30 years ago, on Oct. 9th, 1990 I started learning “Good Morning, Little Yellow Bird”. This is the earliest piece of music I have on which my teacher (Kathryn Ely) wrote the date we started. 30 years later I thought it would be fitting to do a Harp Tuesday episode on it – hope you enjoy!
Category: Easy songs
Ep. 168 – How to play Rousseau’s Minuet in G minor
In this episode I take a look at a piece from Mildred Dilling’s collection “Thirty Little Classics for the Harp”. It’s a Minuet in G minor by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (yes, the philosopher). A beautiful, elegant tune that’s easy to play.
Ep. 165 – How to play “Petite Berceuse” by Hasselmans
A look at Alphonse Hasselman’s lovely “Petite Berceuse“. In the key of C and playable on a 25 string harp, the sheet music is in the public domain and can be found at archive.org – https://bit.ly/2Jo2aY9
Harpist in a Tree, episode 2, features me playing “Petite Berceuse” in a tree 🙂 Watch it at https://youtu.be/2hezgZDifyk
Ep. 156 – Musing on fingerings
A bit of a ramble about fingerings! When can we and can we not trust our hands to tell us when a fingering is bad or good?
As promised, here’s the link to Hasselman’s “Petite Berceuse“ at the harp archives.
Ep. 146 – Learn “Oh Come Emmanuel” on the harp
In this episode I show how to learn an easy version of Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel / Veni, Veni Emmanuel. Find the free sheet music at http://www.joshlayne.com/emmanuel
Ep. 145 – Learn “Deck the Halls” on the harp
In this episode I talk about how to learn an easy arrangement I did of “Deck the Halls” (AKA Deck the Hall or Nos Galan).
Find the free sheet music at http://www.joshlayne.com/deckthehalls
Ep 133 How to play Barbara Allen on the harp (patterns and shapes!)
Ep. 123 Looking at the Butterfly jig
In this episode of Harp Tuesday I use the Irish slip jig The Butterfly as a starting point to talk about fingering and technique. Music for the Butterfly and 1000s of other traditional tunes can be found at https://thesession.org/tunes
Sign up to my email newsletter to get a free PDF copy with my suggested fingerings!
Ep. 120 “Alfonso el Sabio” from Kim Robertson’s “Celtic Harp Solos”
In this first episode I take a look at a beautiful piece called Alfonso XII el Sabio (13th century Spain) from Kim Robertson’s sheet music book “Celtic Harp Solos . (I wonder if in fact it’s music associated with Alfonso X el Sabio).
EDIT – Thanks to Therese Honey in the YouTube comments – it is indeed from Alfonso X “Cantigas de Santa Maria” This is number 166 “Como pĂłden per sas culpas”. Check out this site which has sheet music for the entire set of songs: http://www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/166#music/r
With a rather hypnotic tune and great rhythms this is a very fun piece to play!
(Celtic Harp Solos is an excellent book. Your favourite harp music retailer will probably have a copy (or could obtain one for you). It also appears to be available as a PDF download. For example:
https://gourd.com/robertsonbooks.html
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/kim-robertson-celtic-harp-solos-digital-sheet-music/19899385
And check out Kim Robertson’s website.
Ep. 92 Learning “En Roulant” on the lever harp
I talk about learning En Roulant from Betty Paret’s First Harp Book.
Among other things I discuss counting/clapping a 6/8 rhythm and looking for patterns when learning a new piece!
Ep. 87-89 Ribambelle #1, 2, and 8 by Bernard Andrès
Harpist and composer Bernard Andrès has written a lot of music for harp, here in these episodes I look at three pieces from his book Ribambelle – a set of 10 short works for lever or pedal harp
Ep. 72 Mozart’s Sonata No. 11 on the Harp
A look at my arrangement of Mozart’s Sonata No. 11.
Click one of the links below to download the free PDF!
In A Major (original key)
In C Major
In F Major
Public domain editions of the original and complete Mozart sonata can be found at Mutopia and IMSLP – you might enjoy exploring the rest of the Sonata!
Ep. 66 Two Bagpipe Tunes on the harp
In this episode of Harp Tuesday I take a quick look at “Two Bagpipe Tunes” from Mildred Dilling’s “Old Tunes for New Harpists”.
Ep. 29: Learning “Old English Country Dance”
In this episode of Harp Tuesday I demonstrate learning the Old English Country Dance from Mildred Dilling’s “Old Tunes for New Harpists“.
Ep. 22 Learning O’Carolan’s Air
In this episode of Harp Tuesday I talk about learning “O’Carolan’s Air” from Betty Paret’s First Harp Book.