Harp arrangements for old time fiddle tunes?

[talfryn]

Hello
I am looking for suggestion for harp arrangements for American Old time fiddle tunes..
I normally participate on this forum on the harps and accessories area, because I enjoy building harps as well as playing. I have been playing harp for almost 20 years now. I play all sorts, but mostly French, Welsh and Irish folk dance music, mainly because together with my family and friends we dance and play at Balfolk and Ceilis. Playing celtic dance music is great but every now and then boredom sets in, especially with dance tunes. When that happens I take a break and learn something new for a while, this has lead me to Early/Medieval, Tyrolean harp music etc.. in the past.
I am at such a point at the moment, so have started a small diversion, playing some American old time fiddle tunes, I lived in the US a few years back and got involved in the Contra scene in Pennsylvania. I know this is very close to celtic music but there is enough change of flavour to make it interesting.
Theres plenty of Old time fiddle music available out there, but does anyone know of any harp arrangements available. The problem I am having is to make these tunes sound American. My celtic instincts are strong and I end up using standard celtic réel and jig left hands. It would be good to be able to find some good harp arrangements to introduce new habits. As this forum has a lot of American participants I thought I would ask here. Any advice and recommendations would be most welcome..

[balfour-knight]

Hi Talfryn,

I am a native western North Carolinian, in the Appalachian mountains. Around here, we are raised on old-time country and blue-grass music, especially fiddle and banjo tunes. Those of us who can play by ear just listen to it and work on it until we can play it, in my experience. If I discover where anyone has actually written it down for harp, I will certainly let you know.

Best wishes,
Balfour

[Molly]

I recently heard a beautiful harp arrangement of “Aunt Viola’s Waltz” on YouTube posted by JR Munger, but have yet to find any sheet music and they turned the comments off so unfortunately I have no way of asking. 🙁 As Balfour suggested, maybe you could find a way to learn by ear?

[talfryn]

Thanks for the advice Balfour and Mocam1993. I have been working on a couple of tunes by ear for a few weeks now and am slowly developing a sound which is a bit more North American than celtic. Playing along to a couple of reels from the Aly Bain’s, Jerry Douglas et al “Transatlantic sessions” at low speed on the iPad has helped. It seems to be coming down to which beats to stress on the left hand..and concentrating on developing new habits. It’s a slow process but the tunes are so good it’s enjoyable.
I find that using some arrangements from others speeds up the process. I had that experience a few years back playing around with Tyrollean Polkas and Boarischers. There’s plenty of this harp played on youtube, but this only got me started, it went faster when I got some harp arrangements from a society in Austria…
Anyway I am enjoying the change of scenery with some new tunes, but any ideas on arrangements would be interesting..
Thanks again
Talfryn

[Gretchen Cover]

Go to http://www.harpcolumnmusic.com. You can download Bluegrass Country Medley by Louise Trotter. https://harpcolumn.com/music/all-music/artists/louise-trotter/bluegrass-country-medley/

[talfryn]

Many thanks Gretchen, just downloaded it, exactly what I’ve been looking for…i know what I am going to be working on this weekend 🙂
Talfryn

[balfour-knight]

Way to go, Gretchen! We loved Louise Trotter, and I am so glad to now know that some of her arrangements are available, written down! I loved to listen to her play by ear. That is a great memorial to her, to have the notated music.

Best regards,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[Nina Munger]

Hi Molly. This is Nina Munger- harpist on YouTube channel JR Munger. I’m sorry I just found your post about Aunt Viola’s Waltz. Would you please contact me through my website http://www.jacksonholeharp.com and we can chat about sheetmusic?
Sincerely,
Nina

[Molly]

Oh Nina, hello!! Thank you so much for finding my comment. I will reach out shortly 🙂

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