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 A Personal Note from SylviaAs 2015 winds down, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your business, support, and friendship this past year. I hope that you have a wonderful, "harpy" New Year, and an amazing 2016. And I also hope that you enjoy the three new publications that I'm announcing in this newsletter! Aloha, Sylvia Woods
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Ground-Breaking New Book |
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A New Book by Sylvia Woods
How to add finger markings to non-fingered harp music
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've been thinking about writing this book for over 30 years. I kept hoping that someone else would write it . . . but that never happened. So about 18 months ago, I started the gargantuan task of coming up with a way to explain to harp players of all levels how to figure out fingerings for harp music. And, I'm happy to announce that my mission is now accomplished. I am extremely proud of this book, and am incredibly happy with the way it turned out. I feel that it will be an important part of my harp legacy. I just sent the book to the printer this week, so it won't be available in printed book format until mid-January. But it is available NOW as a PDF download. This book teaches you, step-by-step, how to figure out fingerings in harp music when none are provided. It is chock-full of useful advice, information, examples and tips. At the end there are 10 pieces for you to practice your newly acquired fingering skills. You will then compare them to Sylvia's fingerings for the same pieces, and read about why she chose the ones she did. An added bonus is that by going through this book you will gain an enhanced understanding of harp music, which should make you a better player. 60 pages.
Subjects include: intervals and chords, melodies and runs, phrasing, runs of more than four notes, repeated notes, enharmonics, individual notes, fingering in and out of chords, left hand patterns, hands together, repeated passages, ringing and muffling, and more. I was fortunate to have editing help from about a dozen harpists, teachers, and students who gave me great suggestions while I was working on this book. They were also kind enough to write some pre-publication reviews for me. Here are some excerpts. You can read their complete reviews on my website. This new volume will be helpful for students and teachers alike, offering multiple ideas for many situations. An excellent teaching and reference volume. - Denise Grupp-Verbon, harp instructor
Chock-full of common-sense suggestions on fingering from the simplest to the trickiest passages. A real boon for do-it-yourself harp players, and good ideas even for experienced players on how to make the unplayable playable.- Joyce Rice, harp instructor
This book . . . gives wonderful basic, logical and practical approaches to all the problems involved. - Linda Wood Rollo, Retired Professor of Harp, Indiana State University, Bloomington
Sylvia Woods has done it again! Harp Fingering Fundamentals is a must for every teacher and student. It clearly and concisely shows how to approach harp fingerings in her accessible and charming style. It will be a staple in my studio and should be in your collection, too. - Felice Pomeranz, Professor of Harp, Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA
Having read and played through the entire book, I can say that it made me better at playing the harp. - Susan Hironaka, harp student
I found the exercises improved my playing ability, and I learned how to make pieces personally flow better for me. I feel I can now approach any arrangement with greater confidence and have a better understanding of how to overcome challenging runs. - Joanna Chambreau, harp student
Sylvia's fingering book is going to be her latest classic "must have" book for all harpists. - Beth A. Stockdell, professional harpist and editor of The Folk Harp Journal
Her clear, upbeat writing style makes what can feel like an impossible challenge, instead, an adventure with your harp. - Frances Stroscio, intermediate harpist
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As well as finishing my new fingering book this month, I've also arranged two new pop music pieces for you. Once again, the printed sheets will not be ready until mid-January, but the PDFs are available NOW! You can find more information about these pieces in the sale section below, or by clicking on the photos of the covers. I hope you enjoy this new music.
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Oops! |
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Every once in a while I make a really stupid mistake. Here's my latest! A few weeks ago, one of the companies that I purchase harp gift items from informed me that they had a new pedal harp magnet for sale. I found the tiny photo on their website, and it looked great! So I ordered 150 of them, figuring they would make fun, inexpensive gifts for teachers to give to their students. Imagine my surprise when the magnets came, and half of the strings were broken! I know this sounds silly, because magnets don't have strings. But what I mean is that the harp in the photo is missing about half of its strings. And some of the broken ones are just hanging off the soundboard. Who in their right mind would create a product of a musical instrument with broken strings??? Unfortunately, I can't return these magnets because they special-ordered them for me. So, I cut the suggested retail price by 50% from $4 to $2, and put them on my website. Hopefully, I'll eventually get rid of them! Here are some of my ideas for how YOU can use these 5" tall rubber magnets. *give them to your students when they successfully change their first string
*use them as prizes for a string-changing, or harp maintenance workshop
*show your students what not to do, and remind them to change their strings as soon as they break
To give you an added incentive to stock up NOW for your next recital, or even next Christmas, I'm giving you an extra 20% off of these Broken Strings Magnets with this week's sale! |
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This Week's Sale |
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My New Year's gift to you is that this week's sale is 20% off three of the brand new products that I announced in this newsletter:
To get the 20% discount on the PDFs and magnets shown below, enter the code word bubbly in the Promo Code box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code" by January 6, 2016. For more information, see the 20% Off section at the bottom of this newsletter.
P.S. Sorry, but the Harp Fingerings Fundamentals PDF is NOT included in this sale.
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Regular price: $7.95
20% off with bubbly code
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Ed Sheeran's song Photograph was a big hit in 2014 and 2015. Sylvia Woods' harp arrangement is for intermediate players. It includes fingerings, lyrics and chords. It is in the key of G (1 sharp), and there are no lever changes within the piece. The range needed is 26 strings from G up to D. 6 pages of music.
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Regular price: $7.95
20% off with bubbly code
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The beautiful song When You Say You Love Me was made popular by Josh Groban. It is perfect for weddings, and any romantic occasion. Sylvia Woods' arrangement for intermediate players is in the key of G (1 sharp) and there are 8 C# and D# lever changes within the music. Lyrics, fingerings, and chords included. The range needed is 25 strings from G up to C. 6 pages.
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Regular price: $2.00
20% off with bubbly code
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These very thin, flexible, harp-shaped rubber magnets are 5" tall.
And, as an added bonus, the harps have broken strings!
(See how I made that sound like a GOOD thing!)
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