This weekend of weddings has been a fine reminder of the importance of wet weather backups! With record amounts of rainfall and stormy conditions prevalent any outdoor events were pretty much doomed.

Whenever an outdoor function is planned it is always imagined with the background of perfect weather conditions. And when that happens it is great. But we all know what Melbourne’s weather can be like...

Weekends such as this one are always difficult especially for a bride and groom loath to let go their often long-held dream of an outdoor wedding. But when the unfortunate reality is storm clouds rather than the fluffy white kind the hard decision has to be faced.

While no one wants to see a bridal couple disappointed with any aspect of their wedding ,no bridal couple wants to have the wedding which is remembered for everyone getting soaked! So the moral of the weekend- have a wet weather option and don’t be afraid to use it!

The harp and I actually got to be in a play last week, treading the boards at the La Mama theatre in Carlton. My previous experiences of productions has largely involved squeezing into an orchestral pit and being told what to do, which turned out to be completely the wrong preparation for this particular occasion.

I had been approached a few months back by director Catherine Hill to be part of an adaption of ‘The Beckoning Fair One’, a labour of love for herself and writer Abe Pogos. Based on the classic ghost story by Oliver Onions the adaption required a harp to represent the ghost with the traditional Welsh melody ‘The Beckoning Fair One’.  “No problems” said I, assuming wrongly that I would just turn up, play ‘The Beckoning Fair One’ and then settle back to enjoy the show.

As adaptors Catherine and Abe have far more imagination than I could ever muster. They actually wrote the part for the harp/harpist in the same way they would any other character in the play and presented me with a list of truly fantastical requirements. All of a sudden I wasn’t just playing the dots on the page but coming up with sounds to represent a dripping tap, the passing of time, ghostly knocks and bumps, and best of all the sound of the ghost brushing her hair (hands dragged up the soundboard for those who may be interested).

I even got to make a cameo appearance on centre stage, sneaking into position with my smallest lap harp to play the main melody and frighten the leading actor out of his wits. This was the closest I came to acting- reacting to the actor as he recoiled in horror at the sight of me. As I am quite used to people recoiling in horror at the sight of me I did not find this part particularly challenging.

The production was presented under the auspices of the La Mama Explorations series, a kind of off-Broadway try out. The hope is now that the play will go into full production somewhere in the near future, so keep your eye out for the ghostly Beckoning Fair One...

It's a busy time at Melbourne Harp Music at the moment! I have received official approval to register the name as a business (up until now it was an ensemble name) but it only after a tussle with the logic of a computer. I had tried to register it on line- as you do- but was rejected as it was too similar to Melbourne Bridal Hairup... Fortunately the nice people in charge of the system were more reasonable!

Congratulations as well to all my students who performed at the recent Student Concert! It was great that everyone had a go and that we all got to enjoy such a wide variety of music and playing styles. There has been some great progress made this year- just remember to keep your thumbs up!

More later on the oft-postponed solo CD as well as the Miscellany Ensemble CD- both works in progress!