That’s really nice of you to say - thank you so much! Honestly, though, you could start at any point. I have had people start in their 60s and 70s and be very successful. In fact, in some way, the later you leave it, the more you are likely to learn for the right reasons - because it’s something you want to do. Anyway I hope that encourages you.

@@MarkHarmer thank you. I actually learnt guitar but I couldn't get harp lessons even though I had a small celtic harp. This was years ago. I was told I needed to play piano before one school waould consider taking me on. I should probably stick to one instrument to be reasonably good at this point in my life. I'm prone to spreading myself too thinly but I appreciate the advice. And I get inspired by you.

Thank you so much! That’s such a nice thing for you to say. I did a version on KZbin in 2006 which was my very first KZbin video and I’ve always played it exactly the same way, but this one is a bit of a technically nicer recording. Thank you so much for your lovely comment.

Haha! Very true!!

Hi there! That’s really nice to hear. I’m actually playing that piece tomorrow and on Saturday as part of a group of musicians - it’s a brilliant piece to play either on solo harp or with a band, always a real crowd-pleaser! I’m so glad you like it. Yes, it was long time ago - I still in fact have the harp, but I don’t have the hair anymore!

What a lovely comment - that sounds very evocative. Blanket Island looks to be a wonderful place. Whenever I see a place like that, I always imagine playing there!

Thank you, Andy! Yes, indeed, grateful fairies!

Thank you! I kept the accompaniment very simple for this one, as often on the harp, “less is more”

It really is! Took a lot of work to memorise (and quite a lot of language I’m not proud of…!)

It’s F major, but there is the odd Eb in places.

@@MarkHarmer There's similar tune, but Scottish, called "Soor Plooms." Here, it's in G, but with the F# flicked in a few times. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX2yiaiXat2XhcU

Hi Mary, thank you so much!!❤

Thank you! 😃

Oh - that’s so kind of you to say! I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I’m impressed with your professor’s taste! This was my very first KZbin video, a long long time ago. I did it partly as a bet with myself that I would be willing to put something up and just let it gather comments. It felt very brave at the time!

Keep at it! I 100% agree - it’s tougher than it sounds. My best advice is to do a bit each day but for me anyway, it starts to get easier when I can play it from memory, because you can then see where your hands are going in those huge leaps in the melody / bass line. By the way I have modified a couple of bits where Michael’s playing at the Edinburgh harp festival in 2023 didn’t quite match his score and I decided to do 1 “A” section when repeating the piece, to make up for the extra few bars in the coda. This gives it a wonderful not-quite-predictable structure. Good luck and do post it when you’ve worked on it! It’s a real crowd-pleaser!

Hi there! It’s just Einaudi’s own piano version. I don’t think I’ve changed anything apart from possibly transposing it and moving the odd octave in the bass if it falls below the bottom of the harp’s range.

If you search for Draiocht Michael Rooney, that’s the composer’s site. Then Tobar an Cheoil- not the easiest site to navigate but you can download the piece from there. There isn’t a link to the actual piece so you will have to hunt for it. Took me a while! Sometimes the piece is called Planxty Gandon (which doesn’t help)!

@@MarkHarmer Thank you, Mark! After some searching, I found it last night, along with some other great looking pieces!

@@PastorShawn100 brilliant! What else did you find that was interesting? I would love to learn more of his pieces. I’m really sorry I couldn’t send an actual link, but you can see why now!

Thank you!, Yes, it’s a wonderful piece - it went down so well when I heard the composer play it at the Edinburgh festival, and I absolutely had to learn it. I’m glad I did, even though it’s a lot harder to play than it sounds.

Thank you! It’s way too long since I posted anything on KZbin - I tend to use my Vimeo Channel, which I have done a lot of stuff on recently.

@@MarkHarmer Hi Mark, is there a link to your Vimeo channel? I would love to see you more often 🙂 Happy harping, Mary

@@MaryGreenleaf Hi Mary! Here you are: vimeo.com/markharmer/videos

If you mean notation, I never did an official notation of this, but I do have something which will get you pretty much all the way there. Can you contact me through www.markharmer.uk

🙇‍♂️

Thank you so much for that lovely comment!

Das freut uns sehr!

Thank you!! It was the first video I created on KZbin too (also put on Stage6 as I wasn’t sure which platform would survive)

Hi! You are very welcome.

Hi Tom, thank you so much! And thanks to that random car that goes past in the second half of the tune, I decided to play both parts of the tune twice. And I’ve done it like that ever since. This tune has a very poignant title, and I lived with the melody for a long time before finalising the harmonies.

@@MarkHarmer 😆With me, it's dogs barking.

@@banjodulce ha ha! Yes, it’s amazing what appears when you try to record anything. The person who organised the concert later asked me to do a CD recording of ancient Middle Eastern instruments in his own church, and we spent several weekends doing that. And as a result of that experience I developed a deep hatred of peacocks!

Ha ha - it’s true! I did the recording. It was just amazing to see someone doing this.

Thank you! I still play this exactly the same way - the flowers and the setting inspired my arrangement and I haven’t found a better way to play it since!