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.