clockwise from left to right - me, Tess Nurman, Nicole Mueller, Deborah Henson-Conant, Jana Kozlowski
Today is about the internet, and particularly social media, and I mean in a good way.
Being a harpist can be quite lonely sometimes.
If you play in an orchestra, you might be surrounded by other musicians but you’re often the only person in your section and you arrive before everyone, leave after everyone (unless it’s Symphonie Fantastique and then the percussion section will still be there for hours after you) and you have to tune in your breaks so you miss getting to know people over coffee. You also have to drive home afterwards, meaning you miss out on any bonding drinks or after-parties that may happen.
If you go to music college, you might meet a handful of other harpists, and if you’re lucky you might hit it off with one or two of them who will become some of your closest friends. You might get to know a couple of other harpists within your local area but if you’re in the sticks it might be 50-100 miles to drive to borrow a string if you need one.
And then… (breathing a sigh of relief)... came the internet, and in particular Instagram, which has helped me find my own place in the harp community.
Thanks to the internet, I was able to learn more about the pioneering harpist DHC and the life-changing mentorship programme she offered. I had seen something about this a few years previously, but at the time I couldn’t afford to spend a few months in Boston studying with her in person.
Now, though, it was possible to study with her online. This opportunity was truly a game changer for me - within a couple of weeks I had a small network of fellow harpists from all over the world all going through the same programme, and then we met in person in Cardiff on a retreat which was where the above picture was taken. There are five nationalities represented in this photo.
Before DHC, there was Twitter where I ‘met’ Brandee Younger, the harpist who plays on this video. She’s a pioneering jazz harpist, and I started to think about all the different things you could do with/on a harp. She lives in New York, which I never really gave much thought to until my doctor said he was getting married and asked if I knew any harpists in New York…. Yes I sure did! Brandee was free and so the deal was sealed. A few months later Brandee’s partner Dezron happened to be playing a jazz gig at the RCS in Glasgow and so I got to meet him.
I think it was a couple of years ago when Brandee posted this video, and it’s just beautiful. The song itself is so simple and so effective, the vocal is gorgeous as is the harp, and overall the song is wonderful. It’s also another ear worm!
There are a few others that were recorded at the same time that Brandee plays on, also on YouTube: Snowman, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and Silent Night
I got to meet another couple of Twitter pals - Scottish trad harper Rachel Hair who now lives just one street away from me, and Shana Norton who lives in Austin, Texas and who I instantly recognised when I was queuing for something at the Edinburgh Harp Festival a few years back. Her first question after we gave each other a huge hug was, “How are your hounds?” and so of course I loved her instantly! Anyone whose Twitter bio includes the word “pirate” is surely someone to hold dear.
Since then, mostly on Instagram I’ve found a place to share the occasional video of something I’m working on, the bizarre things that can happen on gigs that no-one else really understands, the ups, the downs, the excitement of getting a new harp, and generally just a feeling of belonging that I would never have found in real life - our instrument is just not that common and having people who really get it, well that’s a real comfort.
I also find that seeing so many people doing such incredible things with their harp gives me a lot of ideas for my own work.
Back in April this year, four of us got together and launched a month-long Instagram challenge just for harpists. #Harpril may not have had the coolest title, but the general idea was embraced by many harpists all around the world. Before long we were getting more than 100 posts per day on the hashtag, and it had such an impact that the American magazine Harp Column picked up on it. This article was the result:
Clockwise from the top left - Zuzanna Olbryś, me, Nana Welsh, Eve Brzozowska
Something a lot of people might not know further afield is that our friend Eve (in the photo with the parrot) died earlier this year.
As my friend Claire said while she officiated at my wedding ceremony a few weeks ago, “there are times when you miss those people that extra bit more” and Christmas and weddings are definitely among those times.
Eve was already very ill by the time Harpril came, and she was going through some horrendous treatment for the breast cancer that was gradually spreading.
But she loved scrolling through the Instagram posts when she was awake through the night - the global nature of it meant that the hashtag was constantly updating - and I loved going online each morning to see the comments she’d left on people’s posts overnight when she was able to do so. I’d also send her pictures of cute but obscure animals via Facebook messenger, and among the times when I miss her most are when there’s a photo of an angry-looking owl on the internet and I can no longer send it to her. Now I tell her about it in my head and I hope she sees it somehow.
Harpril rather took over that month, but it was great to ‘meet’ so many more harpists, some of whom are doing some incredibly cool and unusual things. A lot of people talked about the financial struggle of being a musician with a ridiculously expensive instrument, about education, and about bananas among many other things.
It would be very easy to fall into a comparison trap being regularly confronted with so many amazing harpists and all their latest incredible projects, but as another wise Glasgow-resident harpist pal who I first met via social media says, if you’re doing something completely different it’s much harder to compare yourself against other people.
So today is a celebration of the best of social media. Here a few of my favourite photos of social media-inspired real life gatherings.
Above: Harpist Eleanor Turner (centre) came to Glasgow to perform with her folk band Ranagri, so we took the opportunity for a harpists’ gathering! Look at those “wow there are others like me” smiles!
Left to right - Nana Welsh, Eve Brzozowska, Ellie, me, Rachel Hair
Above: Harpist Olivia Jageurs was touring with The War of the Worlds and she was also training for a marathon at the time, so when she came to Glasgow, we met up and did the 3k on the Green race together one Friday lunchtime in November last year - definitely one of my more unusual and therefore one of my favourite social media/real life harp meetings! Some of the best meetings involve no harps at all….
The weather was typically Glasgwegian and we got SOAKED!
Above: Another photo with Eve and Ellie - I’d met Ellie for the first time the day before when she came to the Edinburgh Harp Festival and I booked a lesson with her.
In proper social media/real life meeting style, we spent the first few minutes of the lesson squealing at each other while giving each other a big hug.
Ellie had some very important advice for me as I was still finding my way as a harpist - “You need to find your tribe”
It took a while, but social media has played a huge role in that and I feel like I have that tribe now - that important group of people who I can ask for practical/emotional support, but also people that I give my support to equally. Ellie remains one of my biggest harp inspirations, and she was for Eve too.
Above: Keziah Thomas was playing an Advent concert in Crystal Palace a couple of years ago, and I couldn’t believe it when it coincided with the weekend I was in London visiting friends and family. I had to go and it was wonderful!!
I’d known Keziah for YEARS via Facebook and then Instagram and via one of my harp teachers and it was so, so, SO good to finally meet her in the flesh.
A recital she did way back in 2011 was the re-starting point for me with the harp - the point I realised there was more for me to do with it and I must keep trying to find my own way - and she remains one of my biggest harp idols.