For Harp Escape volume 10, I played Fly Me to the Moon, the well-known jazz standard by Bart Howard. Originally, Harp Escape vol. 10 was recorded during quarantine times for a feel-good relaxing offering of harp music. I did a mix of contemporary cover songs, traditional Irish, classical, and this jazz tune.
Category: Harp Escape
How To Publish A Book of Sheet Music
this article is published in April 2025 issue of Musicland, newsletter of the Musicians Association of Seattle
Many musicians, especially those who have taken music history classes and read sheet music, are aware of who Hildegard von Bingen was. I was first introduced to Hildegard’s music as a teenager by my organ teacher, when I was playing for mass. Fast forward a few years, and I went to university where I heard about her again (in music history). I even ended up writing a paper on her. Thirdly, I came across Hildegard’s music when I played harp in hospital and hospice as a Certified Clinical Musician.
Who Was Hildegard von Bingen?
Hildegard von Bingen lived from 1098-1179 in Germany during the Middle Ages, at a time when education and literacy were controlled by the Catholic Church. Hildegard was “given” as a tithing to the church, not an uncommon practice of the time. When she was 14, she was sent to live a life of religious devotion in Disibodenberg.
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Songs of Hildegard von Bingen for Harp Book Now Available
I am happy to announce that Songs of Hildegard von Bingen for Harp is now available as a book from Mel Bay Publications! After two years of work arranging twenty of Hildegard’s Gregorian Chants for Harp, the book of sheet music, “Songs of Hildegard von Bingen for Harp” is available now!
I was first introduced to Hildegard’s music as a teenager, and then later in college. When I studied to become a Certified Clinical Musician, I found Hildegard’s music inherently therapeutic. Their simple nature was beautiful to me, but I had trouble finding harp arrangements of her songs. So, I set out to arrange some of the tunes myself. What started as arranging just one song, turned into an entire book of sheet music!
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Harp Escape vol. 9 (The Dorian Suite)
In my YouTube series Harp Escape, vol. 9 features (The Dorian Suite), a song I wrote in honor of my young son. Born in 2017, he was just a toddler when the Pandemic hit, and I wrote this song. At the time I was an artist-in-residence at Nalanda West in Seattle, a Buddhist retreat center. There, I spent hours in quietude composing, meditating, and writing in my journal. (Months before wrote a poem inspired by my new baby, later published in Literary Mama.)
When the world was experiencing early signs of the virus, before lockdown, I was at the Nalanda West a couple days a week. It was a place for me to find peace with the unknown. Any parent with young children can tell you, finding time to oneself is a precious commodity. There are many shifts throughout the day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Music and writing have always been a tool for me to get to a happy place and connect with myself and my place in the world. Through searching, through writing music and words, I was able to find an expression for the time and space of 2020, personally and globally. That is a lot of what this song is about.
This piece has several shifts: from Dorian mode to a relative minor (B minor). The meter, or rhythm, changes back and forth from 4/4 to 3/4 time. This is a musical metaphor for how I felt pulled to and fro, as mom, as musician, as person comfortable in the world, as a person uncomfortable in the world.
Here you can listen to Harp Escape vol. 9 (The Dorian Suite).
Sheet music for The Dorian Suite, available now at Sheetmusicdirect.com!
Top 10 Sounds to Heal Your Life
Music can be a tool to aid in healing and relaxation. Relaxing sounds encourage us to deepen our breathing, which in turn can encourage many positive side effects like deepened sleep, decreased anxiety, lower heart rate, and decreased stress. Playing harp music is something I do often as a healing modality for bedside therapy, funerals, rites of passage, and for my children when they are ill or need help falling asleep.
Below are ten ways to use sound and music to improve and heal your life. All of these suggestions include awareness of breath and augmenting of breath. So much of our own wellness is linked to breath.
Music can be a tool to aid in healing and relaxation. Practicing meditation, for example, can be enhanced with music. Relaxing sounds encourage us to deepen our breathing, which in turn can encourage many positive side effects like deepened sleep, decreased anxiety, lower heart rate, and decreased stress.
Below are 10 sounds that can significantly improve and heal your life. All of these suggestions include an awareness and augmentation of breath. So much of our wellness is linked to our breath.
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