Festive Charity Concert

Harpists and Friends!

 Thursday 1^st December 7.30pm

St Mary’s Church, St Fagans

Well loved Christmas music and classical favourites performed by Harp Students.

Guest Musicians include:

Kathryn Bird - Clarinet

Deborah Morgan Lewis - Soprano

Richard Crompton - French Horn

Tickets on the door: £5.00 (cash only) Children under 12 free.

All proceeds shared between Save the Children and St Mary’s Church.

We look forward to playing for you on the 1^st of December

For further information please contact me via email: info@harpwales.com

Thank you to St Mary’s Church for hosting the event.

So you’ve learnt a good tune? Make it a party piece!

Sunday 20^th November 2011 2pm-5pm

The Workshop:

 Using simple tunes and phrases we will explore ways of using rhythm, ostinato patterns, various harp techniques and plain old cheating to find out how best to make a tune ‘your own’ in an individual, delightful and vibrant way! This workshop is suitable for all levels, music will be provided but notation reading not necessary. We will work as an ensemble, no pressure to play on your own unless of course you would like to!

 Come along, try out ideas and create beautiful music!

 Where and When? 

20th  November 2011 from 2pm-5pm  at Telynau Teifi Harps.

Telynau Teifi Harps The Harp Centre of Wales address is Marble Terrace, Llandysul, Ceredigion SA44 4DT, see www.welsh-harps.com/location.php for further details.

The Tutor:

 Shelley Fairplay is a freelance harpist working as a musician in South Wales and throughout the UK. She is also an enthusiastic and dynamic qualified teacher providing harp lessons and workshops to students of all ages and abilities. For further information please visit www.harpwales.com.

 Practicalities:

The course will run from 2pm to 5pm. Please arrive in time to set up and tune your harp in advance of the session commencing at 2pm. There will be a tea break in the afternoon when fingers and brains can take no more! 

Booking:

Booking is required, please do so early as spaces are limited. For further details and to book please contact Sue on 01559 363 222 or sue@telynauteifi.co.uk.

*20% Discount for all December bookings for a harpist confirmed by November 30th*

Christmas is fast approaching, hurray! I am currently taking bookings for parties, drinks receptions, background music during meals and Christmas music around the tree. Why not start your office party with a champagne drinks reception and Christmas music from a harpist - before the dancing begins?!  I cover a range of music including all traditional Christmas Carols on the harp and also pop, chart and jazzy Christmas songs including; Have yourself a merry little Christmas, All I want for Christmas is you, Santa Claus is coming to town, Walking in the Air and much more! Book soon to secure the date and qualify to 20% discount on harp music for your Christmas event.

Hello from HarpSing! Our Chrismas program is ready for your delight this winter and we look forward to performing for your event! We enjoyng performing beautiful traditional Carols or upbeat pop Christmas classics, just let us know what you like best!

Both graduates from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Deborah Morgan Lewis and I immediately hit off when we were introduced in 2010 and have been having a fantastic time exploring music for harp and voice ever since. We now greatly enjoy performing a variety of styles from opera classics, traditional Welsh songs (sung in Welsh or English as required), folk songs, pop, jazz and wartime favorites.

 Our assorted selection of music enables us to offer packages for weddings, corporate events, lunchtime recitals, evening concerts, sing-a-long events and much more!

 For further information on Deborah’s beautiful voice and diverse ability please visit www.canuorgalon.com. We also hope to upload some duet recordings in the near future. Watch this space!

If you would like to hear us perform please email me and I will send you details of up and coming public events and/or arrange a consultation so that we can discuss the details of your wedding/event.

Please email or call me via the contact tab at the top of this page.

I look forward to hearing from you!

All best wishes,

Shelley Fairplay

Looking for exciting music opportunities for students in your school? Why not book ‘Hands on Harps’ or ‘Harp Tales’ session!

I would be delighted to come along and run harp based music workshops in your school. The harp really is wonderful to listen to, discover and explore so workshops with the instrument are engaging and enjoyable for students (although I am of course biased due to being slightly harp obsessed!) Sessions in and around cardiff can be booked via this website or through Emma Coulthard, Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Music Service.

Hands on Harps:

Hands on Harps is a six week group/whole class program designed to develop musical skills. The Harp, our National Instrument of Wales, is the central focus. The project uses eight beautiful medieval replica lap harps, each with 17 strings, for the children to learn on. Shelley leads the workshops on a 34 string Celtic harp, the lap harps and for one session a ’show and tell’ on a concert pedal harp. Boomwhackers and percussion are used additional instruments for Hands on Harps sessions to assist with rhythm and note understanding for the whole class.

Harp Tales^TM from Harp Wales!

Harp Tales^TM are interactive, exciting and educational musical stories told with harp accompaniment and child participation through song, sound and movement. Each HarpTale^TM is carefully tailored to engage appropriately the age group being worked with. Music covered in a session will encompass a variety of styles and genres including well loved traditional welsh tunes.

The session will begin with listening to the sound of the harp, a general introduction and interesting facts about the harp. This is followed by warm up activities to develop musical skills, all with a central focus on composing sounds and actions for the story being worked towards. A song will also be learnt by the group and then…the Harp Tale will begin and children join in with sounds, movements and song. It may possible child to have the opportunity to the harp at the end of the story and finally the session will close with reflection and farewell!

 Tales include: Three Billy Goats Gruff, Hare and Tortoise, Jack and the beanstalk, The Gruffalo, Owl Babies, Morgan and the Golden Harp, The Emerald Harp, Gabriel and the Bear, Treasure Hunt, Hairy Scary Castle, Harp O’Gold, Jack and the beanstalk.

For further information, program of study and curriculum links information please do not hesitate to contact me an I will email you over further information and fees.

I look forward to hearing from you,

All best wishes,

Shelley

Choosing Music For Your Wedding

Introducing your musical muses

Blog 1 (of 12)

Music plays such an important part in your day. It can calm the nerves, build the excitement, lighten the mood and touch every emotion. Yet, it can often be over looked or left to the last minute – an unfortunte recipe for panic or strife. That’s the last thing we ever want to see here so we’re launching a series of blogs to help you plan and enjoy the soundtrack to your wedding day.

Join your musical muses that have seen it all: Wedding Planner Marina Lois and Wedding Musician Shelley Fairplay. They’ll guide you through something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue!, whilst showing you how to avoid common pitfalls, letting you create the perfect atmosphere throughout your celebrations.

Wedding Planner - Marina

Marina has planned and executed dozens of weddings, combating the notion that wedding planners are the domain of the rich and famous, ensuring that you thoroughly enjoy the build up to your day. Contact her at info@marinaloisevents.co.uk

Harpist - Shelley Fairplay

Shelley is an experienced and accomplished professional harpist with over 14 years performing at weddings and events. She is also an enthusiastic harp tutor, founder and organiser of the Summer Harp Festival – an event that brought together internally renowned harpists & students for concerts and workshops, bringing the national instrument of Wales to a wider audience.

Follow them at @harpwales and @marinaloisevnts

It has been lovely getting to know some of you over the last few months in the run up to your wedding days and i’m so thrilled to be a part of your plans as your harpist playing the harp for your wedding day for bookings this year, 2012 and 2013! Through our conversations I am hearing more and more of you mention that time (and sometimes budgets) can be a tricky part of planning your wedding day. I have been working closely with a good friend of mine, Marina Lois, of Marina Lois Events, one of South Wales’ premier wedding planners and due to our work together she has very kindly put on a special offer on some of her most popular packages for couples who have booked with me. The offer includes her very popular ‘Make My Day’ package which co-ordinates the actual wedding day (set up and take down) and The Finishing Touches which will take the load off from now until your wedding day. She’s developed some amazing relationships with suppliers that will not only give you excellent service, but a discount to boot, so you’re money will go that much further, she saves you more money than her services cost! If you are interested in hearing from Marina just drop her an email and book your complimentary consultation. Make sure you mention my name for the offer!   You can read what some of her clients have said about her on her website. Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing you all happy and relaxed on your big day!   All best wishes,   Shelley Fairplay Wedding Harpist Cardiff Harpist, Newport Harpist, Swansea Harpist or wherever your event may be!

Sarah and Stuart Bailey have sent a beautiful testimonial (see below) following their wedding this Summer, my thanks of course go to them for inviting me to be the harpist at their wonderful wedding day!

Dear Shelley,

Sarah and I would just like to say a huge ‘thank you’ for playing so beautifully at our wedding reception.

All of our guests commented on how wonderful it was to hear such lovely music drifting on the breeze and the majority of them thought it was actually a cd playing, until they set eyes upon you!

Your playing really made our day, especially the impromptu musical entrance you played for us to walk in to the marquee before sitting down to enjoy the wedding breakfast.

Several of our guests were playing name that tune and have subsequently asked me if you have released any cd’s or are planning too? I personally liked it when, in amongst being pulled from pillar to post, I managed to catch a few notes or a chorus from some of the songs that we had requested you to play.

Finally we hope you enjoyed playing for us, we certainly enjoyed your playing and so did our guests.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah and Stuart Bailey. x

Looking forward to working with groups of children in a teepee full of small Welsh harps!  

I am very excited to be involved with the Make a Noise for Children’s Play in Sophia Gardens on the 6 July. 500 children and 400 international delegates from the International Play Association World Conference will take part in play activities including water play, building instruments from junk and much more! Baden Powell School will perform a new song written especially for the occasion by Emma Coulthard from the Cardiff Music Service.  

We will all make a big noise to raise awareness of children’s right and need to play!

Hi Shelley

 Just wanted to send you a quick email now I am back from wedding + honeymoon to say thanks so much!! 

 Anyway you were just great - the guests loved it! Thanks so much for making the day extra special. 

 I am just ploughing through some pictures from guests and there are a couple of you/your harp so I have attached them for you.

 Thanks again, just perfect!!

Jane, Wedding 27^th May 2011