{"id":3574,"date":"2014-10-16T14:13:35","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T18:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harpcolumnmusic.com\/?p=3574"},"modified":"2016-09-21T05:38:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T09:38:35","slug":"arranger-profil-meet-alyssa-reit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/arranger-profil-meet-alyssa-reit\/","title":{"rendered":"Arranger Profile: Meet Alyssa Reit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet harpist\/composer\/arranger Alyssa Reit!\u00a0With over 20 arrangements (most of them collections) available to download from\u00a0Harp Column Music, she is one of our\u00a0most prolific arrangers.\u00a0We asked her\u00a0to tell us about the inspiration behind her works\u00a0for harp and chamber ensembles.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n\n

Who do you have in mind when you create a new arrangement?<\/h4>\n

There is almost always someone! Frequently I make arrangements\u00a0for\u00a0the students at the EMS Festival where I teach or\u00a0some other harp ensemble event.\u00a0Often settings are inspired as something\u00a0to share with my horn-player husband, Peter, or\u00a0to play with a friend\/colleague on an upcoming concert. And often I’ll do\u00a0one to fill the need (or delight!) of a particular student.<\/p>\n

Where do you find inspiration for the tunes you choose?<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Scandinavian Folk Tunes is a medley of songs for harp and horn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes it’s situational, such as the\u00a0Scandinavian Folk Songs<\/a><\/em>, which I\u00a0chose as companion pieces to the theatrical setting of\u00a0The Ugly Duckling<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(both for harp and horn). Sometimes pieces call to me from somewhere in my past experience, such as the “Scots Tune,” which I learned for a tour with Anonymous 4, or the beautiful “German Lullaby” my mother sang to me as a child (both in\u00a0Lovely Levers Vol. 1<\/a><\/em>).\u00a0 Some are from recordings I love, such as “Las Tres Damas.”<\/p>\n

What type of harp do you play and teach?<\/h4>\n

I teach and play both pedal harp and lever harp.\u00a0Most of my career has\u00a0been on pedal harp,\u00a0but in the last ten years or so I have really come to appreciate the lever\u00a0harp as a fine\u00a0instrument in its own right. I’ve had a\u00a0number of students, who for\u00a0various reasons kept\u00a0to lever harp, so I have actively sought to expand that repertoire.<\/p>\n

What do you do when you’re not arranging?<\/h4>\n

I spend a lot of my musical time composing\u2014usually for instruments besides\u00a0harp. I also give a\u00a0lot of my creative time to adapting classic stories for theater.\u00a0As far\u00a0as hobbies go, I love\u00a0birdwatching (always a treasure hunt!) and I’m in the very early stages of\u00a0training for a\u00a0cross country bike ride. And one of my most favorite things to do is to\u00a0bake bread with my\u00a0adorable grand daughter.<\/p>\n

Anything new you’re working on that we should be on the lookout for?<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>
“Sally Gardens” for harp trio can be found in Alyssa’s “Music of the British Isles, Vol. 1” collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m in the process of performing and refining a setting of\u00a0The Emperor’s\u00a0New Clothes<\/em>\u00a0for harp & trombone that I received a generous grant from the AHS to\u00a0create. After our\u00a0initial trial performance period, it will be\u00a0available on loan gratis to\u00a0AHS chapters\u00a0for two years.\u00a0I’m also in the process of completing Volume 2\u00a0of\u00a0Music from the British Isles<\/a><\/em>, a collection of classic ensembles for beginners, and publishing an original setting of
\nThe Frog Prince<\/em>\u00a0for harp and storyteller.<\/p>\n

Anything else you want people to know about your arrangements?<\/h4>\n

I feel so lucky to have been exposed to so much great music of so many\u00a0genres. It\u00a0is a real joy to have so much wonderful material to play with, and I am\u00a0deeply\u00a0grateful to all those who put pen to paper, taking their\u00a0time and effort\u00a0to pass on\u00a0their creative gifts.<\/p>\n

Read more about Alyssa<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet harpist\/composer\/arranger Alyssa Reit!\u00a0With over 20 arrangements (most of them collections) available to download from\u00a0Harp Column Music, she is one of our\u00a0most prolific arrangers.\u00a0We asked her\u00a0to tell us about the inspiration behind her works\u00a0for harp and chamber ensembles.\u00a0 Who do you have in mind when you create a new arrangement? There is almost always someone!…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harpcolumn.com\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}