A year of harping

As 2011 draws to a close I have taken a few moments out of eating too much, drinking too much and being with family and friends to reflect on my first year of playing the harp. My initial aim at the start of the year was to get to grade 1 standard and raise a bit of money for a worthy cause. That was achieved in style by the end February and grades 2 and 3 were also managed. I had enough saved up to get my own harp and enjoyed seeing the workshops where it was made.

I made some great new friends as I found other harpists to play with including Robyn who has also continued from the grade 1-a-thon, Anne B who I knew already as a flautist but now as a harpist, and Anne from the Clarsach Society who organises playing afternoons across the south-east. It has been great getting to know Rohan, my incredibly patient teacher and I hope to have a few more lessons from her over the coming few months as we start to sort out my technique.

I took part in an orchestral course and drove across France to get there learning early on that even the small harps are better off in cars rather than travelling by train or plane. I have begun to meet some well known harpists including Danielle Perret and I have seen Sioned Williams in performance although from a long way off in the Royal Albert Hall. Next year I hope to meet a few more and look forward to seeing Claire Jones in Ipswich in January and Catrin Finch in November at the ACE Foundation's Harp Playday.

My new hobby introduced me to books such as Harpo Marx's biography and Maiden Voyage by Sarah Deere-Jones both of which were amusing and beautiful portrayals of interesting and, at times, exciting lives. Sarah runs courses down in Cornwall and I hope to get to one of these at some point soon. Next year will hopefully see me take grade 4 and maybe grade 5 if all goes well. I could well be taking part in the Cambridge festival and I may be involved with a new harp festival taking place in Surrey in the summer. The harp trio with Robyn and Anne may see us start to perform provide we can improve a little more and it would be good to get involved in some more playdays and courses. Then of course there is mine and Chris's wedding to plan which will involve as much music as possible. I will hopefully keep track of my progress through the blog and may record a few new pieces over the next few months. 2012 is already looking likely to be as packed as 2011 so for now Happy New Year!

Presents for an enthusiastic harpist

I had some lovely Christmas presents this year and with my new hobby set to continue it has made present buying a little easier for some this year. I got a book from Dad with 76 Disney tunes in it, all of them suitable for lever harp. I have worked my way through a few of them already and will get a few of them up to standard soon.

Mum gave me a miniature harp for the dolls house (one of my other hobbies, when I can fit it in) which will go with the growing collection of 1/12th size musical instruments that I have.

A few weeks ago Caroline, my co-conductor at Palace Band gave me a few postcards featuring harpists. She used to collect musical postcards and gave me one back in February (the long lost ancestor?). It's not just the pictures but the writing on the back that interest me. This postcard is 'Lady with a Harp' by Thomas Sully and hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The lady is Eliza Ridgely who, according to Wikipedia, was just 15 at the time. The postcard is addressed to a Miss A Warwick and is from her mother, sent in October 1953, who lets her know the portrait is of her great-great grandmother. I would love to think that Miss A Warwick, possibly under a different name by now, might still be around and could shed some more light on her long lost ancestor.

A while back Dad and Sue had a holiday in Ireland and visited the Waterford Crystal factory. The harp is one of the many symbols of Ireland and for my birthday I got a lovely crystal harp (photo to follow).

Grade 3 result and plans for 2012

Robyn and I took Rohan out for a drink on Wednesday evening to say thanks for teaching us and for getting us through our exams. In return Rohan gave us both some technical exercises to practise over the holidays! Both Robyn and I were still a little unsure about how well we'd done but confirmation arrived yesterday and I was delighted to learn I got 140, which was the same as my grade 2 result! My scales mark was a little lower than the rest but this all ties in with my technique which is what the exercises are for. I know that Robyn got through her exam as well and hope that the news has reached her in Canada where she is spending her Christmas.

I have already decided to take a term off from exams so will aim for grade 4 in the summer but hope to take part in the music festival in March so I'll have something to work towards. Chris and I are also planning our wedding for August and while it will be a relatively small celebration I am aiming to squeeze as much music into the day as possible and hope to arrange my own music for the ceremony, with at least a little of it on harp so there will be some plans to work on in the new year for that, along with twisting the arms of as many musician-friends as possible to join in. Chris will be in charge of the beer for the day.

I have learnt a couple of easy carols to play to the family along with Star Wars (abridged) and The Wolves by Ben Howard as requested by Josh, my 6-year-old nephew. I feel I can finally relax after a long term so if you don't hear from my again this week have a Happy Christmas!

Grade 3 exam

I did a tiny amount of playing at 7am just before packing the harp away and setting off for a morning's teaching. I got to the exam venue at lunchtime to find fellow harpists Robyn and Anne along with Rohan who teaches us all. Rohan had organised this particular session, Anne was accompanying some of her own woodwind pupils and Robyn had finished her exam and was deciding when to head off home. Robyn's exam had been somewhat nerve-wracking for her but she said she got through all of her pieces withouth any memory slips. She remembered some of what had gone well, along with a few things that hadn't but I think she was relieved it was over. I took my time warming up and tuning up then Rohan re-tuned my harp to a more acceptable standard. The examiner came back from lunch early and I was in!

I started with my scales and this time there are more so I made sure I thought very carefully about my lever changes. I did get them all right but had a few little finger slips along the way. My pieces went fairly well but also had some small slips and places where notes were a little uneven. Rohan suggested I could take Barcarolle a little steadier and I meant to but went straight into it at a brisk tempo so perhaps lost a little control in a few places. Sight-reading was easy but I got complacent and added an F sharp to my final G major chord as I didn't check my fingers before hitting the chord! Aural was ok I think but grade 3 is quite tricky and it is easy to get caught out with some of the tasks. It was over very quickly but I didn't feel quite as confident in this one as I did for grades 1 and 2. I then had to go back and play the piano for four of my own pupils all of whom did well I think.

Rohan had sent me an email a while back asking me if I would like to enter the Cambridge Music Festival next March. At the time I said I'd think about it but she took that as a yes and I am now entered for the harp grade 3-4 category. Anne is also entering in the 7-8 class and while I was a bit worried about competing against some much younger pupils it gives us all a chance to see and hear others at our own level so should be an entertaining day. I'll find out more nearer the time but for now I need to get through the last few days of teaching and decide what to do next with the harp. I have had a few requests from the family for some Christmas entertainment so will see what I can rustle up.

Recording session of Barcarolle

The video of one of my grade 3 pieces is now finally up. I've been meaning to do this for weeks and Chris my audio/visual engineer and I finally found a little bit of time to record it this afternoon. The piece isn't Christmassy at all as a barcarolle is a song normally sung by gondala drivers but the Christmas tree is a nice touch as I draw near to the end of my first year with the harp.

We did three takes although the second one lasted just two bars before a catastrophic error and out of the first and third this third version was slightly better. This time tomorrow the exam will all be over and I'll get onto some Christmas tunes.

Barcarolle by Grandjany

Scrapheap Orchestra

Tune into BBC4 tomorrow evening (Sunday 11) 9:30pm to see the documentary about the Scrapheap Orchestra featuring woodwind makers Andy Wheeldon and Daniel Bangham as well as other leading instrument makers.

The project finished with a performance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Unfortunately there were no harps made from rubbish but the other instruments should be fascinating to see.

A spot of performance practise and a lesson

Robyn asked if I'd like to get together to play our exam pieces to each other so as we were both free last night I packed up the harp and set off for Cambrigde. Robyn is doing her grade 4 having done grade 3 last term and I'm sure she won't mind me saying that she does get a little nervous when performing and we both needed the practise of playing to someone else. We spent most of the time chatting about all things from music to performing to harps and it was great sharing ideas and comparing our rates of progress across the year. One problem we both have is the buzzing of strings when our fingers or nails accidently knock a string. I get this frequently with woodwind pupils when their tone is a bit hissy or not quite as clear as it usually is. I learnt over time that this is much worse to you than it is to the audience so while I notice the buzzing I can ignore it. Robyn notices it and is much more concerned! It does take some convincing that it is not as serious a problem as you think. After two cups of tea we finally got going and I played my three pieces. I hadn't warmed up properly and have been finding my pieces are not usually at their best until the third play through so I did Etude twice. Robyn enjoyed them and said my dynamics were clear. Her eagle-eye had noticed that my fingers were not being placed on the strings quickly enough during the Etude and when I did a short section again I realised she was right. I can place them sooner when it is slowed down but not at speed. Robyn then played her set. She had had her lesson with Rohan that morning but was concerned that there hadn't been much criticism so asked me if I thought Rohan was being genuine or too nice! Her pieces sound very good and apart from one or two very small slips, again due to lack of a warm up, there was much to commend so I concluded that Rohan was being genuine with her praise! My favourite piece was Scarborough Fair, a lovely arrangement that has some harmonics in. Harmonics are where you play the string in a different way to get a note an octave higher and this gives a delicate bell-like tone. It's very effective. We talked about the aural tests and for sight-reading practise I took along some very easy piano duets and we busked through two of Walton's Duets for Children.

I managed to find one of Rohan's empty spaces in the diary and went round to hers this afternoon. She listened to each of my pieces and made a few useful commetns after each. The only thing is they will only be useful after the exam! The pieces are fine but there are a few technical issues that I will need to deal with afterwards such as hand position and placing of fingers, which is what Robyn had noticed yesterday. Rohan also noticed a place where my fingering was probably not the most efficient way of doing things but rather than change anything for Monday I should go through pieces more carefully well in advance of the next performance. She also suggested some exercises from a heavy and dreary sounding book. I know what to expect as I spent a fair amount of my college practise time on similar volumes for the clarinet. I have already decided to leave grade 4 until the summer term (assuming I pass my grade 3) so will spend a good few months sorting out my technique and hopefully doing more ensemble work with Robyn and Anne.

November update

I realise I've been a bit quiet over the last month. In fact the world outside the computer has been manic, as it usually is at this time of year. I have been practising and have the date for my grade 3 exam. It is to be on Monday 12 December in Cambridge. I decided on my pieces at the beginning of the month. The clear favourite is Barcoralle by Grandjany, a lovely lilting piece. This took a while to memorise but is now there. The tune is mostly in the right hand but there is one tricky part where the tune moves into the left hand and the right hand plays softer chords over the top. It has taken some work to get one hand to play louder than the other but I think I am there now. Gavotte by Bernard Andres is ok. It is in three clear sections, the first of which repeats several times so that has not been too hard to learn. After I had got the notes learnt I realised it was sounding slow and heavy so I set my metronome to half the speed and played the piece along with the metronome very slowly. Each day I increased the speed, just a few motches at a time, and it is now well up to speed and sounding much lighter. I had to do a similar metronome thing with my third piece, Etude, which is lots of scales in C major. This is porbably the easiest of the three pieces to learn as the patterns are all very similar but for me this has been technically the most challenging. My fingers couldn't quite manage the changes in some of the scales and slipped off or hit the wrong string so I have tried various methods to get this to fit more comfortably. It still has good and bad days and I need to be really well warmed up if I want to perform it. Due to the business of this term I have not given any performances to anyone so at this stage the first proper performance may end up being in the exam itself. I could do with at least a couple of run throughs in front of people just to get used to having an audience.

On November 18 Cambridge Summer Music presented the Halsar Ensemble, a flute and harp duo to give a recital in Haslingfield, a lovely village not too far from Cambridge. As part of the day they gave an afternoon recital to the pupils at the village primary school. I teach woodwind at the school and stayed on to hear them play to the children. They play extremely well and presented a wide range of arrangements and original works from Bach to Debussy with a few others in between.

I was invited to lead two sessions for clarinet choir and sax choir at a playday in Liverpool organised by the Clarinet and Saxophone Society so spent many evenings across several weeks arranging music and sorting out parts for up to 60 clarinets and 60 saxophones. The day itself went really well. The sound of 120 single reeders was amazing and players seemed to enjoy my own arrangements and directing. Around this time next year I will be a participant at a similar playday as I have signed up for the Harp day with Catrin Finch that Rohan is organising with The ACE Foundation. I already know what 4 harps together sounds like and can only just imagine the sounds that 100 harps will create!

In the meantime I need to keep practising and get myself as prepared as possible for my exam, and hopefully book a time with Rohan for some last minute pointers.

More harp trios and the 'C' word

I met up with Robyn and Anne yesterday and after sharing the news about our latest pieces and individual progress we ran through Dancing Lambs. We played this in our earlier rehearsals, very slowly and badly, but we now feel it is making more sense and we were able to take it at quite a good speed. The second run-through was even better and we chose a couple of bits to work on. However when we checked with a metronome what the speed should be we lost a little of our enthusiasm as we are still too slow but then decided our lambs didn't have to be that energetic. We also have our Latin pieces and played through a couple of those. In deciding when our next rehearsal should be Robyn mentioned the 'C' word... Christmas! It is still October but thoughts are already turning to plans for December. Anne has a Christmas tunes for harp book so she showed us that. While Robyn tried one out myself and Anne messed around with the chords and developed our own accompaniments. Robyn was fascinated! She can hear chord changes but isn't yet able to identify which one is which whereas Anne and I with our teaching and piano playing experience find this sort of thing straight forward, especially if the tune is as familiar as Silent Night. It was great practise adding massive arpeggio figures and embellishments to Robyn's version of Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels Sing and we had a lot of fun. Musicians do usually have to think about Christmas around the same time as when the adverts appear on the telly as we have to prepare pupils and ensembles for performances for the end of term. Some pupils really should start to learn their Christmas pieces in August but I draw the line at October half term. I don't think my Christmas cheer would last much longer!

Benslow Music Trust

My half term began with a trip to Benlow Music Trust, Hitchin as Caroline and I were running a woodwind ensemble course there. This was our ninth one and the 20 or so participants ranged from Benslow regulars who attend numerous courses throughout the year to those who are coming for the first time. They all share the same interest and all hope to improve their skills, make music, learn a trick or two and make a few friends. Several of my grade 1 sponsors were there as well as one of my sponsors and fellow grade-1-a-be, Pat, who is a flautist and passed her grade 1 on the trumpet during the grade-1-a-thon. Pat did admit to catching up with the blog from time to time so "Hello Pat!" if you are reading!

View from my room overlooking the main house. Not particularly musical but it's a lovely setting.

All players play in a large ensemble that Caroline conducts and I organise players into smaller groups where they play one to a part. I coach the small groups throughout the weekend and we finish with an informal performance on the Sunday afternoon. For some reason this year the players were very well matched and each of the groups that I formed seemed to gel very well. As well as the five large ensemble piece several groups got through two or three smaller pieces, not bad for less than three days of practise! We had a small but appreciative audience for our little performance, including one of my biggest fans Ziggy the dog!

Ziggy waits eagerly for the performance

This is what I hope to do on the harp if a course coincides with one of my free weekends and I asked the director of music Stephen Pettit if he had any plans to run a harp weekend. Benslow do already run an International Harp Summer School but he hadn't thought there would have been much of a market for a lower level course. I could tell my enthusiasm for such an event had caused a little light bulb in his head to come on, faintly at first, and he did hint that a small course could be organised to see what the initial reaction would be.

I had an email from one of the participants this morning who had a great time but was "still suffering (very badly) at stuffing up" during the performance. I didn't realise this at the time otherwise I would have given some words of comfort then but replied to say that on these courses we like to think of things as 'work in progress' rather that a polished performance. One of the problems these days is that most of the performances we hear, either in the concert hall or on the tv, radio or recordings, are top quality (if you don't include some of the reality shows!) and what we never see are the hours and hours of rehearsal time along with wrong notes, missed entries and squeaks that happen at all levels. The trick is to learn to keep going and look like you know what you are doing, something that some fo the more experienced players are already doing. I sent the player the first page from John Holt's 'Never Too Late' and had a reply shortly afterwards to say that they had laughed out loud on the train and felt a little better!

Changing a string

One of my C strings snapped earlier in the week. I hadn't noticed it going and just saw the string hanging off on Monday morning. I've not had to change one before as the last one that went was on the hired harp and that went the day before it was returned so it was replaced at Pilgrims. Rohan is happy to come out and replace them but she's busy and I'm busy so I thought the easiest thing would be for me to order my own and have a go. How hard can it be?! Well, firstly it's not a simple re-order like it might be on the violin or guitar as not only do you need to know which note you need, in my case 'C', you also need to know which octave it is. After checking my chart I knew it was the 2nd octave 'C' which is one of the top strings. While I was waiting for the new string I was a little limited with my practise as several pieces do need the C. I tried finding an alternative note but this was too hard and you realise just how quickly you learn the shapes and patterns within a piece. It is very off putting to have a string missing. I was able to practise Gavotte as this doesn't need a C and there were a few other folk tunes that I found I could manage. The string had arrived by the time I got in from work today so I set about attaching it to my harp.

Old string and new string

I did have instructions so used these to work out how to tie the knot but this was hard for more than one reason. The string is sent curled up as above so wouldn't straighten out easily. I did learn some knots while in the Girl Guides but wasn't very good and can't remember the names of them, let alone how to tie them. You have to tie the knot around the extra bit of gut that holds the end of the tring inside the harp. Here's my first attempt at a knot:

Comparing my knot with the suggested knot

Realising that the loop bit was the wrong side of the knot I had to start again. Then when I thought I'd got it right I put it through the hole in the soundboard but the larger bit fell out because the knot was not tight enough. I had to fish it out from inside the harp. Once that was finally in I had to work out which way round the string went through the tuning pin. Two possible ways and I got the wrong way first. I think it is done but took a few photos to send to Rohan so she can advise me.

Before

After

You get more than you need for your string and I think you are supposed to cut the extra bit off but I've left it for now in case I've done anything wrong!

Last stage: attaching to the tuning pin

I've emailed Rohan some of the pictures and am nervously waiting for a reply.

In other harp news this week harpist Claire Jones performed on the Chris Evans Breakfast show in honour of the Welsh rugby team playing in the world cup semi-final tomorrow so after hearing some of her playing on the way to work I felt inspired to do a little more practise and to make the most of my harp before another string goes!

A viola and harp joke...

Of all the instruments in the orchestra the viola is the one that is made the most fun of. There is a good reason for this and that is that it has always been this way. Sitting on stage on Saturday ready to rehearse the Turnage Viola Concerto we realised everyone was there, the players, conductor, viola students in the auditorium and then someone noticed we were just missing the soloist. He'd been seen but hadn't appeared at the right time. While someone went off to fetch him soprano sax player John and I shared a few viola jokes most of which we had both heard before. Presently Lawrence appeared and we began rehearsing. We quickly realised this was no ordinary viola player and the intensity of sound produced was quite amazing. He knew the piece extremely well and was in control throughout. The rehearsal went well and I got most of my notes in the right place, or as many as I needed to without worrying about my fee. Rohan's little snippets on harp sounded good. Usually the harp or harps sit behind the second violins, not too far from the horns on the left if you are in the audience. The harpists face is hidden from the audience behind the soundboard of the harp. Because of the enormous range of percussion, and because she needed to be near the celeste and piano she was sitting on the right hand side behind the cellos. I asked her if this was normal and she said it occasionally happened but was rare. When I asked how much of a difference it made she said not much but she just has to remember to smile more because the audience can see her more clearly.

Rehearsal out of the way and then it was onto the performance. Despite my reluctance to engage with certain genres of modern music I enjoyed performing the Turnage more than I thought I would. I find when I play pieces that don't have much of a tune I listen to them as if they might have been written for film. That helps me get through it. As it was the writing for wind was interesting and when playing we were kept busy without it being too demanding. Lawrence was excellent and he is actually performing the concerto again with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 19 October at the Southbank.

As we were packing up John told me yet another viola joke and one that I'd not heard before:
Why are viola players jealous of harpists?
Because harpists only play pizzicato on open strings!

If you don't get it ask your teacher at your next viola lesson!

How's the practise going...?

I find it difficult to say no to things, especially if there is a fee, or free food, or it will be an enjoyable experience. If it's all three then that's when I really appreciate my job! I have a few projects that I am working on at the moment including concerts for several of my ensembles, arranging music for some weekend woodwind courses and clarinet playdays. I've been on a team with my professional society organising some workshops (one of which is entitled 'Managing stress in the practice of music'. Very useful). As if this wasn't enough I have taken on a new sideline career as a journalist. I already write reviews of clarinet music which is great fun but I am working on a little article about a recent BBC project called Scrapheap Orchestra. There will be a documentary on BBC4 at some point soon but in short several leading instrument makers were asked to build instruments for members of the BBC Concert Orchestra for one of the Prom concerts. Fine, the makers thought, until they learned that everything had to be made of scrap and other people's rubbish. One of the woodwind makers lives in Cambridge so I went to interview him earlier in the week. I can't give too much away here but it is a fascinating story and to see a couple of the instruments close up was equally brilliant. One of the impressions I came away with was that we spend so long trying to perfect our first choice instrument, investing time and money to achieve perfect results, that when something unexpected happens we are reluctantly forced to adapt. Then we whinge about it! Scrapheap Orchestra challenges that idea, as well as challenging a whole lot more besides! However I have not quite settled into my new role yet. Ten minutes into my interview I realised I'd not turned my microphone on. I still have a lot to learn!

Of course you may be thinking these are really just excuses for not having done any harp practise recently, rather like my pupils who blame everything from a new puppy to their sister's broken finger for not having had the chance to get their instruments out in the week. Not so! I have been quietly plodding away on my grade 3 pieces and I have managed to work on the ensemble pieces that myself Robyn and Anne have been playing. Rohan gave me some exercises to help with the scale patterns in the Study and that has helped a little. The Grandjany Barcarolle has improved since the Music on the Close concert and I have relearned that last line as I had been playing it incorrectly. This will be ready for a recording soon. I have two other pieces that I am deciding between for my list A choice. I am gradually working through both and will decide by the end of October.

I have an orchestral concert this evening in Cambridge. The programme includes a piece by Mark-Antony Turnage called On Opened Ground and it is a viola concerto. It is difficult, not least because it is a viola concerto, and that includes the rests where I'm not playing as I have to count. I am on bass clarinet and have had to learn the very low notes that I don't usually have to worry about. Even as a clarinettist my little fingers are not used to this much activity. The only positive thing is that this is developing my low note skills, presumably for the next time I play some Turnage! Rohan is playing the harp part in this and I watched her in the rehearsal when I could afford to relax during my rests. Her part is also immensely difficult and her feet are getting plenty of exercise as the pedal changes are fast and furious. I may pull faces when I go wrong but Rohan does need to watch her language during the performance! Knowing that Rohan has considerable faith in my potential harping abilities I casually asked her if she thought I'd manage the harp part. The instant and firm "NO!" shocked me at first but then when I saw the part I was secretly glad I would probably not get asked to stand in if Rohan was suddenly indisposed to appear. I'll let you know how we both get on! I've just got time for a spot of my own harp practise before going out.

A Clarsach Society gathering

Shortly after her recital in Long Melford Danielle sent me details of a playing afternoon to be held in Suffolk. I emailed someone called Anne, who appeared to have organised it all and she sent me some directions and asked if I would be able to bring something to play to the others. I practised a few pieces yesterday to decide what to offer and loaded the car nice and early this morning. I had wanted to drag Robyn along as she is keen to do lots of playing and meet new people but she had a choral concert this evening so couldn't make it. I had to go to Cambridge first for a rehearsal with Cambridge Symphonic Winds who are giving a concert next Saturday. After spending the morning rehearsing some particularly demanding and heavy music on the bass clarinet heading off to Suffolk was a refreshing change. The sun was shining and the little villages all looked their prettiest, especially Lavenham which is always a pleasure to see. I had some directions but used the sat-nav first of all which took me along some very narrow roads through the middle of nowhere. After stopping and looking at the printed directions I turned around and found the right entrance. I went past the main house to the barn where I was told we would meet. The door was open and I peered in, cautiously calling 'hello' a bit worried in case I was in the wrong place with an angry owner about to let some dogs loose but I spotted a Pilgrims harp case just inside the door so guessed this was the right venue. Anne soon appeared and after our introductions Helen arrived along with Jane, who owns the house and converted barn. The rooms in the barn were amazing. Jane and husband David have converted it into a seperate home and the living room makes for a wonderful rehearsal space while the kitchen area was spacious and modern. The acoustics were perfect for the harps and the view across the garden was lovely.

Setting up and tuning

The event was a meeting for anyone within the Clarsach Society with the aim of playing and sharing the interest of the Clarsach, another name for my style of lever harp. The London and South-east branch has around 95 members and covers Hampshire to Kent in the south and Hertfordshire and Anglia to the north. We had a cup of tea and discussed harps first of all. Anne's is like mine, made by Pilgrims although slightly older and Helen's was made by her husband who started making harps as a hobby. It has a wonderful two wood design just about visible in the photo above. We eventually got around to some playing and started with a trio. The other two are good sight-readers and the music was straight forward enough for me to keep up and get most of the notes in. The arrangements were good and are published so I will order one or two of those this week. The three harps all made slightly different sounds, mine is slightly more mellow while Helen's is much brighter partly due to the strings she has. Jane, who doesn't play, sat entranced throughout! She does play the Cora, an African instrument with 21 strings. I didn't see it this time but there were suggestions that she should play it at our next meeting! We then played a solo piece each. I did Barcarolle, and Anne and Helen each did a piece by Isabel Mieras who had also arranged the ensemble pieces. We played a few more ensembles and performed two more solo pieces each and chatted about styles, teachers, repertoire and forthcoming events.  Afterwards I gave Anne a lift to a station and on the way she told me about plans to hold a harp festival in July next year, probably in Reading. She said she would send me details and she also recommended the Edinburgh Internation Harp Festival which takes place just before Easter each year. I said I would join the Clarsach Society and Anne gave me the latest newsletter which will be my bedtime reading later! It was a lovely afternoon and great to meet some others with similar interests.

A helpful lesson and a Prom concert

My teacher Rohan has a packed week of students. Due to the size of the instrument and difficulties with portability she travels to almost all of her pupils, either in schools or at their own homes. Her school pupils tend to have weekly lessons but those of us with similarly full working weeks tend to book a lesson when we feel like it. Rohan terms us as 'floaters' in that we are hers but are not fixed to any time. Realising the start of term was imminent I booked a lesson for the Wednesday morning as I wanted help with the scale patterns in the Etude. We warmed up, as we usually do, with a cup of tea and catch up of summer activities. I told her about the orchestra in Provence and how it had been a different experience to playing on my own and she said she likes to throw pupils into orchestral situations as soon as they're ready as it requires a different way of thinking. On the clarinet I usually look directly at the conductor but she said she only tend to keep the conductor in her peripheral vision. There is also the business of keeping going without going back to correct any mistakes, something I go on and on about to my own pupils and ensembles but when you are forced to do it, I admit, it is hard!

I started with Barcarolle, the piece I played at the concert last week. Rohan liked that and made a few suggestions with dynamics and shaping of melody. I then started the Etude to show her where the problem was. The first problem was in the first bar so I stopped and she explained that when learning we tend to think about notes first, then secondly we check to see if fingers are on the right strings, and only then if there's room in the brain, do we think about hand position. Really the hand position shoud be there first. Rohan gave me some scale exerciese designed to think about hand position, lengthening the fingers and allowing space for the fingers that move position during the pattern then play the pattern very slowly and only gradually speeding up. I'm sure I've heard all this before but it needs reiterating for the new situation.

We then chatted for a while longer on repertoire and future events. There will be a big harp playday in Cambridge in November 2012 and Rohan is hoping to get over 100 harpists to attend. She was able to tell me that one of the tutors has now been confirmed as Catrin Finch, one of the great names in the harp world and pretty much a household name.

After lunch I headed down to London as I'd got tickets to see the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform The Planets. The programme also featured Isabella, a tone poem by Bridge and a violin concerto by Harrison Birtwistle. I knew The Planets had two harps and another harp inspiration - Sioned Williams - was on harp 1. She also featured in the other two pieces. At some point I do hope to meet Sioned properly and after watching her and the Co-principal harp Louise Martin I found I had lots of questions about how they work. The Planets was excellent, some really exciting moments and lovely gentler contrasts. The Bridge was based on a gruesome story (murder, head chopped off that sort of thing) but was enjoyable. Despite being open-minded and with excellent performances by the BBC SO and violin soloist Christian Tetzlaff I found I couldn't warm to the Birtwistle. There were some interesting sections, including those with contrabass clarinet, but as whole piece it's not what I really enjoy listening to. But then again the Rite of Spring probably wasn't everyone's cup of tea back in 1913.

I met up with one of my students Sue and her husband Ken beforehand then had the great pleasure of bumping into an old college friend Nina who was there with her husband Matthew. London can be very big but if you go to the right places you are bound to see a familiar face at some point. Unfortunately I didn't find the right pub afterwards for a proper chat so will have to go back and catch up properly next time.

A concert and a street party

Summer is almost over and the week in Provence seems a while ago now. Before term starts again on Monday there was the chance to squeeze in an informal concert performance. Friend and Grade-1-a-thon groupie Margaret lives in a small cul-de-sac in Oakington, a village near Cambridge. The neighbours of the Close have mentioned the music drifting from her house and Margaret, a pianist, was given the idea to put on a summer performance. Margaret invited myself on clarinet and fellow teacher Karen, a singer, and we performed at the Methodist Church where I did my first public performance on the harp back in February.

We did a mixture of solo, duo and trio pieces and I was also allowed to do a couple of pieces on the harp. As my recital programme (that is - all the pieces I can play so far) is still under 20 minutes adding a piece or two here and there in a longer performance is a lovely way for me to gradually build up confidence and get my pieces very well known. It also gives the audience a break from the main programme. I chose to do Barcoralle by Grandjany, one of the grade 3 pieces, so have spent the past few weeks gradually getting this one up to standard. Having the performance aim meant that I focussed just a little harder during those practises on getting the notes learnt and working out where it might go wrong. The performance went fairly well although there are still two places where my fingers want to go in a slightly different direction but having performed it in front of an audience means I will be in a better position when I next play it probably to an examiner. I also did Mountain Stream, my favourite grade 2 piece and this one now feels really comfortable. The more you play, the better it gets and you can experiment with different dynamics, speeds and take a few risks!

Karen has a wonderful operatic voice and as an ensemble we did Voi, che sapete by Mozart and Gershwin's Summertime. I have played with Margaret many times before so we know each other's playing well and having Karen too was a lot of fun. We hope to do some more performances in the future. Just talking about the harp with other musicians can lead to new repertoire ideas and round at Karen's earlier in the week she produced two pieces arranged by Edmund Rubbra for voice and harp. It looked possible on lever harp and we are hoping to do that in the future. I love the ways in which discoveries are made.

The neighbours were very complimentary of the performance and after the concert we headed back to the Close where they all demonstrated their own skills at producing and consuming alcohol of all different varieties. Although it was getting dark it was dry and quite mild so we sat outside under a gazebo with some nibbles, Jenga and a lively atmosphere. Chris had come along to the concert and after show gathering, lured by the promise of some quiet drinking afterwards with Mark, Margaret's husband, bringing some of his own cider to share. However he was encouraged to try much of the range on offer and join in with the raucous behaviour. It was great to see such a lively and friendly bunch and while I finish this blog and start preparing for the new term Chris is currently sleeping off the effects of mixing toffee vodka and Barbados rum and will be reminiscing for a few more hours yet I feel, probably like much of the rest of the Close. Cheers!

France Day 11: Reims to Papworth Everard via Calais and Islington

The gloomy weather had passed and when I peered out of the window early this morning I was delighted to see the sun shining brightly over our corner of Reims. As I looked around I'm sure I could hear the music of Morning from Peer Gynt in my head and this was the view:

Sunrise over Reims

Early impressions do tend to stick with you so I feel I ought to come back and visit the more attractive areas of the city sooner rather than later.

We set off straight after breakfast and made good progress to Calais. If there had been a problem with the Sat Nav or map we could have just followed the steady stream of GB cars heading up the motorway. Some way into the journey Katy noticed the cloud appear as if it were a shelf. (The photo will follow soon). We soon disappeared underneath it, silently aware of the fact that becasue we were heading back to Blighty we may not see blue sky again until May. 2 1/2 hours after leaving Reims we arrived at the Eurotunnel terminal. We went through the check in procedure and got something to eat in the waiting area. There were announcements and apologies for delays due to a technical issue and only one train an hour was operating rather than the usual two or three. At the information desk I was able to discover that the delays were due to a strike by The French and staff were waiting for Some English to arrive from across the channel so they could restore normal service as soon as possible. In the end our departure was only 40 minutes later than the scheduled time. After a clear run on the M20 and A2 we hit traffic through Hackney and Highbury but I dropped my wonderful travel buddy Katy off at around 4pm. She had received a text from a friend inviting her out to dinner this evening so had the bonus of not having to cook for herself. A great end to the final day of her trip away! After I was out of London I had a good drive up the A1 and made it home, tired but happy to see my plants were still alive and the house was tidy. I showed Chris his presents and bored him with my photos and after he ordered a take away pizza I got one final picture.

Home at last!

It has been a fabulous adventure and I have enjoyed the time spent with old friends as well as making some great new ones. I have seen and explored a new part of the world, played some great music and improved my skills on the harp. All I need to decide now is where to go next...

France Day 10: Lumieres to Reims

Katy and I said a few good byes at breakfst and set off right on 10am. I had broken the journey into three chunks which were Lumieres to Lyon, Lyon to Dijon and Dijon to Reims, each just over two hours long. We stopped for fuel early on but didn't quite follow the schedule as there were tail backs from a few kilometres before Lyon right until the very long tunnel that runs under the city. 4 hours after setting off we were only onto the second stage. Lots of changes then happened. The roads gradually got clearer, the clear blue sky became dotted with pretty fluffy white clouds, which got bigger and darker, and the temparature got noticably colder at each service station stop we did. We also had a small panic just a few miles from the hotel as the Sat Nav lost control and thought we were heading across country fields. Reims has had a new autoroute built it seems so Mum will have to fork out for a new update next time I want to borrow her Sat Nav!

Reims is a beautiful city with a well known cathedral but from the Etap window it resembled the area of Northampton known as Sixfields. The view from the window included numerous chain restaurants (including a KFC), a bowling alley and some large superstores, each an island surrounded by a sea of car parking places. Instead of the expected football stadium there was a large IKEA. We had a look first at the restaurant featuring food from the Alsace region but failing to find anything on the menu I liked we opted for the Belgian place next door. They served mostly mussel dishes but the one meal that did catch my eye was the one I went for - Goat's cheese salad and chips! It went down really well (anything and chips tends to be the best overall) and I am now refreshed and ready for bed. The orchestra members who travelled by train will be home by now but we still have a fair chunk of the journey to do. Another 2 and a half hours to Calais then a quick hop through Kent, rush through London to drop Katy off and back home to Papworth in time for tea. I wonder what culinery delight Chris will create for my honorary arrival home!

A demain!

France Day 9: The concert

After working intensely hard a day off is very welcome but the return to work affects different people in different ways. Some were looking forward to playing again while others had lost a bit of motivation so this morning's rehearsal did not begin as well as it could have. However things quickly picked up and we got through most of the programme for this evening finishing in time for Mass. In the end players worshipped the open air either in the pool or in the courtyard. There was a request for Sergio and I to play some jazz again so we set up and after the suggestion that When the Saints would be appropriate we kicked off with that. As the sun was shining there was a much better atmosphere than the previous evening so we enjoyed ourselves even more. We did Autumn Leaves and finished off with Lady Be Good.

We were given a lunch at the hotel as we were to be away from the hotel that evening. I sat with David so finally got to chat to him about his experiences and musical life. He was a flautist and played with the Halle Orchestra as well as many of the northern ensembles working under many distinguished names. It was very interesting to hear his views as his preferred conductors were often the less well known ones while the household names were not always admired by the orchestral players. I may take my own rehearsals differently to David but he is a fine musician who really knows his stuff. The musical organisation of this week really can't be faulted.

After lunch we had an hour to fill so I went on a short walk through the woods and saw a red squirrel. It was definitely a squirrel and they are more likely to be red around here. I also found Harvey, one of the flutes, doing some last minute practise.

Practise room

It was then time to head up to the church at Goult. Most walked while instruments went in cars or the van. I took the harp, some clarinets, a flute and had the pleasure of Philip the flautist and his wife Julia. We were among the first to arrive and helped set up. I played through a few of my grade 2 and 3 pieces while it was still relatively peaceful and really enjoyed playing in the church. Gradually others arrived and we had a short rehearsal running some pieces but mostly just tackling the tricky bits. As there were still a few more ropey moments, including an awkward repeat sign, I helped the wind section devise some hand gestures to signal when we were at a certain point in the music. I was to do a big swish with my hand just as the flutes and oboes were to jump to the coda of a piece. During the break most players went to look around Goult or sat around in the sunshine chatting. A few ran through last minute corners checking fingerings or notes.

Setting up for rehearsal

There was a good audience, better than last year apparently, although how many of them would stay until the end we didn't dare think about. The Hunt by Vivaldi was first and this went pretty well. Ranelagh Gardens Suite by Hook had a few dodgy moments in but was fine as was the Schubert symphony movements. Alan played the oboe solo in the Minuet particularly well. Angela played the Haydn Trumpet Concerto very well, possibly the best performance of the week. The Elgar pieces, theme to Dr Finlay and Delibes suite also held together well and the rapturous applause at the end was encouraging and sincere.

In concert

Close up of harp and winds

There were many Bravos and kind words. It was suggested that the orchestra this year played better than last year so that was encouraging for those who were on their second or third visit. After the concert we were all invited back to the house of a relative of Anthony Greville-Bell whose vision of the summer course in Provence was finally realised only shortly after his death.

Drinks and nibbles in Goult

After drinks, nibbles, more kind words and a team photo we headed off to several restaurants across the village.

Learning Orchestra Summer Course 2011

One of the last views of Provence

The food at our restaurant, La Carillon, was fantastic, the best meal of the week and it was a fitting end to a great week. Most of us will meet up at breakfast tomorrow some heading back to Britain by train or car, others staying on in France for a few days more. A few email address have been exchanged while others will no doubt be sought tomorrow. The course may be over but I still have two days of driving ahead so will say Bonne nuit and sign off.

France Day 8: A day of sightseeing and a spot of jazz

There were no plans for rehearsals today so David the conductor had arranged a coach trip to three towns in the area. The coach left at 9:30 and our first stop was Apt. Saturday is market day and the place was teeming with visitors and tourists. The market was based around two main areas but had tentacles spreading down the side streets.

The bell tower in one of the many side streets

I suppose the market stalls were as expected - food stalls covering all the produce from the region including honey, jams, meats and sausages, and herbs, clothing stalls selling hats, light summery gear and leather shoes, stalls with crafts and ceramics, and the stalls with traditional things from the east. I bought some lovely ceramic dishes with Provence style designs. One is long and thin, probably for olives, and the other is for garlic where rather than crush the garlic you rub it on a serated base. There were many musicians playing in the narrow streets and these two were spotted playing music from South America:

The harp had red and blue/black strings alongside clear strings very similar to mine but she played in a much more energetic way than me. It was great to listen to.

After getting back on the bus we headed to Bonnieux. This was a lovely village on the hillside. A small group of us climbed right to the top of the hill to a 12th century church. The views were again spectacular:

Looking down over Bonnieux

Despite getting lost we got back to the coach on time and via a quick stop at a Roman bridge Le pont Julien headed to the village of Roussillon, famous for it ochre hills which were quarried for a long time. The earth comes in many shades of red, yellow and orange and the quarrying has left behind some impressive landscapes:

The village also has many buildings in the colours found in the hills. There are some footpaths around the quarry, now a conservation area, and most of us walked around the track rewarding ourselves with ice creams before getting the bus.

Back at the hotel Sergio the bassist and I get together just before dinner to play a bit of jazz in the courtyard. We had busked together informally after one of the reheasals and someone had suggested we ought to play in front of everyone. I was a bit reluctant but was encouraged by Sergio who is a wonderful jazz bassist. He is somewhere in his retirement now and only took up reading music and classical bass a few years ago. He just about gets by in the Learning Orchestra but he is a different player when playing jazz. He even played with Chet Baker once in 1957 in Rome. I felt honoured to busk my way through Lady Be Good and I Got Rhythm with him. We got a round of applause from those that had gathered and were requested to play again tomorrow as a few people missed it. Photos will appear as soon as I get them off of one of the many papparazzi watching!

Dinner was suprisingly good. Meat was steak chunks and sausages from the barbecue with a melon starter and tiramasu for desert. We now have instructions for tomorrow and will be rehearsing from 9:30 to 10:30 finishing just before Mass starts. We should then all go to Mass to seek forgiveness for any mistakes that we might happen to make in the concert.

Dormez bien!

France Day 7: Il pleut, and a mistral

The mistral is a strong wind that blows down the Rhone valley, sometimes at up to 90 km per hour. There was quite a blustery wind this morning when I went down to breakfast although someone suggested that it would need to be stronger than today's to be classed as a mistral. It certainly was fierce but remained sunny with some cloud appearing in the afternoon. The morning rehearsal covered most of our pieces again, stopping much less frequently now to sort things out. Tiredness was creeping in and there are some sillier mistakes as players lose concentration because they feel they know the music. However concentration levels still need to be high.

After a swim I explored another of the footpaths and headed to the Chapelle Saint-Michel, a tiny chapel up the hill.

Chapell Saint-Michel

There was a shrine opposite the chapel which had offerings and prayers written on stones. I'm not one for following any sort of faith but am always intrigued by, and interested in, how faiths and traditions have set in over time. The prayers were all in French and were quite general but one had caught Anita's eye the previous day as it was asking for a new knee. I too saw it and while we did hope that whoever it was had a successful operation we also wondered how they had managed to get up there in the first place to leave the note as it was quite a steep climb. Since I've been here I've wondered if I might want a new knee or two by the time I get back. The knees of a mountain goat would be extremely useful for this area. The views from here were again stunning and photos don't really do it justice. Here are a couple anyway:

Looking towards Goult

View over the hotel

On the way back I saw another footpath leading down. It wasn't the one I had planned to take but as it went in the way I wanted (downwards) I started clambering down. Some way down it got particularly steep and I wondered if I had done the right thing. It would have been even harder to go back upwards but as I paused to get my breath I caught the strains of a flute drifting up the hillside. I thought if I followed the sounds I would come across Pan in his hillside retreat playing to his flock of sheep and guiding poor lost souls down from the rocky paths. As I got closer I thought it odd that Pan would be familiar with the music of Elgar but then realised it was Philip practising Chanson de Nuit in the open. I followed the music although as I got closer I could hear the beep beep of the metronome which reduced the mysticism but at least Philip was practising in a useful way! I got a sneaky photo then sat down on the bench for a rest and a chat. This is the first time he has played a part on his own within an ensemble. Usually there are several on a part and so he is hoping to become more confident in his playing. This is a huge challenge for him but I think he is noticing the improvements in his playing.

Is it Pan? No, it's Phil practising some Elgar!

At 5 we had a short rehearsal and polished off Vivaldi's The Hunt, Schubert's 3rd symphony movements, Haydn Trumpet Concerto and the Delibes suite. We set up under the arches in the dining area and our concert began at 7. It began well but the wind suddenly picked up and the heavens opened along with some lightening and some thunder. Music got blown about and the leader stopped playing at one point because he was distracted by the weather! He assumed we'd all just stop and was politely encouraged to join in again with the rest of us. We were under shelter and people did stay to listen by joining us where we were or by sheltering in the doorway.

Capacity crowd just before the rain came

 After the success we all feel our day off tomorrow is well deserved. A few people are getting the bus to Avignon but I have opted to go on the organised coach tour around some local villages. Hope the weather is a little brighter in the morning!

Salut!

Happy Birthday to my Mum

I'm up early this morning to say happy birthday to Mum. I bought a card from the limited selection in the local shop then went for a stamp but the local post office didn't have stamps for the UK. The hotel only did pre-paid envelopes which held a post card but were too small for my card. So here it is, available for the whole world to see (if they choose to):

She is in the Midlands but really loves the climate where I am right now. I have just looked out of the window and the clear blue sky and rising temperature suggests it is going to be another glorious day here. I am sure she will be delighted to know that I am enjoying her favourite weather!

Have a great day! xx

France Day 6: The programme comes together

The first part of today's rehearsal was spent running through each piece to get an idea of timings and to see how ready each piece was. We have decided to drop 'Ma Tante Aurore' by Boldlieu as it is too long (it would be short but we can't play it fast enough) but the regular Learning Orchestra players will do that next term in their weekly sessions. The wood wind were then allowed to leave as the strings had their own rehearsal. I went straight down to the pool and claimed one of the few remaining sun loungers. Only one or two of the other loungers had people on but the rest were all covered with towels. This has been a sore point for some as we have sat for an hour or two in the afternoon where people just haven't used their reserved loungers. The biggest suprise is that it is not the Germans doing this as there are no Germans in the hotel. We think it is probably the Belgians. After my swim I had lunch with some of the others then had a walk up to Goult with Radica, a viola player and lawyer. She really wanted an ice cream so we looked around the village and went in a few lovely shops. We saw the poster for our concert on doorways, noticeboards and in shops.

One of many posters around the village

Buildings in Goult

We stopped at the cafe I went to on Tuesday evening and ordered an ice cream. My white chocolate and caramel flavours were lovely and Radica had lemon sorbet and strawberry. We then looked inside the church where we will do the concert. It was quite small so it will probably be a bit of a squeeze on stage but it did have some impressive paintings and the shrines were lovely to view.

Church in Goult, The venue for Sunday's gig.

We made it back for a quick nap before the evening rehearsal. We worked through Ranelagh Gardens Suite by Hook which will open the concert then the strings were allowed to go while the woodwinds concentrated on Le Roi s'amuse by Delibes.

Highlight of the day had to be the evening meal which is in the running for the 'dinner of the week' prize. We're still not sure what the starter was (many things packed tightly together) but the main course was meat (beef, hopefully), a slab of polenta, a tomato with some sort of cream stuffing, and a poached pear. The vegetarians had the meat removed and an extra slab of polenta added. We are getting used to the odd combinations but this was one of the most bizarre meals I have eaten! I thought the French were highly regarded when it came to cuisine but not in this region. I then went with a large group for a herbal tea at the local cafe in Lumieres and we chatted until quite late. Gradually players are speaking more and more freely about how they think the course is going and all the little niggles that they have with some aspects. Generally though the atmosphere is extremely jovial and there is plenty of laughter. Tomorrow we give our first performance, an informal run through under the terrace in the dining area. A sure fire way to clear the dinner guests!

À tout à l'heure!

France Day 5: Much of the same really...

I got up slightly earlier today to get breakfast, sort my lunch and do a spot of practise. I went through a few sections of the orchestra music that I have not quite mastered and wrote in a few fingerings that may help. I can play it slowly and could tell you what the notes are without looking at the music but can't manage all of it at speed. It is getting a little better. The first rehearsal started at 9:30 and we did two movements from Schubert's 3rd symphony. There is no harp in this and as Anita can play the first clarinet part well I've opted to play the second oboe part on the clarinet. The main oboe is Alan, Palace Band member and one of my GOAT sponsors. He is a regular member of the Learning Orchestra and is on the committee so played a big part in the organisation of the course. There are some lovely oboe duo moments so it's good to have the second part filled in. Alan is delighted, especially when, er, I mean IF he gets lost then I point out where we are! We are all good friends on the back row and as well as working hard we do share the occasional joke or comment. As the rehearsal space is big and boomy it means every small sound gets heard so we do get told off for talking as it disrupts other players. The end of the evening rehearsal today felt like it was dragging on as we were doing something quite technical (Ma Tante Auurore by Boldlieu) and some of us were flagging a little. However the orchestra has made good progress and much of it is coming together.

After lunch I went for a swim then sat in the shade and read my book. I've got Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat) which I brought because it was the only book on my bookcase yet to be read with a French connection. I am enjoying it so far. The story teller is a bottle of wine, a Fleurie, 1962, so that lends a different perspective. Each of the bottles in the cellar have a different personality, not necessarily the sort that the wine buffs go on about but more human traits. I got through a few chapters of that then went for a long walk. The hotel provides a map of walks and I set off to find the windmill. As you can see from the photo I found it:

Jerusalem Windmill

It was built to commemmorate some people who went to Jerusalem. I forget the basic facts but there is a huge amount of history in the area. All along my walk, which began with a trek up a huge hill in the woods, I saw ruins of stone buildings, old stone terraces (long since overgrown), caves and wells. Other than at the windmill I hardly saw a single person, which was lovely and added to the abandoned feel of the whole place. On another path to get back down the hill I did pass a small vinyard, an orchard and a field full of melons, probably honeydew as they looked quite yellow. Wildlife included the usual crickets, an occasional lizard and lots of butterflies. The views across the valley were quite special. I got a few photos but at times like this I get the urge to put a high-spec camera on my wish list.

View across Goult and beyond. The church in the centre is where we play on Sunday.

Orchard and old farm house

The evening meals have been an odd mix. The vegetarian option is identical to the carnivores, just with the meat taken out and if you're lucky a vegetable or fruit put there in it's place. Usually the starter and dessert have been great but the main course has been met with suspicion. I realised this was like a performance. Audiences tend to remember the beginnings and ends of pieces so it doesn't really matter what happens in the middle. It seems the French chef is working on the same prinicpal here! Meals are all eaten outside.

The dining courtyard

I did ask if it ever rains here. Alan said he remembered a very brief shower two years ago but otherwise not since they could remember. Just lots of warm sunshine. Will I get bored of it all?

Et maintenant je vais au lit et dit au revoir!