Description

Creating Your Own Accompaniments – From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary (3)

Welcome to this IMMERSION workshop where we will embark on a journey to explore a wide array of accompaniment techniques, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Discover fresh avenues to expand your musical palette, infuse variety and depth, and cultivate your unique ideas and expressions in your music. Throughout the session, you’ll be invited to test out all the ideas being presented, so that by the end, you will have a wealth of possibilities at your fingertips!

Are you eager to enhance your arranging skills? In 2023, I am offering three arranging IMMERSIONS where we will delve into ideas for transforming simple tunes into something unique and personal. Each ‘From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary’ class can be taken independently, but if you participate in all three, you will be equipped with a versatile set of possibilities that can be applied throughout your harp playing. If you missed the first two classes you can still watch them now! Details of Part 1 can be found >>HERE<< and Part 2 >>HERE<<.

During this final instalment of ‘From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary,’ we will focus on Creating Your Own Accompaniments – from the Sublime to the Ridiculous. In this IMMERSION, we will explore a wide range of creative approaches to accompany melodies on the harp. Whether you are working from lead sheets, improvising, arranging, or composing, we will delve into numerous techniques and ideas to bring variety, character, and richness to your musical expression. Join us for a fun and interactive session where we’ll squeeze in as many different accompaniment styles as possible within two hours!

Please bring one or two examples of pieces that feature accompaniments you truly love to the session!

What will we cover?

• Welcome and overview
• Let’s warm up! How many different ways can we play this arpeggio?! (spanning 1 and 2 octaves)
• Keeping it simple – the beauty and power of straightforward accompaniments.
• Using Chords Inside, Outside, Upside Down!
• Foundation chord expansion and substitution ideas
• Rhythmic Variety
• Exploring extended techniques
• Creating suitable accompaniment patterns in different time signatures (focusing on 3/4, 6/8, and Swing Time)
• Reflecting on favourite patterns and ideas from the group
• Final recap and review of what we have covered

Online short Course

The course will initially be delivered live on Sunday 16th March over a 2 hour time slot 3.00PM-5.00PM GMT+1/BST. The session will include a short break for fingers and brains around half way through! After the live event you will receive a link to the recorded materials which will include approximately 90 minutes of video training, along with sheet music downloads for you to print out and keep. You will be able to access the course for 12 months after the IMMERSION. It is fun to attend live but do not worry if you cannot make it, you will be able to access all the materials afterwards.

My main aim is to cover ideas that will be useful in your future learning, so you can continue to work on improving all the time.

This course is similar to one week of the START HARP  or Flourishing Harpist 12 week intensive online courses for beginner to upper intermediate harpists. Full details on www.FairplayHarpSchool.com

“Great immersion! As usual, Shelley went above and beyond.” Rebecca Blakeney referring to last IMMERSION (START HARP Level 1, 2 and 3 graduate!)

Following the same ethos and delivery style as the main 3 START HARP 12 week courses, we look at playing from sheet music, improvising and playing by ear all with an underlying focus on a good strong playing technique.

This course is aimed at advanced beginner to advanced intermediate level harpists. To be honest as long as you can read treble and bass clef at least a little bit and can play with all four fingers (and turn) you will be able to take this course. Simplification and extension ideas are offered as we go along so lots to keep everyone busy!

You will have 12 months access to these videos and materials.

When you sign up you will automatically receive a confirmation on email from this website. If you are signing up before the live session you will receive the meeting link and sheet music by 1pm BST on Sunday 16th July 2023. 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.

Comments from students who have attended previous IMMERSION

• Insider info…don’t miss it but prepare yourself to be bombarded with info in the nicest possible way???
• Don’t miss it! And don’t be surprised if you feel overwhelmed if you do it live. Shelley basically fits a full week of Start Harp into 2 hours, so it’s a lot to take in live — but then you can go back and work with the videos as you’re already used to doing in Start Harp. Or you can miss the live bit and just do the videos afterward. I did my best learning of Spiraling Shoots after the fact, when my brain was quiet and I could hear myself think and appreciate what I was playing.
• I couldn’t join live so learnt it from the recordings, which are great.
• I was glad to be on the live presentation, although it was early in the morning. However, due to more pressing priorities, I tabled my practice efforts for a future time—hopefully, in September. That is a benefit of the Immersion structure. Sign up for the class and add to your repertoire when you are ready.
• I also saw it in the replay. It’s great to be able to go over everything slowly…