Flower Festival - St Mary's, Weston Colville

I gave my most formal performance yet on the harp as part of a recital with Whiteacre Clarinets.The setting was St. Mary's Church in the little village of Weston Colville somewhere near Newmarket. The church has a flower festival each year when the beautiful 14th century church is decked out with floral arrangements of all sizes and colours combinations.

Floral display to compliment the stained glass window

Whiteacre Clarinets have given a concert on the last evening of the festival for a number of years and as one of their members was otherwise engaged this year (on holiday) I was asked to play alongside Phyllis, Amelia and Martin. The acoustics of the church were ideal for the quartet and our rehearsal allowed us to relax and enjoy the sound. The harp looked quite at home in it's setting surrounded by flowers although when I had a practise I was suprised at how quiet it sounded. Having prepared my programme in a small, carpeted music room I found my sound in the church suddenly felt very small. I was wary of plucking too firmly as this does lead to more slips because it feels different to how I usually play.

The harp with one of the larger floral arrangements

The first half was all clarinet quartet and the audience enjoyed a varied programme of madrigals, Krommer, Scarlatti and Johann Strauss. During the interval we chatted to some of the audience and were offered tea and cake. Phyllis said she'd wait until afterwards so I reluctantly avoided the chocolate cake as well. We began the second half with a short Bach movement and a Rossini theme and variations then I stood up to announce my item. A few younger members had spotted the harp discretely positioned in the corner during the first half so I talked a little about the Grade-1-a-thon and modestly mentioned how myself and Amelia had both gained distinctions in our grade 1 exams. I performed the two Dunhill pieces Swaying Branches and The Old Windmill as these are my favourites and probably the most suitable of my pieces as recital repertoire. I then did When Bagpipes Play which is the one I have decided to do for grade 2. There were one or two small slips but no memory slips, unlike in the rehearsal where I got lost completely in one piece! I often let my mind wander when playing the clarinet but keep enough concentration to play. It is a form of complacency which does occasionally catch me out. I can do this when practising the harp and had been worried this might happen in performance but during the performance I realised I was in my own little zone, completely focussed on the task, with none of those nagging voices getting in the way. It was a very clam feeling! The quartet finished with some jazzy pieces arranged by Martin and after being thanked, presented with a posy of sweet peas, and more audience chat we got to eat some cake! A lovely gig in a lovely setting and another addition to my harp C.V!

Grade 2 - 30 days to go

I have remained remarkably inactive on the blog but have been playing and practising my harp so I'll put a short update here now and try and write a little more frequently up to the big day. The exam entry is in and thanks to Anne (fellow woodwinder, harpist and grade-1-a-bee) who has organised an examiner visit the date has been set for Monday 18th July.

Early May was a disaster for practise as I was incredibly busy with school work and other performances. However once I had the date for the exam I knew it was time to knuckle down. I also wanted to record one of my other pieces so set a date and practised The Old Windmill. I like this one as it demonstrates how the levers are moved during the performance to change the pitch of the strings. I move two levers at seperate points which doesn't look too complicated but when under pressure this was quite tricky and after five takes, a lot of foul-mouthed outbursts and a lunch break to calm down Chris was able to capture a reasonable performance. The performance can be seen in an earlier posting. Since then I have seen a Celtic harp performance of Turloch O'Carolans No.180 on YouTube by Sarah Deere-Jones. Her lever changes are lightening fast with barely a gnat's crotchet to get her left hand to the lever then back to the strings! I've just finished reading her book Maiden Voyage so there will be more about her in a later post.

As well as the exam I have the opportunity to play a piece or two in a concert towards the end of June. I was asked to play in a clarinet quartet to cover for a player who will be away. One of the other players is Amelia, fellow harpist from the Grade-1-a-thon. Like myself Amelia loved playing and kept it going for a short while after the exam. Other things have since interrupted but she hopes to get back to it at some point and we had a lovely chat about harps. We prepared a good programme of music for clarinet quartet but their concerts often include a solo clarinet piece by one of the players to give a break to the others, and to offer something slightly different for the audience. At first I was asked if I would like to play a clarinet piece but then I saw the light bulb appear above Amelia's head then she said what about a harp piece? One of the grade 1 pieces would go down really well. I said I could go one better than that and play a grade 2 piece! So I am now deciding which of my pieces to play.

I have also signed up to go on a course in August but I'll write more about this later. In the meantime the practise has been building up and I have been using Jenny MacMillan's book Successful Practising to assist me with my practise sessions. More on that later as well! I am hoping to find a few more unsuspecting audiences to play to and maybe increase the blog postings as well. I'll now sign off and will shortly be heading out for the first of the weekend's two gigs. I'll manage a quick burst on the harp now, that is if I can hear the sounds over the rain hammering against the window. Oh yes, and both weekend gigs are open air!

Theatre review - 'I Found My Horn'

Last night I went to the ADC Cambridge to see the one-man show I Found My Horn based on the book of the same name by Jasper Rees. Third year Cambridge student Oskar McCarthy played the part of Rees who takes up the horn again after a 25 year gap. After discovering his horn in the attic Rees takes it along to a mass blow at the British Horn Society's annual event. Inspired by the fabulous sounds of the Hallelujiah Chorus for 70 horns, and fearing a mid-life crisis, he decides to set himself the challenge of playing a solo at the next British Horn Society event... without the other 69 players. Along with the horn was his student copy of Mozart's K447 (Horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat) and after seeking the advice of horn player Dave Lee ("my advice is don't do it") and numerous other big names he decides K447 will be the piece to perform. The play follows some of his adventures and highs and lows of learning the most difficult instrument in the orchestra. Of the highs and lows, there are many and they are extreme. McCarthy matched this extremeness in his portrayal which covered all the emotions and was very humerous. There was a lovely sketch of Mozart with horn player Leutgueb negotiating the exchange of the concerto for some cheese and an amusing account of what words might accompany the music at the start of the Romance. The play was a condensed version of the book but the production features much of the music and McCarthy actually plays the horn on stage showing the improvement from rusty re-starter to, well, I won't give the ending away in case you end up seeing it. Other issues covered include anxiety, approaches of different teachers, the school orchestra, transposing, match practise (or performance practise for the Americans) and ensemble / solo playing. There were plenty of horn sounds from concertos and symphonies in the recorded soundtrack and a few memorable quotes including "it takes balls of Sheffield steel to play the horn" from northerner Dave Lee. McCarthy is an accomplished horn player and was clearly in his element with the acting alongside the playing and all in all this was a great production. My initial grumble was that it was on at 11pm but it was well supported and worth staying out late for. Having taken up the other hardest instrument in the orchestra I naturally warmed to the story and much of the content was reflected in my own learning and challenges. Productions of the show appear to be few and far between but the book is a good alternative for now and highly recommended.

'Community Star'

Today I received my final certificate for being an SIA Community Star! The covering letter from Elizabeth at Spinal Injuries Association confirmed that the amount raised in total through the Grade-1-a-thon was £85,000. My own individual total was £1226.52 so I'm pretty pleased with that! Elizabeth also drew our attention to a link where we can listen to the performances from the Clueless in Concert. As I write I can hear some beautiful glockenspiel playing, followed by a mis-hit and some audience laughter! Great fun! I can just about pick out the harps in Gymnopedie. For anyone who wants to hear the expressive and musical sound of 140 professional performers and teachers should try www.encoreplayer.co.uk, click on View Media Player and select GOAT Orchestra. Listen out for the harp gliss towards the end of the Tutti piece!

In a little extra publicity I had a short article about the event published in the May Journal for the Incorporated Society of Musicians. ISM is my professional body and 24 local members took part including Thanea and Maurice who were on the organising team. There are high professional standards set for entry but listening to the recordings I believe these have been well and truly smashed! Just have to hope the top brass don't get to hear it!

The Old Windmill by Thomas Dunhill

April update - Finding new inspirations

While March was spent revelling in the glory from my grade 1 result, April was much slower. I had almost exhausted my sponsors but the total raised from all the Grade-1-a-bees was close to £70,000 which was fantastic. I got off to a good start this month though. On the final Palace Band rehearsal of term we had an informal concert and as an encore I got the harp out and played a couple of tunes. As a surprise to the band I had been in touch with co-conductor Caroline and we did a version of Greensleeves with me accompanying her on the flute. The last time Caroline had played with a harpist it had been Sioned Williams but conscious of dropping too many names in front of the band I mentioned this fact only twice! Anyway the band were impressed again and a few more had a good look and a pluck.

The following week was Live Music Week which was a week touring various schools in Cambridgeshire with my clarinet and some musician friends giving performances to schools. Having presented my harping skills to numerous audiences over the last few months meant that introducing a programme of mostly classical music to 150 year 7s was a doddle while the performances to the nursery children were sweet and amusing. Arranging a fair amount of the music and providing directions for my colleagues (and double checking the cellists knew what they were doing) left less time than previous weeks for the harp. My time preparing was not wasted though as the cellists only got lost once and Wallace & Gromit was a useful addition for the nursery programme but I did miss the harp.

Another highlight was a duet session at Anne’s. We met up in the Easter holidays one afternoon. Rohan had provided us with a big bag of music so we spent a pleasant few hours sight-reading a huge range of pieces including Pachelbel’s Canon. We would both admit to playing huge numbers of dodgy notes but the sounds were lovely. Anne also played me one of her grade 7 pieces that she is hoping to play in a concert shortly. It was a wonderful piece full of all the things the harp can do well like glissandi up, down and round and round, harmonics and plenty of gorgeous melodies with arpeggio accompaniment. It was a great afternoon so thanks to Anne for having me.

There were practise sessions throughout April and I had another donation. This was from Helen, a clarinettist with the band and a member of the Philharmonia Chorus. Helen’s session was a serious one and after warming up with scales I switched to arpeggios. These now need to be prepared with hands together so will take a bit of getting used to. They are a bit scrappy at the moment. Moving onto pieces I went through a few grade 2 pieces and settled on Evening Song. This has an Alberti-style bass. It looks simple but is deceptively hard. The last section features the tune but in octaves. This is also quite tricky. I kept catching the strings between the ones I was supposed to be playing but then realised fingers 2 and 3 needed to be tucked away. This also produced a better sound.

I had a few more sessions and got the metronome out to keep track of scales progress but otherwise practise was much less frequent. I needed some more inspiration so made a big decision. I contacted Pilgrims and ordered a new harp! It will be made to order so I had to go through lots of questions, rather like ordering a coffee in a frothy coffee outlet, how many strings, do I want legs, what stain do you want the wood, do you want a case… Finally they knew what I wanted and in about eight weeks time it should be ready. I will then plan a trip down there to take the hired harp back and pick up my new one. Anne suggested I ask them for a tour of the workshop when I am there. So with a new harp on the way and a date for grade 2 things are looking positive again. If that wasn’t enough the total raised for the Spinal Injuries Association was over £80,000 by the end of the month. A fantastic effort by all involved and another thanks from me to all my sponsors over the past few months!

Two recitals and a lesson

The first of my two recitals for this month was on the Saturday as it was nephew Josh's 6th birthday. A small family gathering up in Derbyshire included such highlights as a lovely cake made by Sue and my 5 minute recital featuring exam pieces and grand finale of Rockin' all over the world for my Dad. Josh was clearly so excited that he carried on playing with his new Lego set while I performed. I had been hoping to go to see harpist Lucy Bunce that evening but unfortunately the concert was postponed so I am on the lookout for other harp recitals to go to in the future. Sunday was the first day I did no playing at all, although I was kept busy with a Palace Band rehearsal and the adult pupil concert that Sue (day 36) and Helen (day 38) had been working towards. Several of the teachers who had provided pupils had themselves participated in the grade-1-a-thon and I think it was reassuring for the performers to know we were attempting to understand what it felt like to perform in front of your peers while feeling rather unskilled. It was a lovely evening and Sue and Helen both played extremely well, remembering many features that we had worked on and playing musically despite being quite nervous!

Monday's practice was a good 30 minutes planning pieces for the following day's performance. Azaleas, The Ball, Lavender's Blue, Merry-go-round and Lullaby are among my favourites. I had struggled with Lavender's Blue but this was feeling much better now so I am glad I stuck with it. I tried Rondo just to see how it felt and typically it went much better than the exam. My second recital was on Tuesday for Walden Winds. I played just before the tea break and then they all had a closer look, had a go at plucking the strings and asked lots of questions. I don't think I have had a question that I can't yet answer. Having read a fair amount of Harps and Harpists I can produce a few essay-length answers if appropriate, erudition oozing out of me as I speak but generally people seem to have their next question lined up before I've finished answering the first one so we move swiftly on. The only question I am not sure about is what the harp is made of. 'Wood' is not the most satisfactory of answers but I think it is made of ash, as this is written on the bottom of the harp. I'll find this out soon. Along with another distinction bonus as promised by Hayley I earned two more sponsors that evening so thanks are due to wonderful bass clarinettist Doris and clarinettist and wonderful hostess of parties Mary.

I then did nothing for two days but since then have left the harp out and will sit down for as long as I feel like it, usually between 20 and 30 minutes. I have done some practice before school but this is dangerous as I get carried away and have nearly been late a couple of times. I added another Dunhill piano piece called The Old Windmill and a Waltz by Dominig Bouchard in Harpe d'Or. I also arranged a lesson with Rohan and on the Friday did a short burst before packing the harp away and going to school. I had a few things to ask Rohan, not least how did my new pieces sound, but also wanted some new book ideas and suggestions for grade 2. Rohan asked me to meet her at one of the schools in Cambridge. When she opened the door I thought she was overly glamorous for a spot of Friday afternoon teaching with her sparkly black top and smart black trousers. However it turned out that she had just given a lunchtime recital and was fitting me in before travelling to some other pupils in the city centre. As I set up she played some extracts of the pieces she had performed. I followed as best I could with Swaying Branches and Waltz. Swaying Branches has some lever changes which I worked out and she said that looked fine to her. She said my elbows needed to be out more but rather than suggest I think of myself as a princess, as Elaine had done, she told me to imagine a porcupine under each arm. Ouch, I thought, but it did the trick at least for a short while. In Waltz, which has some left hand chords, she told me to lengthen my fingers and think of pointing them down. That way I would be able to see where the left fingers were going much better. This worked but as I played Waltz again I could feel them curving back up to their old position. But generally all was looking good and Rohan showed me some grade 2 pieces. Nothing too difficult and she lent me a book with one or two in until I get my own music. She told me her next exam session for harps will be mid-July so I could work towards that. The scales seem easy enough and the fingering patterns are straight forward extensions on grade 1 so I can get working through those on my own. I'll continue making my own progress and will then get in touch with her when I think I need some help, or if I suffer a crisis. Having made the point about folk asking me lots of questions I then quizzed Rohan further about certain aspects of technique. One was if you are supposed to let the harp strings ring on mid-piece, or should you try and dampen them. This is down to experience I was told and you gradually learn which strings might want stopping and which you can let ring on. I was told not to worry about it for now. Rohan took a phone call during the lesson and I was able to overhear her talking about the grade-1-a-thon. Whoever was at the other end seemed keen to know all about the event, in particular the harps as well as Rohan's efforts on the percussion. Afterwards she told me it was one of the staff at Morley's, one of the other English harp builders. They had sponsored Rohan a considerable amount and were ringing to return Rohan's thanks so I learnt a little mroe about them.

At the "Clueless in Concert" concert I picked up a leaflet advertising a book called "Successful Practising" by Jenny MacMillan. Jenny is known to me as she took the MA Psychology for Musicians course in the cohort before mine. I have read and enjoyed some of her articles and I know she is highly recommended as a piano teacher in the area. If a copy of her book was ordered by mid March she would donate £5 to SIA. The day before her closing date I remembered to put my order in and we exchanged a couple of emails. I'll hopefully write more about the book as and when I get around to reading it (need to finish Harpo Marx's biography first). Maybe there will be some tips to help me with my harp practise!

March looks set to end with some sunny weather and some harp progress, although at a slightly slower rate than January and February. So the blog will continue as and when time allows. Now though I think it is time to do some more playing!