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.