Category: Easy songs

Ep. 282 – How to play “Le Roi a Fait Battre Tambour”

In this episode I take a look at an old popular French song called Le Roi a Fait Battre Tambour. Louise Charpentier did an arrangement of it and Henriette Renie includes a version of that arrangement in her Method for Harp (this is the version I’m using).

You can find Charpentier’s original arrangement in her book “10 Pieces variees”

Some background on the song itself.

Get free sheet music and stay up-to-date on what I’m doing by signing up to my email newsletter!

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 279 – How to play “The Jolly Peasant” from the First Harp Book

In this episode I take a look at the Jolly Peasant from Betty Paret’s First Harp Book and talk about why the rhythm of the piece and coordinating both hands is so tricky!

A patron mentioned that in fact the dance is probably a “Furiant” and that the first 2 bars should likely be 3 bars of 2/4, in which case the LH rhythm for those two bars is the odd one out. Still hard to play it (as written), regardless of emphasis, since either the right or left hand will feel a bit weird!

Get free sheet music and stay up-to-date on what I’m doing by signing up to my email newsletter!

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 267 – How to play “Swinging” from the 1st Harp Book

In this episode I take a quick look at “Swinging” from page 5 of Betty Paret’s First Harp Book. It features right hand glisses – check out episode 18 for more on glisses: https://www.harptuesday.com/harp-tuesday-ep-18/

Get free sheet music and stay up-to-date on what I’m doing by signing up to my email newsletter!

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 259 – How to play “Rondo” from The First Harp Book

Here’s a look at how to play the Rondo from Betty Paret’s First Harp Book. (I have wonderful memories of learning this piece 30+ years ago). It’s great practice for being able to smoothly turn around a 1,2,3,2,1 pattern.
I’ve done several other episodes over the years featuring piece’s from the First Harp Book: https://www.harptuesday.com/category/first-harp-book-by-betty-paret/
If you’re working on music from the First Harp Book, Stephanie Claussen has recorded almost all the pieces from it – an invaluable resource to be able to hear a piece you’re working on: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4JwuCn3bqMlPRnaUa8TqTYS_pypMAy3U

Get free sheet music and stay up-to-date on what I’m doing by signing up to my email newsletter!

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

 

Ep. 250 – How to play Carol of the Bells (easy arrangement)

In this episode I teach an easy arrangement I did of Carol of the Bells, suitable for small (fully-levered) harps.

Sign up to my email newsletter to get a free copy of this arrangement plus other free sheet music!

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 223 – how to play Aurum Aqua

A look at how to play Aurum Aqua, a short piece featuring downwards arpeggios in the style of Hasselman’s La Source or Pratt’s The Little Fountain.

Susan Dahl Graham, the composer, has made the sheet music available for free! Download it here.

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible: https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Get free sheet music and stay up-to-date on what I’m doing by signing up to my email newsletter.

And make sure to watch the Harpist in the Wild episode featuring Aurum Aqua:

 

Ep. 213 – Easy harp music – how to play “Night Song”.

In this episode of Harp Tuesday I take a look at a short piece from Betty Paret’s “First Harp Book”. “Night Song” is a beautiful piece, and great practice for right hand chords (3rds and 6ths).

I could resist a beautiful June day, and took Harp Tuesday outside! This also ties in with my new series, Harpist in the Wild. Episode 2 (A Baroque Feast) is about to wrap up, with the season finale on June 5. More at https://www.harpistinthewild.com/

Paret’s “First Harp Book” is an excellent book with some nice music and great fingerings. You should be able to find it at your favorite local music store, or online for example at https://www.harpcenter.com/product/paret-first-harp-book/harp-music-books-betty-paret

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible: https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 184 – Learning “Down by the Salley Gardens” by ear

I thought I’d do something a little different today and try and teach (and learn myself!) a tune by ear. A beautiful Irish tune known by a number of different names – Down by the Salley Gardens (or Sally Gardens), Maids of Mourne Shore, The Foggy Dew, etc.

While it kind of defeats the purpose (of learning it by ear) if you’d like a free copy of the music with my fingerings, sign up for my newsletter

(Existing subscribers, email me and I’ll send you a copy!)

Ep. 181 – An easy Bach “Chorale” – phrasing and dynamics

An easy Bach “Chorale” gives me an opportunity to talk about phrasing and dynamics!

If you’d like the sheet music for this easy harp arrangement of “Erkenne mich, mein Hüter” from Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, just sign up for my email newsletter and I’ll send you a copy 🙂

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://archive.org/details/petiteberceusepo00hass/page/2/mode/2up

Harpist in a Tree, episode 2, features me playing “Petite Berceuse” in a tree 🙂 Watch it at https://youtu.be/2hezgZDifyk

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 póden 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.