Career, Music, Performance videos

Feed The Birds Harp Cover // Mary Poppins

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feed the birds harp cover
Mary Poppins

In a recent twitch stream, a viewer asked if I could play a harp cover of Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins. I have always loved the film, so I immediately downloaded the music and started to learn it.

I am so pleased with the result!

If you enjoy these harp covers of mine, do consider heading over to my YouTube channel and subscribing.

Feed The Birds and other classics…

The wonderful thing about playing songs like Feed The Birds is that everyone knows and loves this music. Last week I had the opportunity to go and play a concert at the home where my father now lives. He is suffering with Alzheimer’s and needs a lot of care these days.

I played a mixture of light classical music that people generally have heard before, things like Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Pachelbel’s Canon in D. There were also some harp covers of Disney songs (including Feed The Birds). I also played some other songs from shows such as Carousel, Cats, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.

The very energetic piece Harpicide at Midnight by Pearl Chertok was the final piece in my programme. Even though it’s not well-known by non-harpists, everyone enjoys it because it is so jazzy. It really challenges people’s perception of what the harp is capable of.

I can’t believe it’s not Rutter…

In other recent events, I have played for two performances of John Rutter’s Requiem and have another performance lined up for this coming Saturday. It’s not often I’ll get a group of concerts like this, all with the same repertoire. Honestly though, I’m enjoying playing in front of a live audience again so much. The pandemic has taken so much from us, I have only performed a handful of times since March 2020, but hopefully the worst is behind us.

Announcement

I have been doing some work on my website recently, and I now have an online booking system for online harp lessons and online piano lessons.

You can now book in for a free 30-minute consultation if you are considering learning the harp or the piano. click here to find an available time to book in.

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Music, Performance videos

GAME OF THRONES Harp Cover

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The latest video on my YouTube channel is a Game of Thrones harp cover.

I recently read A Song of Ice and Fire and watched a few seasons of Game of Thrones for the first time.

game of thrones harp cover

The theme music is so epic I found an arrangement and recorded it for my YouTube channel. Alongside the Game of Thrones harp cover, you can find lots of other covers, as well as various harp pieces that I love.

I actually recorded this video while live-streaming on Twitch. As a musician, I’m so glad I found twitch. I usually live-stream there twice a week, on Wednesday and Sunday evenings for a couple of hours. There’s a lovely community over there and it’s a great place to hang out, chat, practice, and of course, to play some of your requests too.

Due to the pandemic, I’ve been pretty much unable to perform since around February 2020. I find it so special to feel like I’m playing for an audience again. And, because it’s via the internet, I don’t even have to move my harp or drive anywhere. It’s every harpist’s dream!

Post-pandemic

Aside from streaming, I’m happy to say life is getting busy again. I’ve started playing the organ at a nearby village church. I’m definitely not a qualified organist and am learning as I go, but I’m really enjoying it and love spending time in the community this way.

I’ve also just accepted the post of Harp Tutor for Yorkshire Young Musicians. This is a really exciting teaching opportunity and I can’t wait to dive in.

I’ve got lots of ideas for future YouTube videos for my channel, so make sure you are subscribed. If you have any questions about the harp, or any requests for future covers, definitely let me know – I’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime, there’s a box on the right hand side of this page where you can sign up to receive these updates in your email inbox. It’s a great way to stay in touch.

p.s. if you enjoyed this video, you’ll enjoy this video of Baby Mine from Dumbo.

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Lifestyle, Music

2019 Goals – HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Hello and a belated Happy New Year. How was your first week of 2019?

The House.

As I’m writing this, a plumber is replacing our boiler, which of course packed in just days after Tim and I moved in to the new house.

So it’s been a cold few days for us.

Nevertheless, it’s taught me to be very grateful for our usual way of life – have you ever thought about just how amazing it is to have hot water on tap? How wonderful it is that our houses heat themselves automatically? How blissful it is to have a hot shower and dry yourself with a warm, dry towel?

I’m feeling very grateful for these little things today.

This is a time I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time. Tim and I are in the house, and things are finally starting to settle down into a rhythm. The only things missing right now are a washing machine (lost by the removals company *sob*) and internet (being installed on Friday *yay!*).

Life.

My plan going forward is to put these blogs up on Mondays, but as you can tell, this week’s is a little late due to not having sufficient internet/spending all my time doing laundry at my parents’/trying to stay warm in the freezing-cold house.

Last year I feel like I made a lot of progress with procrastinating less, achieving most of what I set out to do and generally staying a bit more organised. In 2019 I want to continue all of that, but I want the increased productivity to result in more income, please. It sounds shallow, but my goal is to make more than I spend. I don’t want or need loads, just enough to pay the bills and have a bit left over for a rainy day/doing up the house/getting married.

I’ve signed up for some extra work online – teaching English to Chinese children – which is actually really fun and will hopefully tide me over while I find work as a harpist and harp teacher in York. I’m very grateful to a friend of mine for recommending this to me – you know who you are – thank you babe.

My piano will be brought over from Congleton in the next week or so, at which point I can start giving piano lessons in York too – hurray! I am also starting to give harp lessons online (when I have internet) so that is a super-exciting new venture.

Health.

Another 2019 goal of mine is to prioritise my physical and mental health, I’ve gone back to the beginning with my running and starting to work my way through the Couch 2 5k app, I’ll be practising yoga and meditation regularly and trying to eat as well as I can – nothing too strict but my long-term goal is to have a good, healthy quality of life for as many years as I can. Of course, once our garage gym is all set up, Tim and I can do our strength training in there as well.

This may be the subject of another blog post (let me know if you’d like to hear more on this), but the life of a freelancer can be a little chaotic (just a little), with late nights, early mornings, disrupted meal times etc., so keeping our bodies on a schedule when it comes to eating and sleeping really helps our bodies and our health. So, as I’m reading The Circadian Code by Dr. Satchin Panda at the moment, I’m trying to stick to a regular eating/sleeping/waking up schedule to see if that results in an increased amount of energy. Fingers crossed.

So, that’s probably enough from me for now. I really hope you are well (and warm) wherever you are. Check back next week for another post.

Chat soon,
A x
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Career, Music

Moving to York

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It’s been a while since I’ve updated you here on the blog, and as you can see from the title of this post, I have some big news…

Tim and I have been house-hunting since we got engaged in May 2017. However, it was only recently that I started to feel the call to move closer to home. York will always be special to me, it’s where I grew up and went to school until the age of 16. The thought of moving back to York makes me so happy and excited for the future. Tim is going to move his busy Personal Training and Sports Massage business over to York too, so our home is going to be a hub of activity!

So, we started looking in York and found somewhere we like in the Foxwood area, made an offer and it was accepted – hurray! Our solicitors are currently crunching through all the searches and finer details but the crux of the matter is, hopefully we’ll be in our new home by Christmas. Everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed.

This means it’s time to put my Yorkshire feelers out. If you live in York and are interested in having harp lessons, piano lessons, or music theory lessons, please do get in touch. I plan to start teaching in York as soon as possible after the new year, and I would love to help you reach your musical goals.

In the meantime, I do offer lessons via skype, so if you live in York and want to start right away, maybe we can start online and then move to offline lessons when 2019 comes around.

I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to going back to my Yorkshire roots.

As always, here are the ways in which you can contact me should you so desire:

https://twitter.com/harpistangelina

https://www.facebook.com/angelinawarburtonharpist/

https://www.instagram.com/angelinawarburton/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQzzApriMcGEdE1ZxjkWMdg

I also have a Patreon page if you are interested in supporting me in that way:

https://www.patreon.com/harpistangelina

Thanks so much for reading, let’s chat soon,

A x

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Career, Music, Places

Diary of a Wedding Harpist

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There’s a new video up on my Youtube channel – a little vlog of a recent weekend where I had a couple of weddings to play for. Firstly I was playing in Liverpool’s gorgeous St. George’s Hall, then the following day I was playing for a church wedding ceremony up in Chorley.

Summer is a busy time for harpists and it feels so good to have a full diary for the rest of the season.

 

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Career, Music, Performance videos

Chasing Cars Harp Cover | Snow Patrol

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I hope you enjoy this video of my Chasing Cars harp cover, music by Snow Patrol. It is one of the most requested wedding songs of my career so far.

Chasing cars harp

If you haven’t already, please do subscribe to my Youtube channel, where I upload new videos… from time to time. If you have any requests for future videos (playing or just chatting) do let me know in the comments below. I want to create content that we both love, so leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Brides often ask me what music they should choose for their wedding ceremony. My answer is usually the same, whatever you want! The more personal a wedding ceremony can be, the more memorable it will be in the years to come. Some couples want to keep things traditional, and that is beautiful too.

This Chasing Cars harp cover works so well because not only is it a beautiful and romantic song, it sounds really lovely on the harp and adds that extra touch to the day. Personally I think it works especially well for the Bride’s entrance music. For your exit music, it is wise to choose something upbeat and loud, as your guests will be applauding as you walk back down the aisle.

I am now taking bookings for 2023 and still have a few slots available for the rest of 2022 – although it is looking like a busy year! It’s so wonderful to see couples finally tying the knot after months and months of cancellations and uncertainty. Let’s hope that’s all in the past now and we can move on. Contact me here if you’d like to enquire about having harp music at your wedding.

What music are you going to have at your wedding? Leave a comment below, you might just inspire other brides too.

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