I am extremely grateful to be a recipient of the 'Developing Your Creative Practice' award from Arts Council England. I will be spending 2021 undertaking a year long period improving my compositional skills, and will also be Composer in Residence with Harps North West during this time. ​I'll be writing harps North West three new works for harp ensemble and I've also mapped out a years worth of compositional self-study which I'm really looking forward to diving into.

Again, I cannot begin to express enough my gratitude to Arts Council England for this support when I am acutely aware of how much of a struggle it is right now for everyone in the Arts. There is another round of grant applications about to open, so I would encourage all creatives to go online and apply. This grant will not only be allowing me to further my compositional skills, but also gives 2021 a much needed overall structure, which in the absence of freelance gigs is extremely welcome.

I'll also be in the studio soon finishing off recording my second album which will be released by Avie Records in Autumn 2021. It will include six of my compositions, including 3 harp quartets that I wrote at the beginning of 2020 commissioned by PRS Foundation 'Women Make Music' and my harp duo, 'Sea of Stars' for lever harp & pedal harp. I'm very grateful to the wonderful harpists Eleanor Turner, Alexander Rider and Elizabeth Bass for joining me and recording my music.

I've only recently embarked on a creative compositional journey having started writing music in 2018, so this all seems a bit of a whirlwind! But I am very grateful for everyones support and I hope to be scribbling lots more dots throughout 2021.

LINK for more about Lauren's music HERE
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​I'm absolutely thrilled that my composition Elegy has been selected as one of Harp Columns 30 day practice challenges as a DREAM BIG Original solo for lever harp.

In this blog post I have created a series of mini tutorials which I hope will be a useful aid for anyone taking on the challenge of learning Elegy as part of the Harp Column practice challenge.

If you have any questions throughout the month about the piece please leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.

​Here is the audio of Elegy and the PDF of the sheet music can be downloaded from Harp Column HERE ​

Elegy breaks down into 7 sections and I have created a mini tutorial covering each section of the piece.

​This first video is an over view on creating the VIBRATO effect which occurs throughout the piece

I hope these are helpful, and thank you so much for learning my music. If you post any videos on social media please tag me in as I would love to see them! x
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@laurenscottharp

I was recently asked by my friends at the Macclesfield Music Centre to provide a short video introduction to the harp suitable for school age children. So here is my offering which is by way of a bit of Nutcracker, Dr Who, Havana and my best BBC posh speaking voice. 

I recorded it in one take, and I was very conscious at the time to speak clearly and slowly. The resulting posh teaching / announcing voice I use throughout it is hilarious and not how I normally speak. It's less than 5 minutes long and I demonstrate on pedal harp as well as lever harp.

Delighted to be kick starting this years Online Advent Calendar for Scala Radio playing Silent Night arranged by Marcel Grandjany

In this very short video I demonstrate how to play an effect which I've developed and use in my piece Celestial Spirals. I've called them xylo-harmonics, but essentially they are false harmonics, and it's a handy technique to have 'up your sleeve' if you ever have a problematic string which has a stubborn harmonic and you want to produce a pure harmonic sound. 

Here, you can see how they are used in context in the opening and closing sections of Celestial Spirals.

I find you can also have more control over dynamics using this effect than you can with harmonics. 

I recently did a short live session and interview with Dave Graham who runs the Piano Cafe in Oakham. Its a very short interview where I briefly explain how I got into composing (in lieu of a mid-life crises) and how teaching now is so much better than it was in the 1980's!!
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It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly 10 years since Alison Stephens died. She was the leading exponent of the classical mandolin in the UK, working at one time or another with most of the country's major orchestras, but she also did much to popularise the instrument too, through contributions to popular films (most notably Captain Corelli's Mandolin), live performances, teaching and composing.

I wrote an obituary about her for The Guardian at the time and it seems appropriate to share it again here as it lists her extraordinary career and achievements.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/28/alison-stephens-obituary

​Ali was a grafter and everything she achieved was from sheer hard work. Whatever life threw at her, (and boy she didn’t have it easy) she tackled with grace and determination. She was passionate about music and life and always put her full energy into everything.

​​As well as a colleague, Ali was a good friend and 10 years on, she is still fondly remembered and much missed by all who knew and worked with her.

​Alison Stephens back catalogue https://open.spotify.com/artist/4o9Jpn6cctDuD93hUYpPQH

I wasn't sure whether to post this video or not... but since it's now in Hansard and a matter of public records...

I wrote to my local MP, Fiona Bruce about my situation during the pandemic (as a freelance self-employed musician), and was extremely surprised that she read it out (nearly in full!) in the House of Commons. Fiona is an excellent local MP and has been very supportive of the arts in Cheshire. 

My personal situation is no different to any other freelance self-employed musician.

After months of sporadic online playing to be able to pack my harp up, get it into my car, drive to a venue and play music to other people in REAL LIFE at a wedding today was a much needed tonic. 

Over the past 25 years I've played at the grandest to the most intimate of weddings, and yet today's was the most special. Streamed over the internet to friends and family who couldn't be there, the masked guests were witness to an event which will be remembered for many years to come.

Most weddings which had been years in the planning with huge guest lists and an array of wedding suppliers have all been postponed until 2021.

​The few couples who have managed to get married in 2020 will be in a very exclusive club. 

In years to come they can look back and wonder how on earth they ever managed the logistics of a wedding during a global pandemic. It will be a badge of honour that everyone who has got married this year can wear with pride.

I've just finished editing a new piece for solo harp by my husband, Andy Scott. 

It's his version of the traditional tune, The Wayfaring Stranger and its quite an epic version!

Welcome to the new normal - hopefully you'll have found yours by now.

It's taken me a little while to find my new normal and like everyone else, I have good days and bad days. Good days include keeping to a routine and keeping myself busy.

Highlights for me are the Virtual Ceilidhs that I host every Sunday evening online. It's a lovely gathering of professional and non-professional harpists on a very low pressure basis - join a session as and when you want to - and we all play one short piece. It's a lovely way to connect by listening and sharing music with each other.

I continue to be so grateful during this lockdown that I live in a house with a garden and that we are coming into warmer weather in the UK. With four adults in my house, and no dedicated private harp room it is great to be able to retreat to my shed to play my lever harp.

We are now well into the COVID-19 worldwide lockdown and everything has changed for everyone. 

On a personal level, like every other self-employed freelance musician I find myself without any income. But so has everyone else who is self-employed. 

I was due to play at the World Harp Congress later this year, then various concerts in Australia, stop over in Hong Kong on the way back home. Tour with the RLPO in Japan and South Korea... but it seems all quite meaningless to have lost gigs, when one of my relatives partners mum is currently extremely ill with COVID-19 and it looks like she won't make it. 

Health is more important every time. And we will all get through this. Together.

I'm extremely lucky that I have a house with a garden, and with a house full and no private music room I've re-fashioned my garden shed into a little harp hut so I can have some privacy. I am very grateful to have this space as I know so many must be really suffering during this lock down in crowded and unsafe relationships. 

It's difficult to make sense of it all, but it's interesting that after 1 week into a nationwide lock down, that the emotions have so quickly gone from shock, upset to resignation and acceptance. Amongst all that is the comfort to be drawn from absorbing yourself in something that you are passionate about. In my case, music and playing the harp.

So with that in mind, here is the first of my Lock Down Shed sessions...

I always put total commitment and energy into every harp project I do, but I don't always get paid! Any support you can give is very much appreciated.

My goodness what a week! It's been a little while since my last blog on here mainly because life has gone a bit crazy, but I shall try to get back into more regular posts again...

In the meantime, I have a new CD being released on Friday this week on the Avie Records label, and it's currently Album of the Week on the digital Classical Radio station - Scala Radio. The announcement by the PRS Foundation that I have recently been selected to their Women Make Music scheme to commission a new work for harp ensemble (more about that HERE) and to top if off I'm having a private Album Launch this Friday evening and I'll be interviewed by Simon Mayo on his show on Scala on Friday morning.

This has been a HUGE project, not only doing the recording, getting a deal with Avie Records, but also composing 8 of the tracks on the albums. 

I only started composing in 2018 and I'm not quite sure where 'that' has all come from, but it's been a bit bonkers and taken up any spare time I have, hence the neglect of this blog!

Lots of public thank yous are due for the completion of this album project.

To Rob Buckland for the most amazing recording - it's not easy to get a good sound recording a harp and he has done so beautifully and really captured the essence of the lever harp. Amazing recording, engineering and mastering.

To my ever patient family for being really understanding over the past couple of years when I've been physically present but mentally absent whilst composing.

To my husband, Andy Scott, who is the most amazing composer and has been so supportive and encouraging of my delving into the compositional world. 

To all my wonderful harp students, for being a constant inspiration - you are all amazing!

To all my friends and colleagues in the harp community for being really encouraging and supportive of my music.

To Avie Records for producing such a beautiful physical CD. The artwork, production and attention to detail has been amazing. I'm so pleased with it!

You can listen to the playback on Scala Radio for one week online HERE