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As a first time attendee and complete novice I was asked if I would like to write a small piece about the week-end. It was with some trepidation that I attended the course and just kept telling myself that everyone must have been at my stage once. Although my terror subsided much of the week-end went by in a haze. Fortunately Barbara has written a piece which, for me at least, captures beautifully the whole week-end so I add this as a purely personal view! Having heard on the radio that Friday would be the worst day of the year for traffic on our roads, and knowing escape from East Anglia is fraught with difficulty at the best of times, I set off for The Friars at midday.
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Two hours later I had arrived with plenty of time to spare giving me ample time to sample the tea shop and wander around the pottery before the start of the course.. both well worth doing and a diversion from my increasing panic.. Despite an ever growing fear that I would be too slow to keep up as I searched for the red strings…. I’m sure they wander around when I am not looking… there was so much encouragement and patience from the others in the group that I stopped worrying and had a fantastic time. It was truly inspiring to listen to Kathleen, Danielle, Cheyenne, and Sue playing all so differently but all so beautifully. For me the best thing of all was to hear and see such a range of ages and abilities playing so many different pieces of music and the discovering the versatility of the harp in the hands of the adventurous. Listening to every one on the final afternoon was wonderful …. Discovering we would also be playing all the pieces we had learned not just the Spice Islands was a bit of a shock…. I must have been day dreaming or possibly searching for the red strings when we were told ! A combination of Cheyenne’s butterflies, Kathleen’s polka fingering and Danielle’s technique tips rushed around my head and I managed to play just a little of everything. I am looking forward to next year and who knows perhaps I will have worked out how to prevent the red strings wandering off.
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Jeanne Lynch-Aird |
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