featured in this issue
As Lyon & Healy celebrates its sesquicentennial, president Antonio Forero reflects on the company’s rich history.
The unplayable harp part. We’ve all faced it—a flurry of notes, some of which may not even exist on the instrument. Rarely do we have the luxury of simply refusing the part. We have to make it work. We have to find a way. So we’ve put together a primer to help you gather the […]
—by Kirsten Carrell Osborne Throughout my childhood, my mom often used the phrase “work smart, not hard.” But it wasn’t until I became a professional musician that I truly understood the value of those words. The concept is simple: find the most efficient way to complete tasks and maximize the value of your time. Don’t waste […]
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departments
Musicians spend a lot of time thinking about time. We’re not just beholden to the time kept by the clock and scheduled in our day planners, but also the time marked by the click, click, click of the metronome. We make sense of music by breaking it down into evenly divided segments of time. Tempo […]
—by Natalie Salzman Plan B for your career might just hold the fairytale ending. ouble-park on 141st, run inside to wheel my harp out, hope the local street gang will take pity on me and help me with the stairs, and pray to God it’s not raining. This was my weekly, sometimes daily, routine this […]
—by Mike Lewis The last pedal rod guide you will ever need. (Note: To see Mike’s hands-on how-to video, scroll to the end of the article.) magine you are driving home from a gig down an old country road and your car and cell phone mysteriously die. A bright light envelops you, and, before you know […]
Reviews and more
Sivan Magen, harp; Linn Records, 2014. 4.75 harps (Note: recording reviews prior to 2014 were based on a 5-star system.) As I write this, celebrations are underway for the 300th birthday of the most famous son of the Bach dynasty, Carl Philip Emmanuel. He is a composer whose quirky inventiveness and heart-on-the-sleeve emotion garnered him […]
Pavelid Castaneda, harp; self-released, 2013 4.5 harps (Note: recording reviews prior to 2014 were based on a 5-star system.) It’s hard to remain seated or stay still listening to the groove of the bright green electric harp played by Pavelid Castaneda on his new disc Fiesta en Naranjal. The album is one long party that […]
—by Jan Jennings Loucks, Rensch, and Trotter offer new collections. RoJean Loucks’ background as a therapeutic musician is evident in her new assortment of original harp music, Gratitude. There are 12 lovely pieces in this comb-bound book published by Roharps Publications. The music is completely diatonic and can be played on pedal harp or lever […]
Lyon & Healy found a recipe for success early on, and 150 years later, they are still building harps from the ground up in Chicago. hen you pull up to the corner of Lake and Ogden in the old meat-packing district of Chicago, looking for a renowned harp factory, you might think you’ve taken a […]
Q: How do you handle an inebriated guest when playing at a gig? laying as many events as I do, I certainly see my share of strange and bizarre behavior at social and corporate functions. People love the harp, because it is upscale and refined, but the guests are not always elegant or refined, especially after a […]