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!