Sylvia Woods Harp Center 
February 2017 Newsletter
Sylvia   A Personal Note from Sylvia
Heart and harp


I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day. And I hope that your true love gave you the PERFECT Valentine's gift to tell you know how much they love you.  Would that be chocolate?  Flowers? Jewelry?  NO!  Nothing says "I Love You" like a new harp or harp music! 

Sylvia
P.S  It is not too late! If you didn't get the "perfect" present for Valentine's Day, now's the time to stop dropping hints for next month.  What better gift for St. Patrick's Day than the gift of Celtic harp music!
ThronesHarps in TV Commercials
I've noticed a lot of harps being used in TV commercials recently.  Here are some examples.

I saw this Realtor.com commercial last week.  Here's a description from the iSpot.tv website:

"Inside a walk-in closet, a woman is getting her back rubbed by a pink trench coat. Suddenly, Elizabeth Banks appears on the ottoman next to her playing a harp and the woman explains that she dreams about finding this closet every night. Banks tells her to dream no longer, because with Realtor.com, she can find homes for sale and search for her dream closet."



Last year, Bobby Moynihan played a variety of percussion instruments in a Pizza Hut commercial for their bacon stuffed crust pizza.  There was a pedal harp in the background.






In a 2016 Sprint commercial called The Mission, the spokesman traveled the country betting people that the Sprint network was faster than their network. One of the items in the bet was a Lyon & Healy Troubadour harp.







Charlie the Tuna has been playing the harp for Starkist Tuna for at least 40 years! The image on the right was from a 1976 commercial, and the images below are from 2016.  His technique doesn't seem to have improved over the years.  He obviously has not have been taking lessons from a qualified harp teacher!














commercialThe BEST Harp Commercial
And now I'd like to feature the Laughing Cow cheese commercial . . . because it features REAL harpists.





No . . . not the cow . . .










But these real harpists!


The harpist on the right is Gracie Sprout. She and her family first came into my Glendale Harp Center store in 2000 when Gracie was 8.  They rented a harp from me, and that started Gracie on her harp journey.  I'm so proud of her!

I asked Gracie to tell us about her commercial experience.  Here's her reply.

We all were selected through a traditional commercial audition at a casting call for "real Harpists." Thankfully we didn't have to bring our harps to the audition. In the first round of auditions they had us mime and in call-backs, they had a harp for us to play so they could see what we looked like when we played. 

The other harp players with me in the Laughing Cow commercial were Charissa Barger, Jackie Urlik, Andrea Anya Saens and Leah Cecil.
 
Carolyn Sykes was also there to direct the group and look over a harp that she rented to the production company (the harp that the cow plays in the commercial). That harp was completely de-strung so they could put in computer generated strings. 

I loved that everyone they picked for the commercial were trained Harpists. We've all seen the commercials and tv shows where the "harpist" on screen obviously does not know how to play the instrument and it can be pretty frustrating to watch. In this case, I'd say our group was almost over-qualified for the gig. We all have college degrees in harp performance and are trained professionals. 
 
The filming process was pretty easy. After getting into hair and makeup, we set up the harps and ran through "Pachelbel's Cannon in D" about 4 times so they could get different camera angles and then we were done! 
 
The most valuable thing I took away from this experience was definitely connecting with the other harpists. There are so few gigs that bring more than two Harpists together. And having six Harpists all in one room? That's almost unheard of! The harp world is so small, and everyone is so busy. It was great to sit down and get to know the other harpists in town.

-- Gracie Sprout



arrangerPDF update
Alfredo Ortiz
I'm happy to announce that, once again, I'm selling the wonderful publications by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz.  Alfredo is THE expert on South American harps and music.  Even if you don't play a Paraguayan harp, you'll find these books fascinating, with fun Latin rhythms.  There are books for ANY level.  Check out Alfredo's PDFs on his author page.

P.S. Alfredo's PDFs are NOT part of this month's 15% off sale.
ExtravaganzaLos Angeles Harp Extravaganza
AHS Extravaganza
If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, this notice is for YOU!

For the past 18 years, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Harp Society has been presenting Christmas Harp Extravaganzas.  About 20 to 30 harp players of all ages and levels, and playing any type of harp, have gotten together to play Christmas music for the general public in one big "extravaganza!"

This year, they're adding something NEW . . . A Celtic Extravaganza the day after St. Patrick's Day.  It will be 2 pm on Saturday, March 18 at the Mt. Lowe Brewery, 150 E. St. Joseph St in Arcadia, California.

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a pro, or the size of your harp, if you want to play you'll be welcome!  You don't have to play all the pieces. You don't have to play with both hands.  Just come and be part of the extravaganza!

I'm happy to be selling a majority of the music needed for this fun event. You can find it on our Celtic Extravaganza page.

For more information, and to sign up
for the event, please contact
Alison Bjorkedal at
alison@alisonbjorkedal.com  

I'm sorry I won't be able to join you at this Extravaganza, since I'll be in Hawaii.  But I know you'll all have a fantastic time . . . and make a lot of people very happy to be able to see and hear so many harps.

P.S. One of the books that will be used for this event is my 50 Irish Melodies book, which is part of this month's sale!  Don't forget to add the Promo Code to your order. (See the sale info below.)
thisMonthsSaleThis month's sale
This month's sale features my multi-level books, sheets, and PDFs.  Multi-level books include both easy and more advanced arrangements of each piece.

To get the 15% discount, enter the code word multi in the Promo Code box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code" by February 28, 2017. For more information, see the 15% Off section at the bottom of this newsletter.   
15% off with multi code
 
15% off with multi code

15% off with multi code

Hymns and Wedding Book
15% off with multi code
 
15% off with multi code
 
15% off with multi code

15% off with multi code
 
15% off with multi code

4 Holiday Favorites
15% off with multi code
 
promocodes15% off select sale items when you use the code word: multi

Our newsletter promo codes are only redeemable on-line, and can only be used for the books and PDFs featured in the sale section of this newsletter. They are not valid for phone or e-mail orders. This month's code word is multi and it is good for 15% off the 9 Sylvia Woods books and PDFs featured above.
 
Here's how to get your newsletter discount at harpcenter.com : 
#1. Put the items you want to purchase in your cart. 
#2. On the page where you view the items in your cart, type this month's code word multi in the "Promo Code" box, and click on "Enter Code."
The actual price of the featured sale products on this page will then automatically change to reflect the discount. You'll also see a note below the Promo Code box saying the name of the promo code you entered, and the percentage amount of the discount.  
 
REMEMBER:  you must enter the this month's code word multi in the Promo Code box
and click "Enter Code" on your shopping cart page by February 28
to get the discount!
If you forget, or if you have trouble adding it to your order,
email us immediately .   

offer expires at the end of the day on 2/28/2017.
Sylvia Woods Harp Center
  (808) 212-9525
newsletter@harpcenter.com
http://www.harpcenter.com

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