Great Lakes Harpers Biennial Conference
Posted Oct 15, 2004 and filed under Events, Reviews.
by Patrice Ribando
Great Lakes Harpers held their biennial conference on October 9–10th. This year the conference was moved to the Music Building at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. The facilities at NIU’s Music Building were perfect for hosting the conference. All the workshop classrooms were on one floor and there was very little inconvenience in hauling harps around.
The days were full with three workshops to choose from nearly every hour:
- Carl Johnson taught us about all the different types of harps from wire lap harps to concert-sized pedal harps and all the harps in between.
- Annette Bjorling led a session on harp circles with some ensemble arrangements.
- Julieanne Rabens did a workshop on classical music for the lever harp.
- Jeannie Kern Chenette taught a class on practicing more effectively.
- There was a teachers panel where students and teachers talked about the learning process and a builders panel where one could ask questions on harp construction and maintenance.
- There were other workshops on creating your own arrangements from fake books, one on sacred music, etc.
- Verlene Schermer, the featured guest, taught classes in jazz rythyms and understanding your learning style.
Each conference day ended with a concert featuring many of the workshop presenters. Saturday’s concert featured Annette Bjorling playing Klezmer music, Verlene Schermer playing original compositions with jazz rythyms and cool chords (the theme of the conference), and Jeannie Kern Chenette playing original compositions and her celtic arrangements. Sunday’s concert was Carl Johnson and his Celtic Band. Along with Carl were two of his harp students, several fiddlers, a mandolin player, and a tin whistle/flute player. There was even a cello player joining in on one song.
The conference was well attended, including many Mystic Strings Members. Not only was the conference informative and a great opportunity to learn and meet other harpers but it was also FUN! The theme of Great Lakes Harpers 2005 “mini” conference will be on Sacred Music.
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