Often as students, our goal is to play music that we've heard the great masters of our art perform. Concert pieces full of notes and flash. But, just maybe, we miss the point when we aim so very high. Perhaps aiming to conquer the most difficult music in the repertoire isn't at all what will satisfy my audience, or me?
Goal setting is not an easy task. It takes thought to set an appropriate goal.
What is music? It's certainly not just noise, but so much more. It's lovely. It's soothing. It celebrates. Music brings people and cultures together. It's individual and corporate. Music binds itself to emotion in mysterious ways. Music is the only thing that we do that incorporates, literally, our entire brains. It supports memory, speech in those with brain injury, prompts new nueral pathways to form during physical therapy, in short, it's easier the describe what music does that what music is.
Interestingly, it's not the difficulty of creating the music that causes these effects.
It's the beauty of music that endures, in the moment, in the ears of our memory, seeping into remembrances of important events. Music fills life.
I love how harpist Sally Maxwell sums this idea up: Sometimes the most simple of compositions can be the most beautiful.
Exactly!!
Think of the famous movie themes that have stayed popular:
On Golden Pond
Forrest Gump "falling feather"
Sound of the Shirt from Lord of the Rings
Each of these includes a beautifully played, lyrical melody. There's not a lot of complexity in the music, a simple theme, legato and rich to tickle the ears.
This sort of thing is achievable by anyone, even a beginner.
Listen as you practice. Listen to everything, your scales, the inner notes, the bass line, the melody, each piece of the puzzle should be beautiful. If you do that, you will have accomplished the satisfying purpose of music: beauty that lights up the brain, feeds emotions, fuels memories and elicits memories long forgotten.
Go tune your harp and make some loveliness in your world.
Song, originally for guitar, by Matteo Carcassi - key of A (original key)
Waltz in A, originally for guitar, by Ferninando Carulli - key of A (original key)
The above two options are included in a collections of transcriptions of guitar and lute music for harps. You'll find alternate keys in that collection here.
Faronnel's Ground - intermediate
I Would Love You All the Day - small harp version - This in an intermediate arrangement that includes harmonics. The harmonics may be omitted and notes played where notated instead (which I sometimes do on a low tension instrument).
There's a collection of accessible solos here for you to try as well. Most of these has a video to let you hear the music. These were all intended for beginning harp students.
While some of the Odd-Ludes are intermediate level, some are also late beginner, so try these as well.
Morning Song by Grieg