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SYNOPSIS: This is the story of the Joy of Harps class that I helped create for the Braille Institute in Santa Barbara with the invaluable assistance of local American Harp Society members. The class became very popular and some wonderful things evolved from it, both for the students and the harp teachers. It's a story that I hope will inspire other harpers/harpists to create similar programs in their communities.
(Note: The following article is in the Fall 2006 issue of the Folk Harp Journal.) Once upon a time--OK, it was really just over three years ago--I was dreamily plucking the strings of my Celtic harp and thinking about Turlough O’Carolan, the beloved blind Irish harper who composed so many of my favorite harp tunes. One of them is “Blind Mary,” which he wrote about another blind harper.
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The Road Traveled to No-C-Notes Students in the dorm with lap harps at the National Resource Center for Blind Musicians (This article originally appeared in Issue #17/Fall 2005 of HarpLight, The Journal for Small Harps.) Diabetes had taken the sight of a 30-year-old budding musician. He wanted to continue with his piano and guitar lessons without having to learn Braille music notation. The musician, Dennis, contacted his local college music department, seeking a student who could help read music to him in an audio format like audio books. This was in 1987 and I was a nontraditional music student at that college, taking music courses and theory while battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The music department director figured it was a match made in heaven to have two people with "challenges" get together and find a new paradigm, so I was volunteered. This began my life long road of providing No-C-Notes audio music reading, leading to Harp-Abilities and becoming a teacher for college-bound blind musicians at a summer institute in Philadelphia. |
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