Back from The Harpers' Escape

The Harpers' Escape is a place to develop a severe case of harp envy.

The Harpers' Escape weekend has come and gone. I had an enjoyable experience, and I hope I get to attend the event next year. My fear of driving there and back was largely unfounded. The main highways (in my case routes 78 and 287) were easy-going, and the only real issues I experienced where close to the Rutger's University campus where the event was held. Despite the fact that I was using a new GPS system, a software version which according to their website should display the location accurately, the GPS insisted upon placing the address a few miles down the road from the actual site. While getting ready to depart for home, I turned on the navigation system in the parking lot and it couldn't even pinpoint where I was — apparently the Conference Center must be some sort of mystical non-place which confounds GPS units and some web-based map services. Thankfully I had printed out directions for the route home so I wasn't completely stranded (although I did take a wrong turn at one point and was lost for a little bit which was not a pleasant experience). The Continuing Studies Conference Center is a beautiful property, located on the grounds of the former Lindenwood Estate. The mansion held the conference rooms where we had most of our workshops and there were lots of mature, gnarled trees, including some majestic Yews, shading the grounds. The hotel rooms were in a newer wing so they lacked some of the character of the rest of the property but were still very comfortable. The catered meals were delicious.

The first night was the harp circle where we snugly assembled 38+ harpers into one room. We went around the circle, introducing ourselves and playing a tune. I chose to play "Wendell's Wedding", a song I really love playing and which I knew would be familiar to at least one or two of the instructors of the event (my own harp teacher has attended this event and her teacher Kathy DeAngelo is one of the organizers so I figured she learned it from her). I was hoping they would join in to camouflage the mistakes I was sure to make while playing in front of more confident, competent harpers for the first time. Little did I know that "Wendell's Wedding" is the unofficial theme song of the Harpers' Escape and it seemed that more than 3/4s of the other harpers joined in shortly after I started. Not only that, but they play the tune at almost double the tempo at which I'm used to playing it. I got swept away by the waves of sound from the surrounding harps and no one even noticed when I was too nervous to keep up. The second day was largely spent learning two new songs, in my case "Buachaill Ón Éirne" and "Tobin's Favourite." I'm used to learning by ear, but I've never been taught two whole songs in the space of a few hours and it was definitely a challenge. Although we went over both the right and left hand portions, after working on the melodies for both songs a switch flipped in my brain indicating that it had reached its maximum absorption point for the day (I hate it when that happens) so the only part of the songs I was able to retain was the right hand. It's a very different dynamic learning tunes in a small group versus on an individual basis. For future reference, it's never a good idea to sit directly across from the teacher as you have no chance of seeing her hands on the strings properly at that angle. I was relieved to learn that other attendees had also reached their mental absorption quotas fairly early in the day, and later that evening at the teachers' concert one of the instructors even confessed that after a certain point, "hitting a wall" was an apt description for how most of us felt. That evening they held an impromptu session in the dining area. Gráinne played her concertina while Billy took up his bouzouki and whistles (not at the same time, of course), and Kathy bowed her fiddle, all surrounded by a small circle of harpers. I happily observed from a distance for a short time but my exhaustion got the better of me and I headed to bed before it was over. On Sunday the teachers and the majority of students packed our harps and our luggage back into our vehicles and formed a caravan trailing to the New Brunswick public library located a few miles away. There we set up our harps, tuning them for at least the hundredth time in the past 2 days, in front of a small sea of folding chairs. After we were cautiously arranged on the stage platform, the visitors started to file into the rows and be seated. After a short introduction about the history and goals of the Harpers'Escape event, the instructors each took a turn speaking about their background and then playing a tune or two. Then, the spotlight turned to us as a group. We played some of our newly-learned tunes as well as some Harpers' Escape favorites (including "Wendell's Wedding"). The strange thing was that I experienced virtually none of the typical anxiety and stage fright I usually feel when being the focus of someone else's attention. It was surely awkward to try to play songs I had only just learned, but I was frustrated by that rather than by the idea of performing. I'm not sure if this was because I did not know anyone in the audience and it's probably not likely that I will ever meet and/or recognize them again or because after all the initial stress I expended before the event, every other stress paled in comparison, but either way I was thankful.