Classics for a Relaxing Holiday - PHH 240

What if playing the harp felt easier the way you thought it would be, not because you practiced more, but because you finally understood what was getting in your way? I'm Anne Sullivan and welcome to Practicing Harp Happiness. Here we tackled the real challenges harpists struggle with, the sticky passages, the tricky fingerings, prepping for performance and and all the ingredients that go into making music sound the way you want it to. I've studied with world class harpists, taught at a top conservatory for 20 years and I love playing the harp. But what I love just as much is breaking down the real challenges harpists face and turning them into clear, step by step solutions. The same ones I teach my students and use myself. So if you're ready to play the music you love with more confidence, clarity and joy, you're in the right place. So let's get started. Welcome to the show. It's Christmas week and for me this is a week to finally settle into the holiday mood. This is the time we decorate our tree, get in touch with friends and family, and start reveling in the spirit of joy and peace that feels feels so elusive other times of the year. So this is not the week I want to dive into a heavy teaching topic here on the podcast. What I want to do today is spread a little holiday Harp Happiness with a short musical program for you to enjoy. The theme of the program is Classics for a Relaxing Holiday. It's classical music that's appropriate for the holidays, but it isn't specific to this time of year. In other words, no jingling bells or Santa Claus songs. Just calm, maybe even meditative harp music assembled from my various recordings and videos. I've listed the program in the show notes and for some of the pieces. You'll also find links to sheet music arrangements that are in our Harp Mastery Shop. I've also included some spoken introductions to each piece to give you a little of the background to the piece or what I love about it. But I realize that you might want to make this music part of the background to your holidays or without the narration. So in the show notes, I've put links to alternate ways to download or listen to the music. One is a bonus podcast episode that has only the music without the speaking. The other is a link to the music on YouTube where I've added some harp photographs that I've taken on my recent travels. I'd like to start with the well known Largo from Vivaldi's Concerto Winter. The Vivaldi's Four Seasons is a series of four concertos for violin and string orchestra. And there's one, obviously, for every season. And winter is particularly picturesque. The fast movements are all shivery and filled with ice and storms and all that howling wind that can come with winter. But this middle movement is all about relaxing in front of the fire. It's very peaceful, very calm. This particular performance is my arrangement that I play on my break fourth cd. So this is Largo from Winter by Vivaldi. That was Largo from Winter. Next up is a medley of two of the loveliest selections from Handel's famous oratorio Messiah. The two selections here are the Pastoral Symphony, which is a very short instrumental insert, kind of a piece in between choral sections in the work. And then the second in this medley is the aria He Shall Feed His Flock. So these aren't necessarily for Christmas. They're beautiful any time of year. But if you want that Christmas association, the Pastoral Symphony, this is about shepherds in the field, so you can understand why that might be appropriate for Christmas. So I hope you enjoy this medley of two selections from Handel's Messiah. Sa. That was a medley of two selections from Handel's Messiah, and I'm going to follow that up with another medley. This is one that I call Mozart in a Minute. Now, it actually takes closer to three minutes, but this medley encompasses four favorite Mozart themes. At least they're favorites of mine. There's the very famous Allegro from Eine Kleine Nacht Musik. You'll know it when you hear it, as well as the march from the Marriage of Figaro. And then a personal favorite, the slow movement from the Flute and Harp Concerto and a little bit of the Alleluia from the cantata Exultate, Jubilate. These are favorite themes of mine. I wish that in this melody I expanded it and brought you a little bit more than just the snippets of these pieces. But they're melodies that I love, and I hope you will enjoy them, too. So some favorite Mozart tunes for you to listen to. It. Sam, I hope you enjoyed that little medley. There's something so exuberant, so celebratory about Mozart's music, and particularly about these melodies that I chose. So I hope that you enjoyed it and that it's adding to your celebratory mood. We're going to change the. The tone just a little bit. This is an arrangement of the Ave Maria by Schubert. It's the very famous Ave Maria, and of course, it's been arranged for all sorts of instrumental combinations. This is my own arrangement, and this arrangement is based on a concert arrangement that the pianist Franz Liszt did. And you'll hear how elaborate this is. It's a very florid sort of arrangement of the piece. It was a lot of fun to play and to dig in to it, and it gives some sort of additional majesty to this incredibly beautiful piece. So I really enjoyed learning this, arranging it, playing it. I hope you enjoyed listening to it once again. This is a recording from my break fourth cd. So that's where this particular recording comes from. And it is once again, again Schubert's Ave Maria. My arrangement based on a piano arrangement by Franz Liszt. Sa. Sa. Sam Again, that was Ave Maria by Schubert as arranged by me after an arrangement by Franz Liszt. We have a couple other favorite classical tunes for you, or at least I think that they're pretty universally loved. One is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Bach, and the other, the Ode to Joy by Beethoven. I took those two tunes and sort of mashed them together, and that's the arrangement that I'm going to play for you now. So this is sort of a twofer. It's Yezu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and Ode to Joy all mixed into one. Sam sa. Sam. Sa. I hope you enjoyed that little mashup. Izu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Beethoven's Ode to Joy. The last selection I want to play for you is a composition of mine called Peace, and it's a fantasy, if you will, on Dona Nobis Pacem. That's that famous Latin melody. You might have learned it as a round called Dona Nobis Pacem, which simply means Grant us Peace, something we can all use any time of year. But it's especially appropriate, I think, at the holidays. This arrangement started out as a harp ensemble arrangement, but I liked it enough that I didn't want to leave it as an ensemble arrangement. So I created a solo version from that, and I really enjoy playing it. It's a little bit harder to get the. The flavor of the round when it's just one instrument. That's something that's a little bit easier in an ensemble. But you'll hear the piece start out with the actual Dona Nobispace melody, and then there's a. Just a middle section that sort of expands that. That would be the fantasy part. I really enjoyed creating this, and I always enjoy playing it. I hope that you enjoy listening to it, and I hope it makes you feel peace. That's the conclusion of my program for you today. Remember that there are links in the show notes that you. Well, you can find links to the CDs, to the sheet music, and more importantly, you can find a link to download the playlist without my narration to your device. You can also find the link to listen to the playlist on YouTube, where I've also included some pictures from some of my travels. Pictures of harps in stained glass windows, in the churches in various places where I have traveled. So just something interesting to go along with the music. Next week on the podcast, it's back to business for us. We're going to be talking about your harping in 2026. Yeah, I know it's scary to think about the new year being so close, but this is the time to think about what you want to do with your harping, and we're going to be exploring that together just a little bit next week on the show. Remember that in addition to having the most wonderful holiday imaginable, your job is to share your harp happiness with the world. So be brave, be bold, let your harp light shine, and spread that harp happiness all around you. It's good for you and it's good for the world too. Wishing you the best holiday ever. I will look forward to talking with you again next week. Bye for now. Enjoyed today's episode, Then share it with a harpist friend. Subscribe for your weekly Harp Happiness Boost and check out harpmastery.com or the harp Mastery app in your app store for more resources and ways to connect. I'll see you next time.