Stephanie Claussen: 2018 US National Scottish Harp Champion
This weekend I traveled to Edinboro, Pennsylvania to compete in the Edinboro Scottish Harp Competition and US National Scottish Harp Championship. My dear friend Emily put me up in her …
A Performance Observed: Fear and Elation
March 25th, 2017
Yesterday I joined a visiting wind ensemble for a concert of Navarro’s “Clarinet Concerto N. 1” and David Maslanka’ “A Child’s Garden of Dreams.” I had played the …
4 Things That Strike Terror Into the Heart of Every Harpist
(Being by no means a complete list of existing harpist problems)
1. The malfunctioning handicap entrance button
It lures one into a false sense of security, promising not only to open the …
Moss, Wood, and Thicket: a description
All throughout high school, as I was waiting for the morning school bus, I would look east as the sun rose above the trees and sharp hills of the local …
Outdoor Wedding Harp Essentials
If you’re reading this, you are probably considering having harp music for your outdoor wedding ceremony. Wonderful! It might be absolutely perfect. But as we all know with outdoor weddings …
Attend Concerts, Earn Free Lessons
Introducing the “Attend Concerts, Earn Free Lessons” program!
Effective May 16th, 2017
As my students have certainly heard me say, attending harp concerts and events is an important part of developing …
On Thumbs and Appreciating 20th Century Music
You don’t appreciate your thumbs until you lose one for awhile.
Isn’t it always like that in life? You’ve got a good thing going – full use of all ten fingers …
Well that was interesting| 2016
2016 brought many opportunities for me.
Challenges and fears accompanied every one of them.
Of course there are always challenges that show up unaccompanied (by opportunity or anything else) as well. Whether …
A peripatetic part-time orchestra harpist
Why peripatetic?
Well because it’s a great word that for me it will forever summon to mind Elizabeth Peters’ thrilling novel set in 1890’s Egypt, “The Crocodile on the Sandbank,” in …