Harp Class with Louise Trotter

Saturday was a 6-hour master class with Louise Trotter. I thought by this time I would be ready for playing the harp with a class. I didn't know what I was up against. When Louise started talking about chord progressions, minors, majors, tonal scales, and diminished intervals and augmented chords I started feeling like I was drowning. The really fun part was when we were picking out Happy Birthday on the harp. She counted a slow pace and we were to play. I could do that. Then came Heart and Soul. I have never played that on the piano, little on the harp. I do believe I was the only one! She didn't have us play at full speed but goodness, I couldn't keep up! Guess this shows me one thing, back to music theory for me. And more music. I should have more at my fingertips than Danny Boy.

The class was actually very good. I truly enjoyed it, hopefully will retain a lot of what I heard. The information about improvising, working from a lead sheet, and how to play slap bass was great. I hope to be able to incorporate that into my own playing.

Harp Maker's joke: "We can't get any more power out of her! The harp canna take it. The strings are gunna blow"