website: http://www.ohioscottishartsschool.com/home_files/osas_harp.htm. Here is a little bit about what you can expect:
All Students are expected to bring their own instrument – it would be hard to study for a week without a harp!
The Scottish Harp classes will focus on:
• Basic harp technique for beginners and intermediates
• Repertoire at all levels, including tunes for competition sets
• Scottish style, including ornaments, lilt, and dance types

In addition, there are excellent students.  In addition to being great harpers of various levels of proficiency, they are very friendly and convivial.  You can look forward to not only the excitement of “pick up” evening jam sessions in which you have the chance to develop accompaniment patterns and learn more tunes but also the verve of spending that much time with other people who are as crazy about playing the harp as you are and who love the repertoire as much as you do!

You’ll study Scottish dance music, airs, and songs, focusing on ornamentation, Scottish style, accompaniment, and learning by ear. In addition there are lectures, practice time, and playing in sessions. Classes really do cover everyone from beginners who have played for a few months, intermediates, and advanced players.

If you’ve been to OSAS before and you haven’t signed up I hope you do so soon before the course fills up.  And if you’ve never been before – what are you waiting for? 
But hurry, registration closes 4th June – that’s not too far away. 

Hope to see you there.  If you have questions that can’t be answered by the website, post me a comment and I’ll do my best to answer you or put you in touch with someone who can!

See you there!

Do you feel like learning cursive as a child was a waste of your time? I know that when I was being forced to learn it, I did think it was stupid. Often now, with pen in hand, I think back on that hatred of those lessons – and see how wrong I was.

And now, when I look at my penmanship, I see more than ink. I see my development as a person. I see what I feel is important to me. I see how I have changed as I’ve grown up. I see that I’m in a hurry!

Many of us only write with a pen to make lists of things to do or to pay bills. But still, the writing we learned as children really has stayed with us. For all the angst we underwent, we have the product – something we use daily. But even then, we don’t focus on the positives that come from learning something we don’t want to do.

Just like when we’re working on our music. We have to focus, even on the things that aren’t fun. Or those things that don’t seem to relate directly to anything else that we think are important. But there’s really something to be gained by pursuing “learning the cursive” of our music.

So today, I suggest you pull out something you don’t do because it’s not fun – the “Brussels sprouts” of our practice (this is a bad analogy as I love Brussels sprouts, but many do not). Whether it is making your own exercise of a trouble spot, doing the lessons in a primer or sitting and working with Mde. Grossi, channel all that hatred of cursive but this time, with the wisdom of what you gain from that practice.

People often ask me if they really need a teacher when they begin playing the harp.  Actually they usually say something more like, “Do I REALLY need a teacher ?”

And I know that they would prefer that I say no. I don’t know why that is.

I can understand if money is tight and paying for lessons is just not in the cards right now. This suggests that there are too many pressures to take on a new hobby at this time. Learning to play the harp should be shelved until a more propitious time in one’s life if that’s the case.

Or perhaps they are swayed by the “teach yourself to play” books that are available. These books are all quite good and well put together. In fact, when I was learning to play the harp, one of these stalwart books was selected by my teacher to help me along. Not for the poor graphics on hand placement but perhaps more for the well thought out exercises and tunes arranged in a slowing increasing difficulty.
And it could be those potential harpers don’t realize that those “teach yourself to play” books were written at a time when there were very few harp players to be found to teach, especially in the traditional music arena, making it challenging to find someone with whom to study.

I know there are those who are self taught. I know this because they have told me so. And where have I met these people? At workshops, lead by some of the most brilliant teachers available today. So while they may be initially self taught, they have reached the end of their self teaching and reached out to be brought a little further by spending a small wee while with a luminary.

Learning from a teacher provides so many benefits that I almost don’t know where to start! A teacher will help you establish, lay-down, and reinforce a strong foundation from which you can do many things. A teacher will assure you start by knowing how to hold your harp and how to place your fingers – and why!

A teacher will facilitate your growth:

• mastering technique
• engraining musicality
• learning a broad repertoire
• having the skills to perform whichever repertoire you select – with ease and confidence
A teacher will help you grow strong as a musician. A strong foundation means that you have the strength (mental, emotional, musical) and endurance to explore, do, make whatever you seek.
It is that growth we all seek – that strength. The best musicians still learn, grow, study – to improve on the strong foundation they established with their teachers when they began.