‘Chasing the Bunnies’ and Other Technique Glitch Fixes – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – 15th January 2023

‘Chasing the bunnies’ and Other Technique Glitch Fixes

An IMMERSION looking at the most common technique pitfalls and exploring how we can train our fingers to do as our brain is bidding! This IMMERSION will be filled with instantly usable hints and tips for our harp playing.  Whatever your level, from the complete novice to advanced, you’ll learn my favourite tips for like how to minimise buzzes, enhance your sound, take care of your body and find shapes with greater ease.

During this IMMERSION I will introduce you to four mini etudes (taken form a set of 14) written specifically to allow our mind and bodies the space, time and excuse to focus on common challenges.

10 simple ‘go to’ ideas when writing tunes! – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

10 simple ‘go to‘ ideas when writing tunes!

During this FAIRPLAY IMMERSION I share some of my favourite tried and tested tricks I have used over the years for writing tunes for students and myself to play. I  promised to share my 10 favourite go to ideas in this IMMERSION so we will look at getting started – what is your inspiration/purpose, choosing you pedal/lever set up, making mud pie (yes you read that correctly), starting from chords, starting from melody, starting from rhythm, melody shaping hacks,  adding accompaniment, choosing the form and saving your ideas!

I am also extreamly excited to share with you a brand new piece called Jigsaw II. This is very unusual as it calls on the harpist to choose which parts of the music to use and the order that they will be played in. It can be put together in many different ways. Will you choose and introduction? Rondo form? To modulate to the dominant? To play in the relative minor? To add a coda? Or any other options! The purpose of this is to gain practical experience putting together a piece, trying it in many different ways until you are really happy with the way it sounds, exactly as you can with your own compositions.

50 + Ways to Play a Chord and Henrietta’s Dream – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – REPLAY AVAILABLE 

50 + ways to play a chord!

Let’s Shake Up Our Lead Sheet Playing! 

Creating Melodic Variations and Countermelodies – From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary 2 – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – 26th March 2023

Creating Melodic Variations and Countermelodies

From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary (2)

Are you keen to build on your arranging skills? In 2023 I am offering 3 arranging IMMERSIONS where we will look at ideas for taking a simple tune and making it your own. During this second offering of ‘From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary’ we are looking at Creating Melodic Variations and Countermelodies. We will be exploring tricks and tips that help us to confidently add notes between and over a melody to create variations and interest in our arrangements, improvisation and compositions. In this session we will look at general ‘go-to’ ideas, explore ideas for adding notes to a melody, how to create a countermelody and and finally put our skills into practice! During this session we will look at examples in Scarborough Fair, Danny Boy, Ar Hyd y Nos, Greensleeves and my brand new tune ‘Hapus Iawn‘ which can be played as a countermelody to  Pwt Ar Y Bys,

Dynamic Harps “In Person” Ensemble Summer 2023

I am delighted that you are interested joining/re-joining the harp ensemble this term. I am really looking forward to getting started and I hope you are too! There are two in person sign up options this term.

FAIRPLAY HARP SCHOOL GIFT VOUCHER

FAIRPLAY HARP SCHOOL GIFT VOUCHER

A harp gift for your friend, partner, family member or even yourself! You will receive the gift voucher digitally within 48 hours of making your purchase. If you are ordering this on Christmas eve please also email me on info@harpwales.com with URGENT in the heading so I can get it to you before Christmas day!

This voucher can be redeemed for any one of the following:

1. START HARP LEVEL 1
2. START HARP LEVEL 2
3. START HARP LEVEL 3
4. FLOURISHING HARPIST 
5. Access to all 12 IMMERSION courses in 2021 

You will also receive a copy of my CD’s ‘The Cherished Harp’ and ‘The Three Strands’ in the post. I will post these out within 48 hours of receiving your order, please hurry if you are hoping for the items in time for Christmas.

For details of the full year access offer please click >>HERE<<

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Follow Your Harp: Make this the Year You Learn THAT Piece

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 

10th January 2021

Follow Your Harp: Make 2021 the Year You Learn THAT Piece

Have you got a piece in your music bag, hiding on a shelf or perhaps even lurking at the back of your music stand that you have been wanting to learn FOREVER but not quite got around to for some reason? Perhaps it looks to hard, too long, you have no time, you are not sure if you are ready for it, you like someone else playing the piece so much you do not know if you should try it or not… or a million other reasons…!  In this IMMERSION I have the aim of sending you away feeling positive and ready to jump in and work on THAT piece you really want to learn to play, whatever the piece is! Please select a piece bring a piece to along with you to the live session (or when you are watching the replay).

The whole course will focus on ways to approach ‘THAT piece’ including finding warm up exercises from within the piece, looking for patterns and repetitions, creating your own practice exercises, planning your practice approach,  preparing your mind for venturing into the new challenge and even some ideas on how you might ‘fake’ your chosen piece!  Unlike most IMMERSIONS, live, we will really use the focus piece as I wish you all to have the time to work with your own chosen music, however, we will use the piece ‘Bat, Bat, Come Out Of My Hat’ as a discussion point and after the live course I will provide a teaching video and play-along for this music as an extra!

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Rhythms Demystified: Polyrhythm edition

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 

Rhythms Demystified: Polyrhythm Edition

In this IMMERSION we look at how to understand, practice and play common polyrhythms (3 against 4 / 4 against 3 and 2 against 3 / 3 against 2). We will use the focus piece ‘One for Sorrow, two for Joy’ which I have written specifically to involve these sneaky little rhythms! I will aim to give you warm up ideas you can use immediately and also moving forwards to help you practice and get into the groove of these polyrhythms. As well as playing them within the piece, we will also work on them purely rhythmically, in exercises and via improvisation, we will immerse ourselves! Whilst this topic is not for the faint hearted, I promise to make it as accessible as possible and it is rather interesting to know about even if you don’t feel you will use the knowledge much in your playing.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Christmas 2021

FAIRPLAY CHRISTMAS IMMERSION 2021

Online short Course  

This course will initially be delivered live on 12th December 2021 3PM-5PM GMT, following the live delivery, the course will be available as a set of video lessons and sheet music downloads in online learning platform Ruzuku.

Have you sorted your Christmas party piece this year?! If not come and join a merry band of fellow harp enthusiasts at this years FAIRPLAY CHRISTMAS IMMERSION to help you prepare! In this online course, we look at ‘See, Amid the Winter’s Snow’ (including original countermelody), ‘I Saw Three Ships’ and finish off with a little peek at a little swing time Christmas tune I have written called  ‘Have You Heard’ where I will show you (by ear) how get the most out of the bass-line, using chords from the lead sheet.

As a little technique focus for this course, we will be working on how to make our baselines sound loud and clear to support to the melody and be a beautiful foundation for all harmony to ring out over this Christmas! I know this isn’t a glamours or particularly exiting sounding technique fours, but it really is an idea that will help your playing sparkle this Christmas (and all year round)!

“Great immersion! As usual, Shelley went above and beyond. We’re now ready for Christmas 🎄and have some fantastic techniques and insights for glissandos and improv to use all the year through. 🗓” Rebecca Blakeney referring to Christmas IMMERSION 2018 (START HARP Level 1, 2 and 3 graduate!)

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Power up your Left Hand

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 

Power up your Left Hand: Time for your left hand to shine

In this IMMERSION the whole course will focus on ways to improve your left hands agility, stamina and tone. We will us the focus piece ‘Dyffryn Dreams’ which you can listen to in the little video below. As well as looking at exercises related to the music and looking at the piece, I will show you how you can take a snippet of the piece and turn it into a simple improvisation to extend the music. In addition to this we will work on a brand new ‘Power Up Your Left Hand’ exercise sheet I have created, initially by ear to practice that skill, but I will also provide you with the sheet music.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Sparkle This Christmas 2022

FAIRPLAY CHRISTMAS IMMERSION 2022

Sparkle This Christmas – Solo Music for Christmas 2022

Online short Course  – Attend live or watch replay anytime

This course will initially be delivered live on Saturday 26th November 2022 3PM-5PM GMT, following the live delivery the course will be available as a set of video lessons and sheet music downloads in online learning platform Ruzuku.

Have you sorted your Christmas party piece this year?! If not come and join a merry band of fellow harp enthusiasts at this years FAIRPLAY CHRISTMAS IMMERSION to help you prepare! In this online course we will warm up with festive soundscapes you can use for introductions, improvisations or storytelling this Christmas and then learn the Coventry Carol with my new original countermelody and a brand new festive swing time tune called Christmas Delights. We will be using the three strands learning approach during this session, working by ear, from sheet music and improvising. I am particularly excited about the soundscapes as ideas for introductions that will help your playing sparkle this Christmas (and all year round)!

“Great immersion! As usual, Shelley went above and beyond. We’re now ready for Christmas 🎄” Rebecca Blakeney referring to Christmas IMMERSION 2018 (START HARP Level 1, 2 and 3 graduate!)

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – The Hands Together Pattern Buster

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION May 2021

The Hands Together Pattern Buster

Let me introduce you to my ‘Hands Together Patterns Buster’ studies!

In this FAIRPLAY IMMERSION we will look at a set of studies designed to help us work on hands together coordination. We look at several hands together ‘pinch points’ in harp playing, delving into why we may find these challenging and looking at practice strategies to help us learn to play with more control and flow next time we meet these ‘pinch points’ in our pieces.

The goal is that if you work on the ‘Hands Together Patterns Buster’ studies, they will over time help with your hands together playing in any piece. Our focus piece “Inside, outside, upside down?” offers additional practice on many of the patterns covered in the study section.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Fancy Tricks

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION March 2021

Fancy Tricks

In this short course we will:

• Discuss why and when it can be useful to have a few fancy tricks up your sleeve (or in your finger tips!)
• Warm up using a dominant 7th ‘fancy trick’ (written out, notes will also be given by ear)
• Try out some general ‘fancy tricks’, from easy to the more challenging!
• Work through an overview of the tune ‘Views of Somerset’ using lead sheet music. In this section we will learn part of the tune together and then try a few ‘fancy tricks’ (embellishment ideas) one by one using the simple melody as our foundation.
• Improvise with a ‘fancy trick’ to finish our session.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – February 2021 – Cross Fingering: You CAN Do It!

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 

Cross Fingering: You CAN Do It!

I am aiming to lighten this content with a new cheerful little piece called ‘The Swaying Snowdrop’!

In this IMMERSION we focus on ‘cross fingering’ on the harp. Do I mean playing the harp with angry fingers?! No, but it does appear there is some variation in what people mean by this term. With this in mind, the main focus will be to work on cross fingering in the way I have always know it, for example placing 4321 and then playing 13 then 24 or 24 then 13 in pairs. I am really offering this course by request! Once mastered, this skill can be useful for smoothness of tone, to avoid unnecessary jumps, for accuracy and flow. I will also include an example of thumb slides with crossing fingers underneath and will offer a basic refresher on turning over and under on the harp (a skill always worth working on). Even if you never choose to use ‘cross fingering’ in your playing, I aim for this workshop to help encourage a deeper independence and control of all your fingers.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Lever and Pedal Changes Mystery Solving Adventure!

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – August 2021

Lever and Pedal Changes

A Mystery Solving Adventure!

Let’s look at what we might consider for lever/pedal changes in our music. Planning ahead? Thinking harmonically? How to write them? Enharmonic equivalents? How to best practice movements to make the changes? How to interpret the way others write them?  This list goes on! There is some mystery solving to be done, an exercise sheet and a study piece called ‘One Half Step at a Time‘ designed to help you work on adding sharps and flats, this will be a bit of a workout but a useful study to help with any music with accidentals included in the future!

To get the must out of this course you will need a fully levered harp or pedal harp to use during the videos. 

In this short course we will:

• Introduction, we discuss when and where you might need to use lever / pedal changes in your music and the common challenges associated with this
• Foundation skills – look at finding sharps, flats and enharmonic equivalents on different harps and create your own chart for lever or pedal harp.
• Movement practice for lever and pedal changes
• Using semi-tones / half steps for the first time in improvisation, some get you started ideas ideas!
• Explore the different way pedal and lever markings appear on your music.
• Discuss how can the circle of 5ths can help us, useful for thinking harmonically about pedal and lever changes.
• Mystery solve the examples given for lever / pedal changes.
• Try the lever / pedal exercise sheet to practice our skills.
• An Overview of study piece ‘One Half Step at a Time’

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Lever and Pedal Changes Mystery Solving Adventure! (Copy)

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – August 2021

Lever and Pedal Changes

A Mystery Solving Adventure!

Let’s look at what we might consider for lever/pedal changes in our music. Planning ahead? Thinking harmonically? How to write them? Enharmonic equivalents? How to best practice movements to make the changes? How to interpret the way others write them?  This list goes on! There is some mystery solving to be done, an exercise sheet and a study piece called ‘One Half Step at a Time‘ designed to help you work on adding sharps and flats, this will be a bit of a workout but a useful study to help with any music with accidentals included in the future!

To get the must out of this course you will need a fully levered harp or pedal harp to use during the videos. 

In this short course we will:

• Introduction, we discuss when and where you might need to use lever / pedal changes in your music and the common challenges associated with this
• Foundation skills – look at finding sharps, flats and enharmonic equivalents on different harps and create your own chart for lever or pedal harp.
• Movement practice for lever and pedal changes
• Using semi-tones / half steps for the first time in improvisation, some get you started ideas ideas!
• Explore the different way pedal and lever markings appear on your music.
• Discuss how can the circle of 5ths can help us, useful for thinking harmonically about pedal and lever changes.
• Mystery solve the examples given for lever / pedal changes.
• Try the lever / pedal exercise sheet to practice our skills.
• An Overview of study piece ‘One Half Step at a Time’

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Time for Your Left Hand to Shine

In this IMMERSION we turn our full attention to playing beautifully with our left hand.

How often does the right hand hog all the best melodies and impressive moments?

It doesn’t seem fair for the left never to have the limelight! Then, when the left hand is actually called upon to play a more melodic or fast passage we can find that it is lacking in the agility, stamina and tone required to play the music in the way we would like to.

Let’s work to re-aline the balance! 

Using my brand new left hand solo piece for harp ‘If the Wren Can…’ we let your left hand find its moment to shine on your harp. We also look at Reversing the Roles of your hands. This ‘trick’ can be useful and effective when arranging tunes. In this part of the course we focus on listening to and controlling our left hand tone to play a beautiful melody, using the lullaby ‘Suo Gân’ (shared by ear) and explore ideas on how your right hand can accompany this (or any given tune) while the left hand is enjoying hogging the limelight. I know many of you will know this tune very well already, that will help with this challenge.

We use the Fairplay Harp School ‘Power Up Your Left Hand’ exercise sheet to warm up (a worksheet originally created for September 2020 IMMERSION) and even sneak in a little improvising at the end with just our Left Hand to prove it is possible.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Fancy Flourishes

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION March 2021

Fancy Flourishes

In this short course we will:

• Discuss what we mean by right over left/divided between the hands/up and over/crossovers/cross hands playing.
• Try out an ‘Air Harp’ warm up for divided between the hands
• Warm up using some tried and tested strategies for practicing runs of notes divided between the hands
• Practice exercises related to the main piece (The Butterfly Festival) to work on divided between the hands playing
• Learn the main theme of ‘The Butterfly Festival’ by ear.
• Work through a full overview of the tune ‘The Butterfly Festival’ using the sheet music.
• Find out how you might use ‘fancy flourishes’ for improvisation.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – Let’s Fake Being Able to Improvise

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION April 2021

Let’s Fake Being Able to Improvise! 

Let’s look at really simple things you can do to ‘fake it ‘till you make it’ when improvising. No fancy stuff, no technical jargon*, just some go to ideas that will help you build confidence and always be able to join in.

In this IMMERSION our warm up will form the foundation of the whole course, I am really excited to work on this with you! We will look at ways to embellish and expand the humble scale and listen very carefully to how the notes of a simple arpeggio can work together in different ways to sound beautiful.

We will then look at 4 ‘Let’s Fake It! Improvisation Springboard‘ ideas to explore  simple, rhythmic, joyful and structured ideas to allow you to  enjoy improvising on your harp.

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION Christmas – Harp Ensemble or Duo? Let’s Sparkle Together 2021

Online short Course  

Fairplay Immersion Subscription

Join the popular IMMERSION online workshops, aimed at harpists of all levels except complete beginners (you must be already be able to place 4 fingers, turn and read music to at least a basic level). You can access these videos in your own time or you can attend live for the recording session once a month, 2nd Sunday each month 3.30-5.30PM British Time*. The workshops always include video lessons for the monthly sheet music solo piece released in tier 2 (and occasionally with FREE bonus second piece), a theoretical or technical focus and include elements of the three strands of music study I teach: playing by ear, reading music and improvisation ideas.

You can book each individual IMMERSION course one at a time via the website www.FairplayHarpSchool.com for £35 each, or join this Patreon community for £30 a month, receive access to the monthly IMMERSION and benefit from all the additional resources too!

Once you are a Fairplay IMMERSION patron you will be able to suggest topics for me to cover in the IMMERSIONS moving forwards; I love new ideas for topics and pieces!

From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary (Arranging Part 1) – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – 19th February 2023

From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary (Arranging Part 1) 

Are you keen to build on your arranging skills? In 2023 I am offering 3 arranging IMMERSIONS where we will look at ideas for taking a simple tune and making it your own. During ‘From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary (Arranging Part 1) we will be looking at ways to add notes under a melody to add depth and beauty to our pieces. Learning to take a melody line and adding harmony notes with the right hand under the tune can be started with some very simple guidelines to follow and then elaborated as your confidence builds. In this session we will look at some ‘go-to’ ideas and put our skills into practice using the beautiful Welsh lullaby Si Hei Lwli ‘Mabi lead sheet and my brand new tune ‘Seeking the Phoenix’ lead sheet. 

Know Your Shapes – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 28th August 2022

Know Your Shapes – To Improve Confidence when Sight-Reading, Improvising and Memorising Music.

Following on from the free ‘Harp Secrets’ Webinar ’12 Flourishing Shapes to Happy Harping (missed it?! you can watch the replay >>HERE<<) I am excited to offer this IMMERSION class to dive in deeper to the practical application 9 foundation shapes and 12 flourishing shapes.

During the workshop we working on concepts that you can apply to any tune, helping to improve confidence when reading, improvising and/or memorising a new piece on your harp without ever getting that frustrated feeling you are ‘starting from scratch’ ever again! I will also share my brand new tune Eissen and share how shapes can help when learning this (and any) tune.

What will the course include?

• Welcome and overview
• Let’s warm up – using shapes!
• The 9 foundation shapes
• The 12 flourishing shapes
• Practice hacks
• Using the shapes to help when reading music
• Using shapes to aid memorisation
• Using shapes to help when improvising
• Overview of brand new tune ‘Eissen’ – can shapes help?
• Thank you and goodbye 

Lap Harp Olympics?! – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – 28th May 2023

Lap Harp Olympics?!

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

Introducing Lap Harp Olympics!

Join us for a joyful journey into the world of lap harps, where we will unlock the full potential of your instrument!

Are you ready to explore the endless possibilities of your lap harp? Whether your musical taste leans towards traditional melodies, classical compositions, catchy pop tunes, or captivating show tunes, we’ve got you covered. Perhaps you have been dreaming of improvising freely on your lap harp, letting your creativity soar. Or maybe you’re seeking a portable practice companion for your musical adventures on the go. You might even be looking to accompany your own singing, collaborate with fellow musicians, or add a touch of enchantment to your storytelling. If you’ve ever wanted to adapt sheet music written for other harp types to your lap harp, I will give you my top tips on how to go about it!

During our IMMERSION class, we will delve into getting comfortable with your lap harp and discover techniques to enhance your playing. You’ll learn how to effectively use your harp as a warm-up instrument and maintain your practice routine with effective exercise ideas. We will unveil arranging hacks and discuss potentail challenges for the lap harp when re-purposing music written for other harp types. Get ready to explore mesmerising soundscapes for improvisation and storytelling, where your lap harp will become your creative canvas. And last but not least, we’ll ignite your imagination with a wide range of chord ideas for delightful accompaniments on a smaller harp range.

While our focus will be on lap harps tuned in C without levers, fear not! Our class is designed to be accessible to chromatic and semi-chromatic harp players as well.

Join us for Lap Harp Olympics and embark on a delightful musical journey that will take your lap harp skills to new heights! Sign up today and let your lap harp shine like never before!

Move That Tune – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 10th April 2022

Move that Tune! Add variety to your arrangements, an interesting new dimension to your warm ups or transpose for other musicians on your harp.

During the workshop we working on concepts that you can apply to any tune, we will test them using ideas I will teach by ear and also using the wonderful Welsh Tune Calon Lân.

What will the course include?

• Welcome and Overview
• Warming Up In Different Keys
• Why ‘Move That Tune’?
• Overview of Calon Lân
• Standard Transposition Methods
• Chords by Numbers
• Melody By Numbers
• Let’s ‘Move That Tune’! Calon Lân
• Just for fun, what about moving tunes into other modes?
• Thank you and Goodbye 

Placing Power – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – 16th October 2022

Playing Out? Have No Fear! FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – October 2021

Playing Out? Have No Fear!

In this IMMERSION we explore ways to circumvent the trepidation of performing in front of other people! This will focus on practical ideas and strategies including a set of ideas in our ‘Ice Breaker’ that you can use straight away whatever your level, and a little simple ditty I have written specially to lie under your fingers called ‘Harp, Skip, Jump’. I will also share my own personal story getting to grips with ‘Performing Out? Have No Fear!’ and some of the mindset hints and tips I have gathered or fallen into discovering along the (bumpy) way!

This course is suitable for all harp types including lap harp 3 octave range with no levers. 

In this short course we will:

• Look at the overview of what we will cover during the session.
• Warm Up –  trying out ways to warm up in front of people and sound lovely!
• I will share my ‘Performing Out? Have No Fear’ journey so far – some of the mindset hints and tips I have gathered or fallen into discovering along the way!
• Learn a little ditty designed to lie under your hand called ‘Harp, Skip, Jump’
• Discuss practical ideas we can put in place when preparing to perform a piece or concert such as programming, safety points, exit points, improvisation loops even audience assistance!
• Play the ‘Ice Breaker’ Worksheet to create an instantly performable ‘piece’ suited exactly to your current ability, whatever that may be.
• Discuss playing for your audience, I believe it is not about us when we perform, it is about the music and the people we are playing for. What can we do to help ourselves and audiences experience this?
• Try practical ideas to help you when performing out with other musicians.

Rhythms Made Easy – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

Rhythms Made Easy

SPECIAL OFFER! The HARP IMMERSIONS of Christmas Past!

This package will give you access to 15 Christmas tunes and approximately 6 hours of video lesson tuition.

Online short Courses – Pre-Recorded Content Available NOW! 

Speedy Playing? A work in Progress! FAIRPLAY IMMERSION February 13th 2022

Speedy Playing? A work in Progress!

By request, in this IMMERSION I will be sharing a workout ‘Speed and Dexterity, a Work in Progress’ created to increase our speed and dexterity at the harp. We will look at an overview of a piece called ‘Whispers of Tomorrow’ to explore practice ideas that can assist when working to speed up our playing. We also explore how improvisation can help us with speed and flow in our playing.

I am including my pre-recorded ‘Metronome Magic’ IMMERSION as a free bonus in this course (usually £35) as I strongly believe working with the metronome to be a highly effective way to work on increasing our speed at the harp. 

START HARP IMMERSION – ‘Greensleeves’ and ‘Mansion Blues’

Online short Course 

In this Immersion we will focus on two contrasting pieces, one is the very well know and loved ‘Greensleeves’ (also know as ‘What Child is This’). The second is a 12 bar blues I have written called ‘Mansion Blues’ which is basically very simple and fun but there are lots of extension ideas you can enjoy to make this as complicated as you like!

START HARP IMMERSION – ‘Morning’ (Grieg) and The ‘START HARP Swing’ Improvisation

A START HARP IMMERSION

In this START HARP IMMERSION we will focus on two pieces, one is my harp arrangement of ‘Morning’ from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. A beautiful 3/4 flowing melody that lies nicely under the hand, also offering the chance to work add in grace notes to embellish the tune. This piece also lends itself to a gentle improvised introduction so we will look briefly at ideas for this too. The second piece I will be teaching so we can all improvise and then if you choose, write, our own swing time tune. I will base the foundation of this on one of my pieces called Mixit which some of you may be familiar with!

START HARP IMMERSION – ‘Spring Tide of Hope’ and ‘Growing for the Future’

Online short Course 

In this Immersion we will focus on two original contrasting pieces, one is ‘Spring Tide of Hope’ a piece that flows and swells like a high tide coming in and then gently fades away, it has proved very popular in workshops with my Dynamic Harps students. The second is a piece is called ‘Growing for the Future’ and it a tune I have written ready to premier at the 9th National Botanic Garden of Wales family harp weekend this June. It is named after their ‘Growing the Future’ project that has already involved over 5000 people being trained in planting, sowing and growing. I like to think there are lots of crossovers here for START HARP where we are planting, sowing and growing more harpists for the future! Both pieces can be played as a solo or in a group.

START HARP IMMERSION – “Caught at Insole” Lesson

A BETA test session for students who either taking or have already completed START HARP Level 1, 2 and/or 3.

This session will run live 3pm-5pm BST Sunday 5th August 2018, you can now sign up to join the live session and to gain access the recorded lessons afterwards. There will be a short break after about an hour during the live session.

When you sign up you will automatically receive a confirmation on email and then 48 hours before a link to the online classroom and invitation to the live chat.

As well as learning the tune “Caught at Insole” we will:

• Play a warm up together at the beginning.
• Look at exercises related to the piece to focus in on tricky sections (everyday exercises!).
• Look at a technique for using pivots the left hand, this can enable us to play wide stretches (e.g. 1-5-10 or bigger!).
• Practise some fun improvisation ideas that can be used to extend the piece.
• We will look at 2 very different ways of interpreting and playing the piece.
• We will have a playing by ear challenge too!

You will have 12 months access to these videos. It is rather like one week of a START HARP 12 week course!

START HARP IMMERSION – Brahms Lullaby and Sebastian’s Tune

A START HARP IMMERSION

In this START HARP IMMERSION we will focus on two pieces, one is my harp arrangement of the famous Brahms lullaby. This is such a beautiful, simple and tender melody, but we also look at lots of extension ideas and a countermelody so you can enjoy making this as complicated as you like. The second tune I will teach by ear, written for my son this is simply called ‘Sebastian’s Tune’. I was told by one person after playing it at a recent concert that the piece musically conjured up images of castles and knights!

START HARP IMMERSION – Metronome Magic with Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night) and Mozart

Online short Course 

START HARP IMMERSION – METRONOME MAGIC

As a musician, whatever your level, the metronome is your best friend. Does this ring true to you or do you just secretly sometimes feel like you would like to chuck it out of a window?! During this IMMERSION we will discuss how you can learn to work well with your metronome using exercise and techniques that will over time help you improve on your flow, agility and speed. Basically I will try to really show you why teachers endlessly go on about how great they are.

We will also work together on Ar Hyd y Nos  (All Through the Night), they will include passages that would benefit from metronome practice so we can look at these using some of the techniques and exercises we work on. We will also look briefly at an extract from the middle movement of the Mozart flute and harp concerto, as this piece really made me embrace my metronome and I would like to to share WHY!

START HARP IMMERSION – Simple Gifts and Amazing Grace

A START HARP IMMERSION

In this START HARP IMMERSION we will focus on two pieces, one is my new harp arrangement of ‘Simple Gifts’, a beautiful tune I have so enjoyed playing within orchestra as part of Copland’s ‘Appalachian Spring’ (YouTube orchestral version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6RYZygevA). The second piece we will be looking at is Amazing Grace, which I am going to use to teach you ways we can create variations and countermelodies to pieces, I will also share one of my own for this well know hymn.

START HARP IMMERSION – Spiralling Shoots Lessons

A BETA test session for students who either taking or have already completed START HARP Level 1, 2 and/or 3.

This session ran live 3pm-5pm BST Sunday 29th April 2018, you can now sign up to received the recorded lessons!

When you sign up Shelley Fairplay will email you within 48 hours a link to the online classroom where you can access all the PDF sheet music and the video lessons.

This session works around the piece “Spiralling shoots”, which is also the tune START HARP students are invited to performa a the 7th National Botanic Garden of Wales Family Harp Weekend (30th June / 1st July 2018).

As well as learning the tune we:

• Play a warm up together at the beginning.
• Look at exercises related to the piece to focus in on tricky sections (everyday exercises!).
• Look at a special damping technique useful when playing ascending and descending sections in pieces.
• Practise some fun improvisation ideas that can be used to extend the piece.
• We will have a playing by ear challenge too!

You will have 12 months access to these videos. It is rather like one week of a START HARP 12 week course!

Stories with Harp for Young Children – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

Stories with Harp for Young Children

During this FAIRPLAY IMMERSION I share my favourite tried and tested tricks I have used over the years when working with young children and telling stories at the harp in schools and at community events. We look at musical snippets for ‘The Fairy Harp’ and ‘The Billy Goats Gruff’ along with experimenting and exploring ideas for other traditional folk tales. We will also look at a simple jolly little country dance style ditty that can be used to create group participation in many situations. Many of the ideas covered will be transferable to other composition and arrangement work on your harp.

Technique Booster Course – Explore, Revive, Reflect

Online short Course  

This course is aimed at harpists seeking ways to work on smoother, more agile, controlled, beautiful and happy playing. This course will provide a ‘library of ideas’ you can return to again and again and also a ‘Technique Booster Plan’ to enable to you to check and reflect on your playing whenever you feel a little technique refresher might be required.

When you sign up you will automatically receive a confirmation on email from this website. You will then receive and invitation to the Ruzuku classroom within 48 hours and an email from Shelley. If you do not receive any details when expected please check your spam/junk file and if it is not hiding there email me on info@harpwales.com.

FULL DETAILS BELOW

The Beauty of Simplicity – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION March 13th 2022

The Beauty of Simplicity

Working on the quality of your sound and truly ‘being in the moment’ to create magic beyond the notes.

Have I ever been this excited about a new online IMMERSION harp course? I believe many of the concepts are easy and enjoyable to incorporate immediately into day to day playing and I literally cannot wait to deliver this course live Sunday 13th March 2022!

In this course ‘The Beauty of Simplicity’, we are looking at how to create a beautiful sound on single notes and in simple music by considering what we can do before, during and after playing each note. We will also think of internal and external factors that can affect our sound and embrace the power of silence in our music.  I have written a new tune called ‘Crepuscular Rays’ (a piece in Mixolydian mode) to work on these concepts during the course. I share the piece in two arrangements, one simple and one more advanced, so we can finish the course by looking at the importance and relevance of ‘The Beauty of Simplicity’ in our advanced playing.

THE BIG CHRISTMAS PLAY ALONG! FAIRPLAY IMMERSION DECEMBER 2022

The Big Christmas Play Along –

Including the Top 5 JUST JOIN IN Ideas! 

 IMMERSION DECEMBER 2022

Online short Course  – Attend live or watch replay anytime

In this final Fairplay Harp School IMMERSION of 2022 for the Fairplay Harp School I am excited to present to you ‘THE BIG CHRISTMAS PLAY ALONG’.  During the first half of the session we will warm up using a dominant 7th chord to exploring thriving at our individual levels, we then explore my TOP 5 ‘JUST JOIN IN’ go to ideas including simplification and expansion suggestions, we practice making ‘at sight’ decisions on what you will / will not play when in a ‘joining in’ play along situation, overview the ways you can play the harp from non-harp scores and explore our mindset during unplanned music making sessions.

During the second half of the session we will embrace joyful imperfect music making with the BIG CHRISTMAS PLAY ALONG covering O Little Town of Bethlehem, Deck the Halls, We Three Kings, The Holly and the Ivy, The First Nowell, Silent Night, O Christmas Tree and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen! Sounds ambitious?! Of course not when you are equipped with my TOP 5 ‘JUST JOIN IN’ go to ideas!

I cannot wait, what a wonderful way to celebrate the end of the year!

The Brain to Finger Strengthening Challenge! – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION 18th September 2022 / 21st September 2022

The Brain to Finger Strengthening Challenge!

Games, tips and workouts to improve your brain to finger connection when playing.

Ever find your brain is telling your fingers what to do but they are having none of it? You know exactly what needs to happen, yet perhaps a different finger plays, or a finger slips, or lands on the neighbouring string, goes in too slowly and makes a buzz, two fingers land on one string, or even nothing happens at all?! YOU ARE NOT ALONE! These are common harp student challenges!

In this IMMERSION I aim to give you some games, tips and workouts as strategies to help us get our fingers and brain to connect up as fast as possible, so we can achieve that flow, agility, speed and beautiful sound (or whatever else you are currently seeking that needs your fingers to behave) at your harp!

As well as tips, ideas and strategies (including two sets of exercises) you can look forward to a more lighthearted approach with 3 harp games; Air Harp to Freedom, Pin the Tail on the Donkey – Harp Style and Spin the Tuning Key (4 editions available; rhythm, placing, notes and keys). I have so enjoyed thinking up these harp practice games for you, I am smiling as I write this and I cannot wait to hear how you get on with them all!

What will the course include?

• Welcome and overview
• Top tips to improve agility, speed and flow
• Game 1: Air Harp to Freedom!
• Game 2: Pin the Tail on the Donkey – Harp Style!
• Game 3: Spin the Tuning Key! 4 Editions to work with, you can play any that suit your current needs; rhythm, placing, notes and keys.
• A brief look at how to use ‘Hands Together Coordination Exercises’ as a workout
• A brief look at how to use ‘Improving Speed and Dexterity – A Work in Progress‘ as a workout
• Groove your way into the flow! Ideas on how you can improvise using a snippet from any piece to strengthen brain to finger connection!
• Thank you and goodbye 

Time Signatures Uncovered! – FAIRPLAY IMMERSION – 16th April 2023

Time Signatures Uncovered!

FAIRPLAY IMMERSION

Do you ever find working out your counting a little tricky? In this IMMERSION we look at counting and rhythm work in duple, quintuple, septuple and compound time signatures.  What are the best practices for working out, counting and playing in time signatures that take us away from the ‘comfortable’ space of 4/4 or 3/4? Let’s look at the rules that are transferable and where we need other survival strategies! At the end of the session we will learn a short ditty called ‘Time for a Change?!’ to practice changing the time signature so we can see, hear and feel the difference in our playing. It is time to count (and cheat!) your way to success. 

Warm Up Workout! FAIRPLAY IMMERSION January 9th 2022

Warm Up Workouts!

By request, in this IMMERSION I will be sharing a warm up I created and have used myself for many years. During the session I will also help you begin to write your very own bespoke warm up.