Harp On Wight 2021
Workshops

Discover the Harp

An opportunity for everyone to discover  the harp.
For absolute beginners. All ages welcome.
Harps are kindly supplied by some of the harp exhibitors.
Merlynna Johnson will demonstrate the basic technique and will help anyone intending to take this instrument further.

Workshop information:

Friday 22nd  October 14:00 - 15:00                                                                                                                                                            
Ryde Methodist Church - Garfield Road  (Lecture Room)  
 £ 5 x 1 session of 1 hour
I came to play the harp in my mid forties over twenty years ago! I had studied piano and voice from an early age but was drawn to harp music when my own three children were studying various musical instruments.
Thinking it an impossible dream I found a secondhand harp and was put in touch with a local teacher who took me through harp technique.
Som I am living proof that learning the harp is possible at any age! Since then I have played for every occasion sometimes combining harp and voie. I am now based on the Isle of Wight and, apart from the Harp Festival, my main focus has been Harp for Healing visiting the many Retirement Homes on the Island in conjunction with Independent Arts.

AUDREY CAMERON FINNEMORE

ENCHANTING MELODIES FOR BEGINNERS

A chance to build up a solid technique from the beginning, and to approach with confidence simple but beautiful melodies. Written music given.
This course is suitable for students who have already taken some lessons, but still need help with the basic technique.

Workshop information:

Friday 22nd   October  11:30 - 13:00
Friday 22nd  October    15:30 - 17:00
Ryde Methodist Church - Garfield Road - Lecture Room

​LEVEL: Beginners/Elementary
£ 30 (2 session x 1.5 hrs)
Audrey started playing the harp at the age of 14 with Mrs Anne Hughes-Chamberlain.
She was later accepted at The Royal College of Music to study with Marisa Robles.
She now plays at many functions across the south of England.
Last year she was invited to play at an English garden in Japan giving 57 mini concerts in 3 and a half weeks!

LAUREN SCOTT (SOLD OUT)

ADVENTURES FOR LEVER HARP

An exploration of fun and funky extended techniques that can be achieved on lever harp for all levels of players. Have a go at trying out the various extended techniques in this session and then we will incorporate as many as we have mastered into some mixed ability ensemble pieces written by Lauren Scott.

Workshop information:

Saturday 23rd   October 9:30 - 11:00
Sunday 24th  October 11:30 - 13:00
Sunday 24th October 15:30 - 17:00
Ryde Methodist Church - Garfield Road - Lecture Room

LEVEL: Suitable for all levels of harp players and music reading abilities. It will be an adventure!!!
£ 45 (3 session x 1.5 hrs)
​LAUREN SCOTT fell in love with the harp aged four after seeing a historic lever harp in a museum in Australia. After two years of pestering her parents she began harp lessons aged six when her family moved back to England. Lauren studied harp at Trinity College of Music and has a busy portfolio musical career. An established and in demand freelance player, she plays guest principal harp with many of the UK’s leading orchestras and chamber groups as well as pursuing her own projects. Her harp playing has led her to performing in venues across the UK from the Royal Albert Hall to West End shows to commercial recordings to live broadcasts on radio and TV. Lauren has recently embarked on a creative compositional journey having only started writing music in 2018. Since then she has published two volumes of music for lever harp, her music has received praise from harpists and harp societies worldwide and her music is used as set pieces on Trinity and AMEB syllabuses. In January 2020 she was a recipient of a PRS Foundation Women Make Music award to compose new harp music. In March 2020 her debut solo CD, Beyond the Horizon which features eight of her compositions alongside works by Peter Maxwell Davies and John Cage was released on the Avie Records label to critical acclaim. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Scala Radio, included on BBC Introducing & Apple Music playlists and in January 2021 she was a recipient of a 'Developing Your Creative Practice' award from Arts Council England. Lauren is currently composer-in-residence with Harps North West. 
“Pre-eminently thoughtful and compelling, she draws sounds of deep soulfulness and will-o-the-wisp rustlings. Her Lever Harp sings sweetly and the recording is beautifully judged."  BBC Music Magazine

CATRIONA MCKAY (SOLD OUT)

CATRIONA’S TOP TUNES OF THE MOMENT!

Come and learn some of Catriona’s current favourites! Make some great music and learn a few tricks from whatever is inspiring Catriona when she arrives in the Isle of Wight! (I fully believe whatever inspires me will inspire you too - and that is always changing! I am as excited about this opportunity to create something with you and hope that you are as excited as me!)​

Workshop information:

Saturday 23rd October11:30 - 13:00
Saturday 23rd October 15:30 - 17:00
Sunday 24th October 9:30 - 11:00
Ryde Methodist Church - Garfield Road - Lecture Room

LEVEL: From Post Beginners to Intermediate level.
£ 45 (3 session x 1.5 hrs)
Catriona McKay is from Dundee, Scotland. She is an award winning, fearless explorer of the Scottish harp who is widely recognised for her dynamic musicianship and innovative rhythm harp style. She embodies the strength and delicacy of her artistic imagination with the apparent simplicity of her wooden Starfish acoustic harp and its clear gut strings.
Common responses from her audiences include ‘she makes the harp sound like an orchestra!’ and ‘how can she make so many sounds with just 2 hands?!’ Even album reviewers ask if she has been double tracking!
Catriona has a hugely rewarding music partnership of more than 20 years with Shetland fiddler and composer Chris Stout. They have several recordings and have performed worldwide communicating their bold and adventurous dialogue of their native Scottish music. They have composed and scored their music for the Scottish Ensemble, Quatour Ébène, several international orchestras, bands and more.
In 2012 they premiered ‘Seavaigers’ the first ever concerto for Scottish harp and fiddle, written specially for them by composer Sally Beamish.
Catriona has 5 solo harp albums. Her recent recording ‘Love in Secret’ received 5 stars from the Scotsman and was hailed ‘one of best of 2020’ by folk radio.uk
Catriona created 3 albums of improvised music with composer and sound artist Alistair MacDonald. They will release a new album ‘When Feathers Appear’ in summer 2021.
Further albums include 2 with Swedish nyckelharper Olov Johansson, 3 albums with Shetland band Fiddlers' Bid and many guest appearances in many genres.
Catriona’s composition Swan LK243, written for a Shetland herring fishing boat that was built in 1900 has gone on to be played and recorded by musicians worldwide.
She has many awards including Scots Trad Music Awards Instrumentalist of the Year 2007 & 2014 and BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Best Duo 2018 with Chris Stout.

ANNE-MARIE O’FARRELL 

IRISH AIRS FOR THE HARP

This workshop will cover a range of Irish melodies suitable for post beginner harpists, using easy arrangements and exploring the musical language of tunes from Ireland. You’ll discover interesting ways of using the left hands and exploring aspects of colour on the instrument. Some of the airs are from Ireland’s song tradition, while others represent our legacy of harping, hundreds of years old.

Workshop information:

Monday 25th     October 9:30 - 11:00
Tuesday 26th October 11:30 - 13:00
Tuesday 26th October 15:30 - 17:00
Ryde Methodist Church - Garfield Road -  Lecture Room

LEVEL: Post Beginners
£ 45 (3 session x 1.5 hrs)
Leading lever harpist of her generation, Dr Anne-Marie O’Farrell from Dublin has performed all over the world as a solo artist, accompanist and in ensembles, and is regularly featured in broadcasts. On lever harp, she is particularly recognized for her expansion of repertoire and levering techniques, as a result of which the world’s leading harpmakers Salvi Harps redesigned their lever harps to become concert instruments.  She has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Irish Memory Orchestra, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with whom she premiered Ryan Molloy's Concerto for lever harp, Gealán. A prolific recording artist, she has released several CDs, including Just So Bach, Harping Bach to Carolan, The Jig’s Up and My Lagan Love; Double Strung and Duopoly with Cormac De Barra; and Harp to Harp with harmonica player Brendan Power. She is frequently invited to give recitals, workshops and 
masterclasses at international conferences and festivals around the world, in addition to performance at several World Harp Congresses. Dedicated to the expansion of repertoire for the lever harp, she has published critical editions for lever harp of Bach’s cello, keyboard and lute repertoire. Anne-Marie holds a PhD in composition with Piers Hellawell at Queen’s University Belfast and lectures in composition at the TU Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama. She has recently completed several large-scale commissions featuring the harp, including a lever harp concerto, and a five-movement work for large harp ensemble. She held a three-year composition residency, funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.