A Harp at Every Hearth: David Kettlewell: Part 1 of 15

- introduction: The revolution in real "minstrel's" harps, at prices under $100 from suppliers like Mid-East Mfg Co. in Pakistan, brings a harp - the perfect instrument for making music at home - within reach of even the most modest purse.
These 15 video clips give a taste of how one player uses six different models, playing composed tunes and improvising: there will be more about tuning later. There's also a DVD and a web-site.
As well as the harps, David also plays flutes, clarinets, guitar, accordion, synthesised strings and bass: where there is spoken text, it's dubbed in English over the original Swedish.

Different ways of thinking about harps and harp-playing: you can play
• with or without written music
• alone or with others
• with several harps together, or one harp with other instruments
• with the harp in the foreground, or the harp in the background accompanying others, voices or other instruments
• someone else's music (e.g. Mozart's) or you can play your own
• with or without a teacher
• pieces of music or pure feelings
• melody or harmony - or both
• harmony as chords, or as separate melodic parts
• with the harp between your knees, on your lap, on the floor, on a table, on a stool
• resting it on your right shoulder, or on your left
• holding it vertical with the sound-box nearest you, or furthest away from you, or you have can it horizontal
with the flesh of your fingers, or with your finger nails
• with nylon strings, or gut strings, or brass strings
• with semitone levers or you can re-tune the strings; you can have semitone levers without using them; you can take the semitone levers off.

http://www.AHarpAtEveryHearth.com
http://film.New-Renaissance.com

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• harp
• affordable
• improvising
• Christopher
• Simpson
• renaissance

[laybom]

hello David. Did you go to Loughborough Uni in 1973? If so I know you. Lesley

[MegMerrilies]

Interesting. I'm a harper too, not a harpist.

I subscribed!

[hkpetra]

Thank you. That's nice :)