Midwinter Harp Gathering in Kingston, January 29

Midwinter Harp Gathering

St Peters Church, Kingston, Ontario
January 29,2012 1 to 5  PM
Join us to celebrate St Brigit’s  Day with harp friends
SCHEDULE:
1 to 2:15 PM Tips and Pearls for Harpists only
2:15 Tune and warm up
2:30 Sharing our Music Prepare a piece to play on your own or play with a friend or
two. Invite family and friends to this part of the afternoon.
3:45 to 5 PM  Enjoy refreshments. Visit the vendors.
  REGISTRATION for this event is in advance only
For more information: Contact Karen at heartfullistening@yahoo.ca

Peace Day Harp Circle

Our small but mighty group for Peace Hour, Sept. 11th 2011.  We played Ode to Joy, Dona Nobis Pacem, and sang John Lennon’s “Imagine”.   I’m very proud of all my students, they did a great job!  We also made a group donation to Amnesty International, in honour of Peace Day.

Thanks to Alexis & Harpists for Peace for organizing Peace Hour (which has become an annual event).  For more information on Harpists for Peace, you can visit the official Facebook page here.

Harp Circle Tunes part 2

Dona Nobis Pacem is now up on the Chubby Sparrow site, you can download and listen to it here.

Along with Ode to Joy (below), we’ll be playing this at the Peterborough-Kawarthas harp circle in honour of Peace Day on Sept. 11th.   For those who can’t make it, we’ll be playing with you in spirit!

All music in the Chubby Sparrow free music section is available for anyone to download and use free of charge.  We just ask that you include all headers and footers in your print copies.

Harp Circle Tunes for Sept. 11th

I’ve uploaded the first harp circle tune, Ode to Joy (for multiple harps), to the Chubby Sparrow Music site:
http://www.celticharper.com/springpeeper/freemusic.html

Everyone is welcome to download the music and play with us in spirit, even if you won’t be able to attend the Peterborough-Kawarthas harp circle in person.  I would just ask that you include all acknowledgements, headers and footers in the print-outs.

Music for Dona Nobis Pacem to follow shortly.

Harp Circle: Sunday Sept. 11th in Peterborough, ON

The Peterborough-Kawarthas harpists will be joining in the spirit of Peace Hour by holding a harp circle on Sunday, Sept. 11th, starting at 1:30 p.m (location TBA).  All harpists welcome.

Official Facebook page for Peace Hour (an all-day international event): http://on.fb.me/o5NCe3

Peterborough Harp Circle Event page: http://on.fb.me/osT3VJ

Updates will be posted here and on our Facebook page.

Southeastern Harp Weekend – Details

More on the Southeastern Harp Weekend, which will be taking place this October (2011). Thanks to Carolyn Deal for the udpates.

Southeastern Harp Weekend October 7-8-9, Asheville, NC.
A mountain retreat weekend of world-class workshops and concerts, plus a huge and varied vendor hall!  This year’s clinicians include Cheryl Ann Fulton, Maeve Gilchrist, Frank Voltz, Joanna Mell, Mary Radspinner, Christina Tourin, Jan Jennings, Rhett Barnwell, Jerry Brown, Sharon Thormahlen, Nancy Clark, Analee Foster, Dee Sweeny, and more. 

Topics include Welsh Aires, Scottish harp, speed playing, conquering harmonics, conquering Irish trebles, hymn arranging, therapeutic music, classical music, overcoming fears, NLP and memorizing music, the Astral Harp Experience, chord recognition, Pop music, medieval modes, injury prevention, touch for tone, Taize, exercises for beginners, improvisation, keeping up with the tempo, sight-reading, fun innovations for beginners, celtic tunes to love, harp roundabouts for technique, left hand heaven, French technique, tunes for the seasons, the liquid lever, jazz, rhythm, advanced classes with Maeve Gilchrist and more for all levels.  Most comprehensive lever harp vendor halls in the Southeast!

www.southeasternharps.com
smilingharp@gmail.com, 828-649-3016

May 29 Medieval Concert, Peterborough

Hurly Burly Early Music Ensemble Presents
The Vigorous Impulse: Music from the 12th Century Renaissance

This Sunday, May 29 · 2:30pm – 5:30pm
The Guild Hall, St. John’s Anglican Church, Peterborough, ON

The 12th century was a time of musical innovation and fervent. Our concert features some of the first recognizable names in Western composers: Abelard, Hildegard, the Comtessa de Dia, and many troubadours and trouveres.
Featured instruments this time out include multiple harps, citoles, recorders, vielle, rebec, hurdy gurdy, and percussion.
Take a break from the gardening and join us for a lively and melodic afternoon!

For those of you on Facebook, we now have a group page (search for “Hurly Burly Music Ensemble”).

The page for this Sunday’s event can be found here.

Group website: celticharper.com/hurlyburly

March 19 Celtic concert in Peterborough

Saturday, March 19, 8pm

St. Pat’s Fancy at Sadleir House in Peterborough, ON.

The third annual concert celebrating Irish music, with some of the proceeds going towards the Market Hall to help fund its new renovations. Sadleir House is an historic house in Peterborough, near the corner of Parkhill and George Streets. Market Hall is a much loved folk music and general arts venue in the middle of downtown Peterborough. There will be lots of great music from the likes of Cairdeas, Fiachra O’Regan, and The Jenish Sisters, as well as guest spots from the usual crew of local musicians. Tanah Haney will be playing Celtic Harp on a couple of harp-and-fiddle sets with John Hoffman (hence the harp component!).

For more info, you can visit the official Facebook page for the event or email Tanah at soloharp @ celticharper.com (minus the spaces).

Northern Lights Harp Fest

Just got back this morning, and what a weekend it was!  The first ever Northern Lights Harp Fest in Ottawa was a resounding success (despite the glitches with the sound system on the last day).   I had hoped to blog “live” (as it were) from the hotel, but my computer decided it didn’t like the hotel’s “plug ‘n’ play” internet hookup and refused to play along.   Turned out I didn’t really have any free time to spare, anyhow.  I only left the hotel once, and that was to walk one door over to the restaurant (which, it turns out, is accessible by a nearby escalator, so technically I could have spent the whole weekend indoors, only seeing the sky through the rain-streaked windows.)

Much too tired to write more today, but there will be full-fledged review of the event coming up, as soon as we’ve unpacked and I’ve had a chance at a real night’s sleep.  Update Dec. ’09: Real life intervened and I never did get around to a proper review, sorry about that. Hoping to get the Blog going regularly again in January, after things calm down. – T.H.

One final note for all who are interested, the NLHF is going to be held bi-annually, so start saving now for 2011!

Mary O’Hara at NLHF, new registration deadline

October Events: Northern Lights Harp Fest in Ottawa Oct. 2-4 ’09

NLHF Deadline extended to August 30th

Northern Lights Harp Fest – Important Notice!

With the late-breaking news of Mary O’Hara’s attendance at the harpfest, it has been agreed that the regular registration date be extended to August 30th. This will allow absent vacationers and out-of-towners the opportunity to make arrangements to attend the fest and/or Mary’s unique presentation, “Travels With My Harp”, Sunday October 4th at 1 p.m. Mary O’Hara is a living legend whom we will be very fortunate to be able to meet in person. As a historical figure in the folk harp world,this presentation is one that you will not want to miss. For tickets, order through www.northernlightsharpfest.com or sweeney.hermon@rogers.com

Cost (for Mary’s presentation only): NLHF Registrants $10, General Admission, $17, Seniors $15.

For more info on the Northern Lights Harp Fest, including how to register, check out the official website:
www.northernlightsharpfest.com.

Info courtesy of Joanne Griffin, NLHF secretary