for legal reasons

Complicated and very tedious story in a nutshell.

My Duo Mandala CD was originally released on Black Box records who were subsequently bought by Sanctuary group who were subsequently bought by Universal Music Group.

So who owns the rights to our CD?

Not had a royalty statement or payment for years and despite trying to chase up who owns the rights for at least 4 years, phone calls and emails have never been returned and just could never find out who to speak to sort this out and kept hitting a brick wall each time when trying to find out.

I've been in touch with other Black Box artists, and they have no idea either.

So last year, Ali and I decided that we were going to re-release our Tapestry CD ourselves so that it could at least be available on the UK iTunes and we could sell them after gigs.

After Ali died last October, I contacted all the composers on the CD and got permission from them that they would be ok with all sales and royalties from the CD going to Ali's memorial fund. All agreed.

What a surprise then to find that it's suddenly available on UK iTunes in December 2010 listed as being released by ASV!!! Up until then it had only been available in the US iTunes.

So if anyone from ASV reads this, could you get in touch with me to explain what is going on? I sent emails to you in 2009 which I never got a reply to.

I've put one of the tracks from the CD on YouTube, with the request that if the viewer enjoys it to donate to Ali's memorial fund.

Got a problem with that? Then sue me....

It's me and Ali playing, Black Box didn't pay for the recording of the CD and I have permission from the composers so as far as I'm concerned I'm not infringing copyright.

Hopefully this legal saga can now be finally put to bed.

It's a lovely track on the video and hopefully it will encourage people to donate to Ali's memorial fund which will help support future young musicians.

Andreas Niebisch

Just heard the very sad news that the harp maker Andreas Niebisch died suddenly last week.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Here's a short documentary of Sioned Williams playing some celtic music on one of Neibisch and Tree's small harps and shows Andreas building one.

3 things you didn't know...

you needed - but wouldn't they be useful ?

I already (sadly) use not 1 but 2 heavy duty covers on my Salvi Iris as well as the column and base covers and of course the dust cover. My Iris is the fattest most overdressed harp in town. But maybe I should use these too..... belt and braces?

How great is this? Only the other day I was trying to sort out a harp for a student who had this problem and I could have done with this

Now this is a known unknown that I know I had no idea even existed, and I find ever so slightly scary.

mm - now I'm going to own up to having just bought the abrasive cord, but I think I'll pass on the stickers to decorate my harps...

The Uncommon Harp

It was great to see so many harpists at the premier of Graham Fitkin's Concerto for midi harp this week.

I finally got to meet Graham's partner Ruth Wall, who has a really lovely solo harp CD that she released in 2004. All the music is performed on a 33 string lever harp built by Mark Norris and it is a CD of new accessible tonal music.

My personal favourites are the Farewell to Stromness by Peter Maxwell Davies, Opening by Philip Glass, and The Peninsula Run by Ruth Wall.

Two Movements for Small Harp by Laurence Crane is a bit too minimal for my liking, the 2nd movement especially so, but it does open up a good debate which I think is a problem that besets most harp music.

Because of the natural decay in sound when you pluck a harp string, I think there is a tendency to want to "fill up" the gaps left in what would be sustained notes if played on any other instrument. When in fact it is good to hear the gaps/silences between the plucked notes. Personally I feel there are perhaps too many "gaps" for me in this piece but maybe I'll grow to like this piece more?

All in all a very enjoyable and inspiring CD!

So much so I've just bought the sheet music for the Maxwell Davies and I might even have a go and try it out on my lever harp instead of my concert harp...

No Doubt

I went to see SIoned Williams perform the new concerto by Graham Fitkin for midi harp and orchestra with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at their Maida Vale studios in London yesterday.

Called "No Doubt", Graham used sample voices from public speeches, mostly US politicians during the Iraq war and after about 5 minutes into the piece, the harp strings stopped being used as an "electric harp" and the strings then started triggering sample voice sounds. The harp could then "speak" words. Fascinating stuff!

It was a ground breaking concert which was well supported by lots of harpists coming to see this new instrument in action in a concerto for the first time. The technical aspect of this new harp is that of course not only does each string act as a "trigger" to start a sampled sound but that trigger lasts for as long as the string vibrates. SO for some trigger sounds you would need to damp the string very precisely. All in all, thinking about the possibilities on this instrument certainly makes my head hurt!

Fantastic playing from Sioned and now that she has "laid down the gauntlet" hopefully there will be more good music to come on this new and exciting instrument.

The performance is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and is well worth listening to. Also very much worth a listen is the In Tune programme that Sioned played on prior to the concert where she and Dominic Murcott (who operated the programming and technical interface side of the midi harp as Sioned played) explain more about the project and how the instrument works.

BBC blog with links to all the programmes here

Seasons Greetings..

And a very happy new year!

I'm all carol-ed out and it's now it's time to waltz into the new year, and an interesting one it will be with the economic climate being what it is, and seeing how that pans out for all those who work in the Arts.

Being a freelance musician for nearly 20 years, I'm well used to diversifying and being creative is the key (I think) to getting through this difficult time.

So my latest project for the new year is harp lessons over the internet via Skype.

I've got a new website www.iHarp.info with lots of information on there, I've also filmed a few videos for it and I'll be adding lots more to it in due course.

Here's to good health and happiness in the year ahead. x

Midi harp concerto

If you are in London on the 26th January 2011, then you should definitely go to see an exciting concert featuring the first public performance of the first concerto for midi harp performed (and commissioned) by Sioned Williams with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Composed by Graham Fitkin it will certainly be a really fascinating concert.

And the concert is free, but you need to book tickets ASAP via the BBC.

Details on how to book tickets below.

It is also being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 1st February.

A real shame it's only on radio and not being filmed for future broadcast on TV, as it's a concert with some significant firsts on this new instrument by Camac.

Lucinda Belle Orchestra

I heard an interview with Lucinda Belle earlier this year on Radio 4 and just found some great videos of her on the web.

She's got a deal with Island Records and an album out.

I'm going to download it from iTunes now.

Go Girl!



Better still - good to see a harp at Ronnie Scott's

Tuning A=440, 441 or 442?

What pitch to tune my harp to has been a particularly nerdy issue I have struggled with most of my orchestral life. I tune to A=442 as tuning to anything less than that makes the harp sound flat in an orchestra.

I use to worry about what long term effect on the harp tuning so sharp would have, so I would tune to A=441. Until I had a chat some years ago to Billy (the main Salvi/L&H technician in the UK) and he told me he regulates all the harps to A=442 as that is what they are built to be regulated at. He also regulates harps across Europe and South Africa. So any worry I had about the harps being regularly tuned sharper than they are built for was ungrounded as they are already built to be tuned higher then 440. German Horngachers, I believe, are built for A=444.

I wondered whether harps were being regulated to the same A=442 in the US and I found an interesting discussion on a US harp forum about it some years ago, so I'm glad it's not just me that has deep (quite sad) thoughts about the subject! Quite a few of US harpists on that thread seem to find issue with tuning so sharp.

I also found an even more interesting discussion on a US violin forum which gave lots of detailed insight into it from a string players point of view, and it makes a fascinating read.

So, when I was at Kneller Hall recently (which is the home of the Royal Military School of Music which trains musicians for the all of the bands in the British Army) I couldn't believe what I saw in their museum cabinet!!!

And there I was thinking tuning A=442 was potentially a tad sharp. Check out the pitch that the British Army bands used to be at! Information about it in picture below.

It makes tuning my harp at A=442 seem quite insignificant.

And yes, that is A=452!


click on the photo to see a larger view.

Ros Savage

There is a lovely review online of the concert by Keziah Thomas at the Carnegie Hall. Also very nice comments in the review about the solo harp piece she commissioned from Andy Scott, Crossing Waves.

Crossing Waves was inspired by Ros Savage who rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean and happened to be in New York at the time of Keziah's concert so she went along to the concert and spoke to the audience.

I heard Ros Savage speak after a dinner last year in Liverpool and she is a very inspirational woman.