How to: Playing a Simple Melody Hymn tune: This is My Father's World
Here’s a brief recording of me playing the opening lines of “This is my Father’s World” (Terra Patris) on my Triplett Luna harp: For comparison, here is the original hymn in four parts. I transposed it to F so it would work better on my harp. Source: Hymnary.org As you can see, I took just […]
New to the Wire Harp? (non-historical wire-strung harp)
If you’ve just discovered the wire harp (or heard one being played), for starters it’s good to know that most folks in the overall world of harps (Classical, Celtic) tend to think of historical Irish wire-strung harp when this branch of the harp family comes up. That is, replica instruments of period harps made in […]
Photos of Triplett Luna Wire Harp
Here are some recent photos of my Triplett Luna wire harp this summer. After I got back from playing in church I didn’t take Luna harp into the house right away. I decided to have a Sunday photo session in the back yard. I posed my harp in some unlikely but attractive green corners […]
Irish wire harp… cross-strung! Stoney End Esabelle
In 2015 my second Irish wire harp was built for me by Gary Stone of Stoney End Harps, Red Wing, MN. His Esabelle model is normally strung with nylon strings, and accordingly is lightly built. When I asked Gary to build this harp as a wire model, a lot of things needed to be changed […]
Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT Music and Faith
I was introduced to the harp at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont, where I went to finish my music degree at the age of 35. I had attended SUNY Fredonia from 1987 to 1991 but did not finish my degree there. Fredonia was not the right choice for me, although I did study classical […]
Ukrainian folk music on Irish harp YouTube Video
Ukrainian folk melody played on Stoney End Esabelle, cross-strung wire harp.
Harp Music for Ukraine Red Verburnum in the Meadow
Traditional Ukrainian folk music played on Irish wire-strung harp, Stoney End Esabelle (cross-strung).
New Year, new WordPress!
Some housecleaning. Quite a few old posts taken down and some new ones on the way. More interesting stuff to come! Still waiting on wire harp #3. More later.
Follow Me (and Jasmine Kitty) on Twitter!
After a hiatus of about four years (with the exception of stepping in briefly trying to come to the rescue of my troubled alma mater Green Mountain College in spring 2019), I’ve pretty much veered away from Twitter. I like Twitter. It’s a quick, easy place to grab news headlines, spot interesting trends in fashion […]
New Wire Harp on the Way! Argent Fox builds Double-Strung Harp
My latest (and happiest news): wire harp #3 will soon be added to my harp family. Harp builder Dan Speer of Argent Fox is at work building my latest wire-strung harp, a double-strung lap harp in cherry! Two courses of strings, 29 each. We are planning to have attractive little wood veneers of fox paw […]