So, what is Harp Retreat???
It's a residential weekend course (starting on the Friday evening) for harpists (and their families). We'll be learning new tunes, working on ensemble arrangements of new and old tunes, trying our hand at arranging, and composing - all of this at different levels - from beginner to advanced - we can cater for all levels!
At Port Waikato, there is enough accommodation for the musicians, and their families (non musicians can go and explore the camp and surrounding areas (bush and beach). If your harpist is a child/teen and comfortable about attending by themselves, then parents don't have to attend. Though, the parents who attended in 2017 will tell you they had a great weekend too - plenty of time to chill with a novel and a glass of wine, or take the kids to the beach, and plenty of time to catch up on a one to one basis with their harpist. This is an awesome, and supportive, friendly community, where the younger harpists are very comfortable communicating, and working/harping with the adults. The boundaries are blurred as some of our younger harpists are working at a level well above some of the beginner adults, and some of our teens are our teachers - the playing field is leveled, and if you can leave your ego at home, and just enjoy, you will find a great place to learn from your harping peers, regardless of their age.
We learn so much on these intensive events together, and get a chance to do some crazy stuff too - read below about our walk out to harp at the Whatipu caves, photo 5 is from our Saturday evening entertainment, and features "The Aunties" performing "50 Ways to Lift Your Levers" (in house harp joke!), or the lowest photo is our family harp time - all family members must play on one harp! We also get a chance to try out each others harps, hear some new sounds, new tunes and swap a lot of chat with harp friends old and new.
We all sleep in dorms or smaller rooms which have several beds in them - there are very single rooms and they will be allotted on a first paid basis, or saved for single male attendees (as we are a strongly female contingency, this has to be considered). Families can bunk in together, and last year a big group of teens decided to have a big sleepover room - surprisingly, they were all ready for day two, regardless of how late they talked into the early hours! Several options are available, and nothing can be confirmed until we know the numbers attending - we are open to mix and match accommodation - in 2018 there are fewer small rooms, more big dorms, so that will have to be taken into consideration when we know our numbers.
For 2018, we're also hoping to join forces with the Auckland Scottish Fiddlers, who will use one of the big rooms for their rehearsals, eat with us, and join us for a ceili on Saturday evening (maybe a pyjama ceili as the debut of the pyjama harpers was so successful in 2016???) In the event of the fiddlers joining us, we will work towards getting some experience at playing with other instrumentalists too!
It's a residential weekend course (starting on the Friday evening) for harpists (and their families). We'll be learning new tunes, working on ensemble arrangements of new and old tunes, trying our hand at arranging, and composing - all of this at different levels - from beginner to advanced - we can cater for all levels!
At Port Waikato, there is enough accommodation for the musicians, and their families (non musicians can go and explore the camp and surrounding areas (bush and beach). If your harpist is a child/teen and comfortable about attending by themselves, then parents don't have to attend. Though, the parents who attended in 2017 will tell you they had a great weekend too - plenty of time to chill with a novel and a glass of wine, or take the kids to the beach, and plenty of time to catch up on a one to one basis with their harpist. This is an awesome, and supportive, friendly community, where the younger harpists are very comfortable communicating, and working/harping with the adults. The boundaries are blurred as some of our younger harpists are working at a level well above some of the beginner adults, and some of our teens are our teachers - the playing field is leveled, and if you can leave your ego at home, and just enjoy, you will find a great place to learn from your harping peers, regardless of their age.
We learn so much on these intensive events together, and get a chance to do some crazy stuff too - read below about our walk out to harp at the Whatipu caves, photo 5 is from our Saturday evening entertainment, and features "The Aunties" performing "50 Ways to Lift Your Levers" (in house harp joke!), or the lowest photo is our family harp time - all family members must play on one harp! We also get a chance to try out each others harps, hear some new sounds, new tunes and swap a lot of chat with harp friends old and new.
We all sleep in dorms or smaller rooms which have several beds in them - there are very single rooms and they will be allotted on a first paid basis, or saved for single male attendees (as we are a strongly female contingency, this has to be considered). Families can bunk in together, and last year a big group of teens decided to have a big sleepover room - surprisingly, they were all ready for day two, regardless of how late they talked into the early hours! Several options are available, and nothing can be confirmed until we know the numbers attending - we are open to mix and match accommodation - in 2018 there are fewer small rooms, more big dorms, so that will have to be taken into consideration when we know our numbers.
For 2018, we're also hoping to join forces with the Auckland Scottish Fiddlers, who will use one of the big rooms for their rehearsals, eat with us, and join us for a ceili on Saturday evening (maybe a pyjama ceili as the debut of the pyjama harpers was so successful in 2016???) In the event of the fiddlers joining us, we will work towards getting some experience at playing with other instrumentalists too!