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Welcome to our announcements section! Here you will find short announcements about harp events, performance opportunities, and new product releases by local artists. If you have an announcement about an event or product that would be of interest to Pacific Northwest harp players, please contact news@reigningharps.com for submission guidelines.
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Seeks
Volunteer Harp Players. Consider participating in The Healing Music
Project sponsored by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington, and Children’s
Hospital and Regional Medical Center have formed the Seattle Cancer Care
Alliance (SCCA) to enhance cancer research and patient care. They are
soliciting musicians and performers to volunteer their time and talents
for a very worthwhile cause. They are placing musicians and performers in
the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance outpatient clinics (four areas); also, on
7th & 8th floors of University of Washington Medical Center and at the
Hutch School, which is attended by children/siblings of patients for a
minimum of 3-4 months while patients are receiving their treatment. There
is also a summer camp for school-aged children where musicians and
performers could be involved as well. They would like to have
approximately an hour’s program at both the clinic and Hutch School, and a
two-hour commitment at UW. Volunteers may offer their talents once or as
many times as they wish. They are looking for music in the clinic
and hospital settings that is soothing and uplifting. For the Hutch School
or summer camp a light-hearted program with audience interaction is ideal.
If you are interested, you can get more information by contacting Linda
Allen, Coordinator Healing Music Project (SCCA), at
lallenhealingmusic@yahoo.com.
(Added info: She is now scheduling musicians for August and
September for both the in-patients at UW Medical Center and the
outpatients at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) clinic. The following
weeks are currently open at SCCA: All four weeks of August 4-8, 11-15,
18-22, 25-29 and all of September (weekdays between 9:30-3:30) At the
hospital: Week of August 10 or 18 and September dates 1-7, 15-30 (daily
between 10:30-8:30). Please apply for August by July 20 and by August 20
at the latest for September scheduling.)
Seattle AHS Students on Television.
Congratulations to the Student Members of the
Harps Welcome at Mid-Sommer Events.
Joanne Graves of the Poulsbo Sons of Norway writes to say: "The Scandinavian community has a couple of
mid-sommer events in the Puget Sound area each year. Part of the mid-sommer
festival is an "allspel" which means "everyone plays". It would be so nice
to have some harps come and join in the fun. Also, there is a Norwegian
folk dance and music camp every summer in Mount Vernon, Washington. A
group from Norway comes to teach dancing and music. The music is mostly
fiddle and accordion, but I am sure if some harpers wanted to come they
would be very welcome. The website for that is:
www.seattlestemne.org. " Scam Warning. Internet scams targeting instruments for sale or music teachers are rampant. Judith Cummings forwarded one that she received, and it is worth printing here in order to demonstrate the typical features of such a hoax:
"From: Alex Brown Note the awkward grammar, spelling errors, and peculiar phrases (the harp is for his father, and he wants the best for her?). Any "feelers" such as this that sound fishy, especially those that claim a third party will deal with the shipping or payment transfer, should be ignored and deleted! Thanks for the great example, Judith! Award for Olympia Harpist. Graeme Smith of Olympia was selected by video audition to perform at "Expanding the Vision," the national conference of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, taking place in Minneapolis over Memorial Day weekend. Graeme, a high school junior and student of Leslie McMichael, will participate in harp master classes with Maria Luisa Rayan-Forero and Washington's own Jill Whitman, as well as play in the flute and harp performing ensemble. Congratulations, Graeme! Winners - 2007 New Century Harp Competition. The New Century Harp Competition is an international contest designed to encourage lever harp players and composers to create new harp arrangements of existing music, and to compose new music for harp. Each year there is slightly different criteria in order to challenge the creativity and musicality of the entrants. The 66 competition entries in 2007 were from six countries. They demonstrated a very high standard which made the judges job quite challenging. Judges Harper Tashe (USA), Sharlene Wallace (Canada), and Monika Stadler (Austria) worked hard to ensure that the very best entries were awarded the prizes.
Grand Prize winner: Lisa Boggess, USA -
Miami Dawn (original composition) New Open Mic in Ballard/Interbay. Victory Music is sponsoring a new open mic session on Tuesday evenings at the Q Cafe, just south of the Ballard Bridge. It's at 3223 15th Ave W, a large venue, family friendly, with coffee, tea, soft drinks and pastries available. Sign up is from 5:45 to 6:15 pm, music is from 6:30-9 pm. Victory Music members $2 cover, general $3 cover, musicians who sign up to play attend for free. Congratulations to Flip Breskin! Bellingham musician and singer Flip Breskin has attended several Fort Worden festivals along with her husband, well-known harper and song-writer Zeke Hoskin. We got word that Flip was inducted into the Northwest Women's Hall of Fame on March 30th, for her efforts in community-building. Flip is a founder of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, a stalwart at the Whatcom County Homemade Music Society, a frequent host of house concerts and other musical activities, a Block Watch captain, and editor of the Columbia (Bellingham) neighborhood association newsletter. As her nominator expressed "She combines this love and understanding, and expertise in music and people and community, and brings it all together." Congratulations Flip! New Articles at Harp Spectrum. The wonderful Harp Spectrum web site (managed by Seattle harpist Joyce Rice) has four new interesting articles ready for viewing. (Go to www.harpspectrum.org; there is a "New Articles" block with links on the front page). One new article is "Early Scandinavian Sources to Harps and Harp Playing" by Sweden's Lia Lonnert, about Viking-era material, such as Gunnar playing the harp with his toes, and Aslaug, Daughter of Sigurd the Dragonslayer, along with some photos of really old stone carvings. Another new article is "Tips on Preparing Orchestral Harp Parts" by Elizabeth Volpe Bligh, which is a very thorough description of what an orchestral harpist needs to do to prepare a harp part. Another is about a "New Invention: The Harp Pedal Display Unit" in which South African harpist Amarillie Ackermann describes an electronic display that shows the current state of the 7 pedals of a pedal harp. Finally, Beat Wolf, a Swiss harp builder, has rewritten his article on The Louis XVI harp based on new research. Enjoy all this and more on the extensive web site! International Paraguayan Harp Seminar. Harp students, professionals and interested people are cordially invited to participate in the Second International Paraguayan Harp Seminar, from July 29 to August 18, 2008, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, México, “the everlasting Spring city”. Maestros Celso Duarte and Celso Duarte Jr. will teach Paraguayan harp techniques and Latin American repertoire. You can attend the Seminar for a minimum period of one week (7 days). However, you will be also able to stay for several consecutive weeks if you wish. There is no age limit. There will be lessons for beginners, intermediate, advanced and professional harpists. For more information please consult www.celsoduarte.net or write to: seminarioarpacelsoduarte@gmail.com. 2008 Northwest Regional Scottish Harp Competitions. There will be three preliminary competitions at three Highland Games, culminating in a final competition for the regional championship. Competition categories are Beginning Harp, Intermediate Harp, Advanced Harp, and Harp and Voice (self-accompanied or two persons). Preliminary competitions will be June 8th in Ferndale at the Bellingham Scottish Highland Games (see www.bhga.org), July 13 in Mt. Vernon at the Skagit Valley Highland Games (see www.celticarts.org), and July 27 in Enumclaw at the Pacific Northwest Scottish Highland Games (see www.sshga.org). The final competition will be July 28th in Enumclaw. The always welcoming harp tent with activities for all will be included in the weekends' festivities. Please see the link at www.pugetsoundfolkharpsociety.org for all the information on the competitions, and to download scores for the competition pieces. Interesting Harp E-Zine. Deborah of the Emerald Harp Circle in Oregon wrote in about this on-line newsletter, written by Susan Zevenberger, "which contains all sorts of wonderful and useful information for harp students. Go to www.myharpsdelight.com and then click on "free newsletter" from the list. If you like what you find, you can subscribe to this free e-zine so that it is sent to you once a month in the future." World Harp Congress - Amsterdam. Elizabeth Volpe-Bligh announces "The World Harp Congress site is now open for registration for this summer's conference in Amsterdam. Go to www.worldharpcongress.org/tenthWHC. You would not believe the artists who are performing! Sivan Magen, Maria Kruschevskaya, Isabel Moretti, Isabelle Perrin, Edmar Casteneda, Catrin Finch, Naoko Yoshino, Jana Bouskova, Letizia Belmondo, Kirsten Agresta, Carolyn Mills, Canada's own Jennifer Swartz and Caroline Lizotte, Italian triple harp player Ambroz Bajec- Lapajne, pop and jazz competition winners Maeve Gilchrist and Rizpah, and MORE. There will be all sorts of harps represented. Of course, there will be a little contingent of us BCer's to make our announcement that the next one will be here (Vancouver BC) in 2011." Tara Harp Protest. Last September, hundreds of people, including harp players, gathered to form a giant human harp on the hill of Tara in Ireland, to protest the government's plan to run a highway through this historically and archeologically important area. Many of the professional harp players in Ireland have signed a petition to protest this plan. You can see aerial pictures of the harp at http://www.tarawatch.org/?p=521 (sadly, they got the strings going the wrong way, but that's understandable given the size of the area covered... each little dot in the harp is a person!) Update Your Harper's Songbook. Do you have a Puget Sound Folk Harp Society "Harper's Songbook"? These are the three-ring binders handed out to you when you attended either the Fort Flagler/Fort Worden or Crystal Mountain Folk Harp Festivals, from 2000 to now. New group tunes are added to the book at each festival, and if we miss a festival, we don't have those tunes at all. It makes playing together difficult when everyone's book is slightly different. As a service to our harp community, PSFHS is offering a Supplement to the tunebooks that will include all the group tunes presented since the books were new, printed one tune per page so they can be inserted in alphabetical order with the original music. We have a list of everyone who has ever received a book, but we don't have everyone's contact information. So here's what you need to do... if you have a book, please e-mail Diane at mdianem@seanet.com, put the word TUNEBOOK in the subject line, and include your name as it appears on your book. Your name will be checked against our list of tunebook holders, and you will receive a link to a web page where you will be able to print out all the music you need to bring your book up to date! Eastside Harp Circle Debut Performances! Congratulations to the Eastside Harp Circle who debuted as a performance ensemble at two events in December, playing for residents of Sunrise Assisted Living and Aegis of Bothell. Ann Jenkins wrote to say of the Sunrise appearance "There were 7 of us performing and our program lasted nearly an hour. We worked hard and really pulled it off - which both thrilled and amazed us! There were 6 ensemble pieces and we each did a solo or two. The residents seemed to really enjoy it - some sang along!" Brava to the members for their gift of music during the holiday season! New CD for Linda Khandro. Linda, formerly of Seattle, recently relocated to her native British Columbia, is pleased to announce a new collaborative CD called Tethys, of original compositions and improvisations with harps (Linda), flutes (Ann Lindquist), and kotos (Shiho Kurauchi). Together they are called ShAnLi. If you would like a copy of this new release before the holidays, please mail to the address below: $20 will cover one CD and postage within the US. For more than one, please include an additional $1 per CD for packaging and postage. Please make checks out to Linda Khandro and mail c/o Camille Barrat, 2334 W. Plymouth St., Apt # 1, Seattle WA 98199. New CD from Laura Zaerr. University of Oregon harp instructor Laura Zaerr has a new CD, Dreamland, which can be ordered from her web site at www.laurazaerr.com. “Take me to your Dreamland in a rowboat of pearl, with oars wrought of silver to show me your world.” Laura’s gift for blending rich poetic imagery with lyrical musical phrases creates a varied set of lullabies to inspire the child of your heart. Soprano Laura Berryhill with flutists Diane Hawkins and Melanie Place add depth to the velvety sounds of the harp. The album carries an international theme as well. "If You Come from China" is written for adoptive families of all shapes and sizes. Part of the proceeds of each CD sale will help fund the Chengde Social Welfare Institute in China, which is home for 40 children who are not up for adoption. Second CD for Strings of Compassion. Strings of Compassion offers harp music at bedside at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene OR. During the past twelve months, they have offered more than 1000 hours of service, which is provided without cost to patient, family, or insurance company. Their work is supported by donations and by CD sales, and their latest, From the Deep Earth, is now available. For ordering details and other information, see www.peacehealth.org/stringsofcompassion or call 541-685-1748. Healing Songs CD from Harrison Medical Center. Edith Enns writes to say: "Just wanted to let everyone know that Harrison Medical Center (in Bremerton WA), where I work in Occupational Therapy/Hand Therapy, has almost completed their first Music CD - comprised of employees and volunteers. It is the first in what we hope to be a series and it is titled, "Healing Songs". The musicians are playing harp, flute, violin, cello , guitar and piano. It has been a great ride and we are excited to present this by the end of November. Harrison has hired a harpist , Dana Sheppard, and she is in charge of Complementary Therapies ( art, pet, aroma, etc.). It is a wonderful step for Harrison and their patients. Anyone wanting a CD can contact Harrison Medical Center at 360-377-3911 and ask for Complimentary Therapies. It will also be available in our in house gift shop for $15.00." News from Patricia Jaeger & Students.
The Serenaders, a volunteer youth harps-and-strings ensemble
founded and directed since 1974 by Patricia Jaeger, played three
performances of Christmas carols this December: Arden Rehabilitation
Center on December 10, St. Anne's Nursing and Rehab Center on December 13,
and Foss Home's Alzheimer Division on December 20. Pictures of the group
through the years can be viewed at
http://groups.msn.com/TheSerenaders. Also, two of Patricia's private
students, on viola and harp, were admitted into Seattle Youth Symphony
this fall. Congratulations to Patricia and her students! Congratulations Vancouver BC! Vancouver BC has been chosen to host the 2011 World Harp Congress! It will be held from July 24-August 3rd. Committee head Elizabeth Volpe Bligh will post details on the WHC web site once they are up and running; for more info about the WHC events, including the 2008 conference in the Netherlands, see www.worldharpcongress.org. FHJ Sheet Music Available. Jerry Brown (ISFHC Librarian and owner of Music Makers' Kits) has completed a wonderful service... he has scanned the sheet music out of the first 100 Folk Harp Journals and made it available on a CD (or as a PDF download). For more information, go to www.musikits.com, click on "Books" in the menu, then on "Harp Books" and you'll see the CD in the list; price is $14.95. Arts & Music Opportunities Listing. The city of Seattle has a new web site at www.seattle.gov/arts/0pportunities. The Opportunities site is a one-stop shop for the latest arts-related jobs, funding sources, calls for artists, and training opportunities, and is worth checking regularly if you are interested in city sponsored gigs, grants, etc. Harp Competition Winners. Here are the complete results from last summer's Highland Games Harp Competitions. Three preliminary competitions (at the Bellingham, Skagit, and Enumclaw games) led up to the finals in Enumclaw on July 29. Bellingham Preliminary Winners. Beginning: Barbara Jussero 1st, Kate Freeburg 2nd. Intermediate: Vicki Nelson 1st. Advanced: Kathie Hardy 1st. The competition was adjudicated by Beth Kolle. Skagit Preliminary Winners. Beginning: Megan Osborne 1st; Celeste Kenaston 2nd; Kate Freeburg 3rd. Intermediate: Amelia Brown 1st; Christianne Swartz 2nd. Advanced: Ruth Overton 1st. Harp and Voice: Terry Hergesheimer 1st. Adjudicators for the Skagit Games were Seumas Gagne and Michael MacBean. Enumclaw Preliminary Winners. Beginning:
Ruth Ogden 1st; Daniella Martin and Kate Freeburg 2nd (tie); Dab Collins
3rd. Intermediate: Timmy Kosaka 1st. Harp and Voice: Andrew Anderson
1st. Advanced: Andrew Anderson 1st. The adjudicator was Jennifer
Pratt-Walter. New Funding Source for Seattle
Musicians. A new pilot funding program of the Office of Arts &
Cultural Affairs... "smART ventures is intended to create new access for
individuals and groups not served by our other funding programs. We've
designed smART ventures to be flexible, inclusive and simple. You can
apply anytime with an innovative idea or one-time opportunity. The program
provides support ranging from $500 to $1,000 with the goal of expanding
arts and cultural participation, particularly among diverse and
underserved communities. Before applying, you must have your proposal idea
reviewed by a project manager. Contact Steven Larson, (206) 615-1801 to
discuss applying, and to be connected to a project manager." Rare Harp Documents On-Line. Seamus Taylor writes to remind us that he has created a web site containing facsimile copies of rare works on the Irish and Highland harp. All of this is available free of charge, but donations to the upkeep of the site are much appreciated! The site includes or has plans to include eventually: R. B. Armstrong, "The Irish and The Highland Harps" David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1904, 266 pages (BOTH sections, issued as one book); Edward Bunting, "The Ancient Music of Ireland" W. Power and Co, Dublin, (Vol. I) and Williamson, London, (Vol, II), 150 pages; Edward Bunting, "The Ancient Music of Ireland" Hodges, Dublin, 1840, 220 pages; Dr. George Petrie, "The Complete Collection of Irish Music" (ed. C. V. Stanford) Boosey & Co., London and NY, 1903, 427 pages; John Gunn, F.A.S.E., "An Historical Enquiry respecting the Performance on the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland (etc.)" Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1807, 120 pages. For more information, see: http://www.hiddenglen.com/index.php/Music/Music4. Downloadable Sheet Music. West Coast Harps has available Alison Vardy's own compositions plus her arrangements of traditional music from many cultures. There is music from her CDs as well as new compositions and arrangements. New music is coming on board all the time - three levels of challenge! Simply download and print. Unique Honesty Box payment/subscription system. Learn more about the Sheet Music Downloads at: http://www.westcoastharps.com/sheet-music/about.htm. New Collections of Harp Ensemble
Music. Louis Lynch writes to say: "Fellow Harpists and Harpers, I am
writing to let you know of a new music book published by Harrisburg Harp
Orchestra, a nonprofit ensemble of 32 harpists in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. As you know, harp music for ensembles is not easy to find.
For our Harrisburg concerts, we have been using all original compositions.
Other ensembles have heard our music and asked for copies. So two
collections of our work, one for summer and one for Christmas, are being
published. The first, "A Garden Symphony" is now available. It includes
music for four harp parts, each with extractable solo sections. We also
use hammered dulcimer, oboe, flute, and trombone, so the four parts are
adaptable for other ensembles. Our music for the orchestra covers the
following harps and players: Harp Music on Web Radio. Twice a week (Thursday at 11 am PST and Sunday at 10 pm PST) you can listen to an hour of harp music on internet radio. The Harpestry program is available on-line at www.krvs.org from Lafayette LA, where host Valerie Green seeks out harp music of all styles for our listening pleasure! Seeking Therapeutic Harp Players. Dana Sheppard writes to say "I'm currently taking the program with Bedside Harp to become a therapeutic harpist, and am interested in connecting with others doing this work in the Seattle area. I live in Kitsap County (Bremerton), and am playing in a hospital there." If any of you who have studied with MHTP, IHTP, Chalice of Repose, or other programs would like to correspond with Dana, you can contact her at tallchick6@juno.com.
This page was last updated on July 14, 2008 |
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