Tuesday 25 December 2018

Happy Christmas everybody!

Hello and Happy Christmas!
I thought I should post up a list of all the Christmas tunes I've blogged over the last four Christmas's, put them in order of difficulty and make a downloadable pdf of the tunes.
So CLICK HERE for the pdf!
:))
Vicki


List of Carols in order of Difficulty
14.12.18 - Good King Wenceslas
01.12.17 - The Holly and the Ivy
22.12.18 - Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
25.12.15 - Nu Tändas Tusen Juleljus
22.12.17 - När Juldagsmorgon Glimmar
02.12.16 - Nu Är Det Jul Igen
09.12.16 - Mary Free
15.12.17 - Down in Yon Forest
16.12.16 - On Christmas Night - Sussex Carol
07.12.18  - Jingle Bells
23.12.16 - Jul, Jul Strålande Jul
08.12.17 - Gläns Över Sjö och Strand
21.12.18 - I Saw Three Ships
24.12.18 - In Dulci Jubilo
23.12.18 - Deck the Hall
25.12.18 - Ding Dong Merrily on High

Friday 30 November 2018

The Glasgow Reel

Hello!
This is the second part from last week's blog. It's St Andrews Day, so here's a Scottish tune for you. I learnt this as a request for teaching at a Halsway weekend and it became a firm favourite. It has lots of names - Tam Lin and The Glasgow Reel being the two I know it by. It was written by Davey Arthur and there are lots and lots of different versions. This is the one I play and probably isn't the original, but this one works really nicely on the harpa.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

Monday 23 July 2018

The Tuning of the Moraharpa

Hello!
I've been asked some specific questions on the Moraharpa. So I made a little video and hope that I answered all of them! (I probably forgot something!)
Basically the question was what are the notes tuned to. So here it is!
:))
Vicki

Friday 20 July 2018

Tourdion in D minor

Hello!
This week it's Moraharpa week. So I chose to play Tourdion. It's a very popular medieval French tune. Easy enough on the nyckelharpa, but slightly trickier on the Moraharpa. I play this in D minor on the Moraharpa.
If you want to play this in E minor - then Click Here!
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

Sunday 8 July 2018

Football's Coming Home

Hello!
I'm not particularly a football fan, but when a colleague of mine started the #TwitterBand I definitely had to join in! After the event we now know that England beat Sweden 2 - 0. Win win for me as a half/half, Brit/Swede. It was a lot of fun to deck out the room in flags and try to paint blue on my face though. All in a days work as a nyckelharpa player!
:D
Vicki

Friday 29 June 2018

Calle's Brudmarsch

Hello!
This week it's Calle's Brudmarsch. Play it nice and slowly - really beautiful bride.
A second video from meeting with my two friends and having a play together.
I've also added a video with it being played on the silverbasharpa, which is what the tune was written for.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki


Friday 27 April 2018

Old Hag You Have Killed Me

Hello!
This week we have a good old jig - Old Hag You Have Killed Me.
Play it with swing!
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

Friday 23 March 2018

Starter for Two

Hello!
It's been nearly two weeks since the weekend at Halsway Manor for the beginners and intermediates. I love it when new players start and go home with their new instrument after the weekend and we had four such people, that went home with instruments.  I wrote this little tune to help get to know the C string. So it's a tune for the complete beginners this week. I've filmed it for the C string, but it works on the D string too. I'll put up both versions - but it's only filmed for C.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki


Friday 9 March 2018

Perry the Partridge

Hello!
Today is the start of my March course at the wonderful Halsway Manor down in Somerset. I pretty much always start my beginners off with this tune. It's a canon, so every two bars the next player starts. It'll bound to be played over the weekend. Here's a photo to show how special this place is! I'll post more pictures over the
weekend!

I've now added an update to this page - Sad Perry the Partridge in the minor key.
:))
Vicki




Sad Perry the Partridge


Monday 5 March 2018

How Do you hold the Moraharpa Bow?

Hello!
A quick little video. The Moraharpa bow is held a little bit differently to a normal bow. You have to tension it between your fingers and your thumb. Watch the video to see how I do this.

It's cool!
:))
Vicki

Friday 26 January 2018

Ae Fond Kiss

Hello!
I know I'm in the middle of Moraharpa January - but it was Burns on the 25th (yesterday) so I absolutely had to quickly record this melody. It's the original tune for Burn's Ae Fond Kiss - Rory Dall's Port. It's a lovely little tune. In an effort to get this trio recorded quickly the audio is live off the mic at the time of recording and the trio parts are quite simple, so I've uploaded the full trio for you. :)
Um tidying the room? Nope, not that either!
I probably should have been doing other work - but this caught me today!
As always if you like my videos, do think about donating and subscribing on youtube!
So, Happy Burns and Enjoy!
:))
Vicki


Friday 19 January 2018

La Traditore My Fa Morire

Hello!
It's #moraharpa #tunefriday month, so this week we have another tune from Arbeau's Orchesography - La Traditore My Fa Morire. The name is Italian, but the Orchesography was in French.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki