Follow Up – Teaching By Rote

Ann Heymann

It seems that all her books are available on her website here: https://www.clairseach.com/shop/books.htm

The book that has been out of print appears to be available as a CD.

Robin Huw Bowen – Clog Dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbO0kLeGcUU

Houston Summer Harp Festival – Clog Dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t5xRYh2ICI

Apps

Amazing Slow Downer – located in apps

Any Tune/Anytune pro – https://www.anytune.app/

Cruinniu (Gathering)

Cruinniu – https://gulfcoastirish.org/ Therese Honey is this year’s trad Irish harp teacher. Dates are  June 5th – June 8th, 2025

Carol Kappus – Magic Hands

Video #1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frOTGefjug4

Video #2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClosKGJ_ygM

BTW – Carol’s music is available at Melody’s in digital and paper – here: https://folkharp.com/product-category/pdfs-by-composer/kappus-carol/

Video Replay (also at bottom of this newsletter): https://folkharp.com/harp-teachers-gathering/

Notes from the Chat

00:53:43 Kimberly DeRosa: Reacted to “Hello from New Zeala…” with ❤️

00:53:51 Kimberly DeRosa: Reacted to “Hello, everybody, ye…” with ❤️

00:53:52 Tiffany Baker: Reacted to “beautiful” with ❤️

01:00:58 Kimberly DeRosa: Turn -around

01:02:42 Jane Hyde: So you’re taking useful snippets of the melodic contour that are easily accessible by one hand…

01:04:12 Nell Morris: Third intervals I call two scoops of ice cream and triad, 3 scoops of ice cream.

01:04:38 Laurie Musselman: Do you teach by rote for everyone or just students that need it for some reason?

01:04:48 Susana Hall: Do you have original sound on?

01:05:01 Rosemarie Fortney: Sound is going out at times

01:05:19 Tiffany Baker: Audio

01:05:23 Tiffany Baker: Settings

01:05:23 Stephanie Bennett: Students trying to learn by rote often have a hard time incorporating rhythm, how do you incorporate rhythm?

01:05:50 Tiffany Baker: Leave the meeting and just come back in

01:06:00 Tiffany Baker: Once you have it set up

01:06:08 Susana Hall: Click on MORE (at bottom of tablet screen)

01:06:47 Tiffany Baker: Replying to “Click on MORE (at bo…”

Last I knew it had to be set up before entering a meeting

01:07:13 Rosemarie Fortney: How did o’carolan do it..he was blind. I am legally blind with tunnel vision😎

01:08:39 Susana Hall: Replying to “Click on MORE (at bo…”

Once you have set up originals sound, from then on all you need to do is click on MORE at bottom of tablet screen

01:09:01 Jane Hyde: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

I’ve heard two harpists in a folk harp competition who were blind (totally). They both played beautifully.

01:09:06 Elayne Sayney: my left eye is extremely poor

01:10:04 Charlotte Mizener: I’ll bet the Salzedo tryptic dance would be a good one to teach by rote.

01:10:55 Stephanie Bennett: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

& Carolan’s teacher Blind Mary was also blind…

01:11:21 Kimberly DeRosa: Replying to “I’ll bet the Salzedo…”

You bet!

01:11:30 Tiffany Baker: Reacted to “& Carolan’s teacher …” with 👍

01:11:46 Jane Hyde: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

I myself am legally blind in my right eye. I seldom have to turn my head to play in the upper register – tactile memory of intervals and a good ear have been my go-to “tools.”

01:13:28 Mary Muckle: The legend is that Carolan heard a concerto by Geminiani at an event and played it back and then improvised his well known Carolan’s Concerto.

01:13:37 Charlotte Mizener: And the more you learn by ear the more quickly you can do it. I found this in teaching elem. music, teaching songs by rote. Children I had taught for 4 or 5 years learned tunes more quickly than those who were new to my school.

01:16:18 Elayne Sayney: what is the app called again

01:17:12 Mary Muckle: I learned to sight read by number within the major scale for example. When I hear a tune, if I put numbers to the tune, I can memorize it by ear.

01:18:35 Stephanie Bennett: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

For all of us, learning intervals BY FEEL is important; even more so if you’re blind or nearly so.

01:19:29 Kimberly DeRosa: Amazing slow downer app

01:20:49 Charlotte Mizener: Having the melody in your ear is crucial to playing it. Over time, your ear-finger connection recognizes the intervals and moves to the shape.

01:22:42 Tiffany Baker: What’s Carol’s book called?

01:24:33 Heidi Day: That is Musikgaraten. I taught both KM and now teach Musikgarten, which is very much about singing intervals.

01:26:43 Jane Hyde: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

The Suzuki selections can be purchased singly on iTunes.

01:28:49 Kimberly DeRosa: Clog Dance traditional Welsh

01:30:43 Tiffany Baker: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

So this is a triple harp specific piece?

01:31:02 Tiffany Baker: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

(Maybe I should switch harps!)

01:31:15 Tiffany Baker: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

Fellow triple harpist here

01:34:56 Nell Morris: So this is teaching by rote, not by ear? Is the by ear part having the student pick out a melody only by ear ?

01:35:34 Laurie Musselman: Speaking of the ear, do you have any ideas for a student that can’t tell if a note is off pitch, too high or too low?

01:36:12 Tiffany Baker: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

I tend to teach from harp to harp get the technique and then work on note reading a little later.

This means they get to feel successful playing harp straight off.

01:36:29 Stephanie Bennett: Yes I incorporate ear training

01:36:51 Mary Muckle: That is very much the French system. sing in solfege – major or minor scales then play on the harp.

01:37:48 Annette Bjorling: I incorporate by ear -learning with everyone (they *have to…. — and deeper ear training more with those who want to…

01:39:27 Kimberly DeRosa: Reacted to “I tend to teach from…” with 👍

01:39:34 Mary Muckle: i use the Royal Conservatory Music of Toronto system which offers exams and ear tests and sight reading are a part of the exam repertoire so I teach this from the beginning. this system harks back to the English system ie Royal College of Music., London.

01:39:47 Charlotte Mizener: All that Kimberly is saying are things I did teaching elem. music. Hadn’t thought of doing those things in harp lessons. 3rd graders could sing back in sofa (solfege) patterns I sang on neutral syllable. Teacher can sing pattern and student can play it back. Gradually lengthen the patterns.

01:40:08 Kimberly DeRosa: Reacted to “All that Kimberly is…” with 👍

01:44:33 Charlotte Mizener: Differentiating high-low is a learned behavior. Do lots of practice with students listening to teacher and teacher saying that second note was higher. Then student starts to identify. Also listening and drawing the contour in the air or with pencil & paper, with assistance from teacher as needed.

01:45:34 Annette Bjorling: Oh, I love BOTH ideas for forgotten sheet music!

01:45:46 Annette Bjorling: Yes, Thank you!!!

01:45:49 Jane Hyde: Replying to “How did o’carolan do…”

There’s a lucky 7 yr old I work with who has two harps in his house. We had fun last week tuning the old Troubadour one string at a time against the already tuned Mia – I “drove” the tuning key and asked Dawson to give me a pitch to match. He got to decide if my pitch matched his or not.

01:45:52 Mary Muckle: Thank you

01:45:57 Tiffany Baker: Can you please -play it on triple harp?

01:46:13 Rosemarie Fortney: Great😍

01:46:29 Tiffany Baker: Can you please -play it on triple harp?

01:47:19 Nell Morris: How do I find all the variations of clog dance?

01:47:31 Charlotte Mizener: So good to hear from you, Therese & Kimberly. Also enjoyed the comments in chat. See you next month.

01:48:44 Nell Morris: What video?

01:49:02 Mary Radspinner: I’ll find that video – Mary

01:49:45 Tiffany Baker: Thank you