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Harping On

~ A Writing Journey

Harping On

Tag Archives: Harps North West

The lay of the land

20 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by Christine Cochrane in Blogging on, Musical notes, Writing News

≈ 2 Comments

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Geraldine Green, Harps North West, Jane Moss-Luffrum, Karen Marshalsay, Open University MA Creative Writing

I’ve needed a summer break – a chance to reflect on the ups and down of the last year since my cancer diagnosis, and to consider new projects.  I feel very well and apparently look great on my treatment, but I’m constantly monitored and checked, which inevitably makes me edgy. However, I’ve worked out the best way forward is to Keep Calm and Be Normal.  Going out and doing stuff with others and having a project or two helps me forget for increasingly long periods what happened.  Onwards!

Sometimes a special time comes along and all your interests and ideas converge, and this past weekend has been just like that.  Geraldine Green, Writer in Residence at Brantwood, Coniston, who also runs writers’ workshops at a local Cumbrian farmhouse, says it is ‘full moon magic’.  On the day after the full moon, the sun shone for us  for the above the Lune valley, lighting up this year’s particularly prolific rowan berries and plump blackberries in the hedgerows.

rowan

photo by Jane Moss-Luffrum

Among other things, we wrote to prompts on memories and fruit using Marsha de la O’s ‘UnderThe Lemon Tree’.  In the afternoon we wandered out with ‘The Earth is a Living thing’ by Lucille Clifton; the path took us on to the hills overlooking the Lune Valley to pause, contemplate and write.

writing

Photo by Jane Moss-Luffrum

There were more riches for me the following day at a Harps North West workshop.  Over the past year our composer in residence, Karen Marshalsay, has been working with us on a suite of music specially written for Harps North West – all ability levels will be able to join in, and the idea is that the music will reflect who we are and the landscape in which we live.  We have had two workshops in February and June where Karen has tried out her ideas for melodies and taught us some interesting techniques such as bee’s plaits, finger plaits, shoogly finger and gurgly two handed variations.  We now have the finished piece.

karenIt has been fascinating to share in the creative process over a long period and to see that it is very much like writing a poem – the ideas and themes, the refrains, the motifs.  And then there’s the putting away of a work and letting it bubble and marinate, the taking it out and reshaping until it finds its final form.  Karen’s finished suite is entitled ‘The lay of the land’ and her opening section ‘Approaching Lune Gorge’ is about that landscape in which the poets walked on Saturday.

walking

Photo by Jane Moss-Luffrum

Karen said that getting to know the landscape over the year and in different seasons helped her round the finished piece.

scoreThe lay of the land for me is somewhat different from what it was a year ago.  During the year of my illness and recovery, copies of ‘Shifting Sands’, my book of short stories, have sold well, and I’d like to thank everyone for all the positive comments I’ve received.  I’m delighted to say you can now even buy it on the shops on CalMac Ferries, so check it out over a CalMac cooked breakfast the next time you are sailing to the Hebrides.

janetshiftingsandsBut now it’s time for a new challenge.  I’ve been offered a place on the Open University’s new MA in Creative Writing, and I’m excited to be starting soon.  Initially I thought I would major in fiction, but lately I’ve been pulled in more by poetry and its connection with music, and this past weekend has underlined that choosing poetry as my main genre will be my way forward.  I have some new ideas, and among other things I will be doing a workshop with Geraldine in February on connections between harp and poetry.

Thanks go to Geraldine and all who contributed to the poetry day, particularly Jane Moss-Luffrum for letting me use her wonderful photographs on the blog.  Thanks also go to Karen and all at Harps North West for all the fine music we make together.

layers

Poets in the landscape – Jane Moss-Luffrum

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Harping on … the musical season

15 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Christine Cochrane in Musical notes

≈ 2 Comments

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Charlotte Petersen, Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Eldra, Harps North West, Higham Hall, Mary Dunsford, Robin Huw Bowen, Telynau Teifi

It’s finally time to have a blog post about harping. I seem to have done a lot of it as Christmas approaches, culminating in Harps North West’s fine Christmas Party and Concert yesterday.

Six years ago I didn’t harp at all. Someone suggested a beginners’ workshop with Harps North West might be fun, and I went along. Instantly hooked, I embarked on an intensive series of workshops and lessons, culminating in achieving Grade 6 on the instrument. After that the exam pieces just started to get longer, so I decided to call a halt on this and just enjoy the music. I already played the piano, which helped the learning curve.

Harps North West http://harpsnorthwest.org.uk is a charity promoting appreciation of the harp in all its various forms – the pedal or concert harp, the clarsach or lever harp (sometimes known as the folk harp), the electric harp and even the cardboard harp, an easy and inexpensive way of making a start on the instrument. Mary Dunsford, current convener of Harps North West, plays all four and I’d like to thank her for letting me use two of her photographs.  Her young son is already plucking the cardboard harp!

3 harps

cardboard harp

The soundbox on Alfie’s harp is made of cardboard, but it still produces a lovely sound!  This harp has been personalised by Alfie’s mum with cartoons from the Beano, all featuring different sound effects – ‘pow’, ‘zzzzip’ and many more.  He’s going to be a great player.

I play the clarsach or lever harp and, although I’m Scottish, I opted for a Welsh one, beautifully made by Telynau Teifi of Wales, a great firm to deal with. My folk harp, the ‘Gwennol’ (which means ‘swallow’) has a wonderful big sound box and an impressive sound for its size.

harp

The levers are used to raise the pitch of each string by a semitone, and before we play a piece we need to set the levers for the key it is in. If you miss one, it’s painfully obvious in the playing…  Pedal harpists don’t have these issues as the key changes are all done with the feet. My harp has 34 strings and a range of nearly 5 octaves.  Every string has to be tuned before a performance.

There were a few surprises for me with harps. First of all, they are suited to an enormous variety of musical genres – classical, folk and jazz all sound good!  Secondly, it can be a solitary instrument if you want, but it’s also great for group playing.  I was surprised to discover just how many people play this instrument, and how sociable and friendly the harping world is. The best place to meet harpists from all over the world is at the Clarsach Society’s Edinburgh International Harp Festival, which takes place every April; there’s an amazing variety of classes, workshops and concerts and you’re run off your feet if you try to do everything. One of the best things I did at the Edinburgh Harp Festival was join 150 other harpists in one concert back in 2011.

DSC02182

In addition to playing on my own, I play with a small group ‘Harper Four’ and with other members of Harps North West at their regular events.

In late November each year Harps North West runs a weekend course at Higham Hall, beautifully set in Cumbria with views of Skiddaw from the front door.  This is how it looked on the first Sunday in Advent.

Higham View 2014

Our tutors for the weekend were Welsh triple harpist Robin Huw Bowen and Charlotte Petersen from Peebles, both well known to us all for their lovely playing and musical arrangements.  Robin champions the Welsh traditions on his triple harp (yet another variety of harp, which has three rows of strings rather than levers to give the semitones) while encouraging us to ‘practise, practise, practise’ as an aid to greater speed and dexterity.

higham2014 005

As you can see, the Welsh triple harp is a bit taller than my lever harp.  Many of Robin’s tunes are inspired by the Welsh gypsy tradition and his work with Romani Eldra Roberts, who has passed on the melodies to him.  Charlotte gave us some haunting tunes from Scotland, Ireland and France, as well as a delightfully jingly Swedish Christmas carol complete with glissandi and bell-like chimes.  A reindeer duly appeared on the front lawn.

bells

At the Harps North West Christmas party concert participants aged seven to seventy played a selection of group carols.  There were also contributions from soloists and our smaller playing groups. One brave young participant played a solo after only six lessons.  Alfie had brought his cardboard harp, but seemed to prefer to sweep the floor.  Perhaps we’ll hear him play next year!

alfie

A very happy Christmas to you all from the world of harping!

angel

For anyone who wants to try out the harp, there are regular beginners’ workshops with Harps North West and through regional branches of the Clarsach Society.  Mary Dunsford also offers sessions on the cardboard harps through Cumbria Cardboard Harp Project https://www.facebook.com/CardboardHarpProject.  Go on – it’s impossible to make a bad sound!

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