I've been running around like a lunatic lately, and have been flinging the harp into the back of the car at ungodly hours each morning for what seems like ages. Much needed day off tomorrow - hooray!!
And instead of feeling frazzled, I'm still buzzing after a brilliant concert by Catriona MacKay & Chris Stout at the Sandbach Concert Series on Wednesday. What an amazing player with really incredible extended techniques and exceptional musicality! If you have the chance to hear her play live...... do go and see her. Chris & Catriona are an exceptional duo and the audience loved them. Hopefully they will come back and play for us again in a few years. Lots of my students came to the gig on Wednesday and it was lovely to see how much her and Chris's playing inspired them. Their latest CD, White Nights is brilliant and I'll be listening to it again in the car on the way to work today.
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Ok, so they aren't actual harps....... but have you noticed how laser harps (that are actually built to look like a harp) seem to be popping up everywhere? With lots of science centres now having one. I've not actually seen one in the flesh, but wouldn't an encounter with one in a museum be fun, and inspiring? Glen Hill of Mountain Glen Harps seems to be building some great laser harps. Here he is explaining about one he has built for a children's Hospital. What an amazing and therapeutic thing it would be in that situation. There is lots of info on Glens website about how they work. Essentially it's much like the midi harp in that each "string" triggers whatever is programmed on the software running it, but in this case of course you break the laser beam to make the trigger. Glen also has a blog with some pretty cool pictures of custom harps he is building. A more traditional laser harp (without it being in confines of a harp shaped box) is nothing new, but I really like this next YouTube clip. Arpa di Luce is a collaboration between Gianpietro Grossi- Laser Engineer, Francesco Murano-Light Designer and Pietro Pirelli-Musician and visual artist. How about this then! Hijab Initiation No 2 for harp trio by Amir Konjani also a solo harp piece by Amir played by Sioned Williams |
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AuthorLauren Scott is a harpist & composer and has been blogging on Harpyness for over 10 years. If you enjoy reading Harpyness and you'd like to buy me a virtual coffee that would be very welcome. Cheers!
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