The Tuning Key
Florida Harpers & Friends
Spring 2002 Newsletter
June 1, 2002

Bambi Fischer
Newsletter Editor
fischarper@yahoo.com

2002 FHFriends Conference A Success!

 

Dr. Roslyn Rensch Erbes was the drawing card for the 2002  Conference.

  Dr. Rensch Erbes is undoubtedly the world’s foremost authority on the history of the harps and of harpists. She has travel to many parts of the world gathering pertinent information for her highly informative books, The Harp, Its History, Technique and Repertoire and Harps and Harpists and The Harp, from Tara’s Halls to the American Schools. These are books that harpers and harpists should be familiar with and if they aren’t, should by now know that they do indeed exist and might want to get a copy and increase your harp IQ. Although, I must admit that this was evident since the book signing seemed to be a great success and the Virginia Harp Center had her book, Harps and Harpists readily available for sale.  (Whew! That was a good thing for those of us who wanted to make a quick purchase!)

  Dr. Rensch gave an insightful slide/narrative presentation, The Secret Lives of Harps and Harpists—presented in two parts. Her knowledge of harps in art and culture, far exceeds the imagination of any harpist alive today. In fact, her knowledge and expertise has gained her world recognition, as Dr. Rensch has been commissioned to go to Italy to catalog Salvi’s harp collection.

  I wouldn’t have wanted to miss the opportunity of meeting Dr. Rensch. I have read about her and heard about her. She is a living legend, a person of world renown and a “walking encyclopedia” when it comes to harps and harpists. I am very thankful for the opportunity.

  Now, if you have any questions about harps, harp history, harpists, etc.—don’t ask someone.    As Dr. Rensch might say, “It’s in my book. Read the book, kid.”

—Bambi Fischer

Notes from our outgoing president - Bambi Fischer

Florida Harpers and Friends has selected their new slate of officers. The group looks like a pretty good line up of dedicated workers devoted to the propitiation of the harp in the wild and fast paced world that we live in where the harp can help to bring peace and contentment as well as a common bond of friendship between harpers and those who love the instrument for its beauty, for the eyes as well as the ears.

As your outgoing president of FHF, I must tell you that it has really been a joy serving Florida Harpers and Friends. We have seen many positive changes over the past few years. We have a beautiful web site maintained by Marg Chauvin. Online meetings and email discussions have been developed so that board members may hold "conversations" at convenient times, thanks to secretary Caren Traynor who kept our online conversations, voting, etc. running smoothly and in a timely manner. Thanks to Vicki Mansur, the beautiful Florida Harpers and Friends Tunebook was designed, published and has gained national attention as other groups are purchasing copies for their use. Our yearly workshops have improved each year, thanks to Melody Anglin. She never ceases to amaze me with her new ideas and seemingly endless energy.

Boyd (Dolan), I pass the gavel to you. You will be a great FHF president and you have wonderful people to work with.
To all of you harpers and harp lovers, let this be an irreplaceable opportunity to make new friends and continue to develop valued and lasting friendships.
May each of you live harpilly ever after!

Bambi Fischer

Thoughts from the our new president.

The board members are hard at work trying to make FHF bigger and better. This will only happen if you the member become involved. We need your opinion on all sorts of things. How about some ideas on what would perk up the conference or how about some ideas on other activities during the year.

Would all be in favor of a harp ensemble? Here we are at a conference and we should have a chance to experience playing together. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear 20 to 30 harps sounding together?

Please get in touch with your board members to share your ideas and comments. With everyone's help we can make the coming year better than ever.

I'm concerned that some of our members are making a distinction between "harpers" and "harpists". Such distinction is absolute nonsense. I find that playing any harp is a real challenge. True - there are different kinds of harps - but, I for one, can appreciate a good performance no matter if it has pedals or not. One is not better than the other. Let us please dispense with making a distinction between the two.

Thumbs up! Keep in time. Practice, practice, practice.

Boyd
Bbharperd@aol.com

What harper action proves they have rhythm?
(Answer at the end of the column.)
Those attending the Friday night festivities probably know the answer, the rest of you must read on....

Can harpers dance?

You betcha!
This was proved Friday January 22, 2002 in Daytona Beach Shores at the Holiday Inn! Our dance instructor, Theresa Murphy, convinced 10-20 harpers at a time to join in Irish set dances. Theresa taught us basic dances which later emigrated to the US and became our current Contra dances. Much to her credit, she introduced us to the complex Irish dance foot work and succeeded with most of her students. This is an aerobic dance form and probably the for-runner of the aerobic gym workouts. For those of us who are less fleet of foot, rest assured, in the US Contra dance the footwork has been reduced to a walking step!

Dancing requires us to count the beats in the measure and keep time. This is an interesting concept to those of us playing 'new age' and airs which are basically freeform musical styles. This raises the question of a metronome and whether dancing improves our rhythm and ability to stay on the beat.
(Sneaky of Melody to disguise this theory class!)

As a last thought, why was the harp competition interspersed between dance sets? Was it to allow the competitors or the dancers rest time? Regardless it was fun to exercise a bit and then snack and listen to music. Or maybe it was to work
off the extra calories from the wonderful deserts. Well I'll let you ponder this while I head out for dance class - it is more fun than listening to the metronome and I can have an extra slice of double chocolate layer cake.
Your roving reporter,
Marg Chauvin

(Answer: Dancing)

Being a friend in the Florida Harpers and Friends is certainly a unique experience!

The first obvious advantage is meeting so many wonderful people who are fellow musicians. The harp is a marvelous companion to any friend's instrument, and it is great fun to play together.

Another thing I look forward to are the concerts featuring players of every level from new players, to talented students, to excellent professionals. (Let's hear more from Miss Melody!)

Our conference gives players an excellent chance to perform in a no-pressure situation among friends and gain experience playing before an audience.

The conference is the best place to pick up a new instrument and look for music to play - a chance we don't always have.
Of course, as a friend, I would like to see some more friends involved. Taking nothing away from the primary purpose of providing a venue for the harp, some variety of other instruments might enhance some of our performances.
Thank you to all the harp players for welcoming friends.

Your Friend,
Beth Dolan

And Finally...
Ah . . . Computers, they are so wonderful-that is-when they are working properly.

This newsletter will be a combination Winter/Spring Issue-thanks to our computer and its delightful ability to turn our lives topsy-turvy. Just when the FHF Newsletter was about ready to go into "publication" - something very strange happened to our computer. It went into a "safe mode" and never recovered from its "safety". Yes, our lives went on, but everything was lost during the computer repair-that is, programs, downloads, etc. Oh, it's okay. I just figure maybe it was God's way of getting me to clean the computer up and possibly come up with a better format for the FHF Newsletter. So, here we are and here we go. On to the final phase. Hopefully, this newsletter will not get "eaten" by the computer or lost in "cyberspace!"
Enjoy!
Bambi Fischer
Your FHF Newsletter Editor

Be certain to join us at the 2003 Workshop in Daytona Beach Shores
January 9-12, 2003