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Sylvia Woods Harp Center
July 2026 Newsletter
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Over the years, I've discovered that it is often easier to learn a piece if it has lyrics, so you can sing it in your head as you go along. I didn’t add lyrics to my earliest books, but most of my later books and sheets have lyrics when appropriate. I later wrote out the lyrics for three books and put them on my website as FREE PDF Downloads: Sylvia's Book Lyrics.
Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp lyrics.
Hymns and Wedding Music for All Harps lyrics:
The 2011 edition of the "Hymns and Wedding" book includes the lyrics. Earlier editions do not.
Irish Dance Tunes for All Harps lyrics:
Most of the pieces in this book are dance tunes with no lyrics. This PDF includes lyrics to four songs: Rocky Road to Dublin, Little Beggarman, Carrickfergus, and The Parting Glass.
Be sure you check out the FAREWELL SONG LYRICS CONTEST section below. Once you've read the article, start writing as soon as possible. Then add the due date to your calendar so you won't forget to enter your masterpiece in the contest by Sunday, August 2nd.
If you've been reading these newsletters for a while or have ever met me in person, you probably know that I can be very silly. I LOVE being silly and happy. I feel it is what saves my sanity every day. This issue includes some great examples. More silly lyrics will be included in future newsletters, along with the winners of this month's lyrics contest. Stay tuned!
Have fun!
Sylvia
| | Fifty Ways to Set Your Levers | | |
One of the inspirations for this newsletter came from an email that I received last month from my long-time customer, Candace. She had been going through some old paperwork and found a funny poem by harpist Leah Aronow-Brown. It is a spoof of Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" called "50 Ways to Set Your Levers." Candace wasn’t sure where it came from, but she thought it might originally have been printed in an old issue of the Kilt and Harp magazine of the Scottish Harp Society of America. I tried to contact the author, Leah Aronow-Brown, but unfortunately, I believe she has passed away.
With help from Jen McNark and Susan Wiltzer of the Kilt and Harp magazine, and Dave Kolacny of the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen (ISFH&C), we eventually found the original article in the Winter 2001 issue of the ISFH&C's Folk Harp Journal. Dave kindly gave me permission to include it in this newsletter.
By the way, if you are not already a member of the Scottish Harp Society of America or the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen, I highly recommend joining these wonderful organizations.
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Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was released in December 1975 as a single from his “Still Crazy After All These Years” album, and it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 list. If you’re not familiar with the song, you can hear him sing it in this video on Paul Simon’s YouTube channel.
And, now, here are Leah Aronow-Brown’s wonderful lever harp lyrics!
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Fifty Ways to Set Your Levers
by Leah Aronow-Brown
with apologies to Paul Simon
The problem is all inside your key, she said to me
You can't play A sharp if the song's composed in G
You look confused, but it's easy as can be
There must be fifty ways to set your levers.
She said, it grieves me so to see no levers move
But there is something you can do to find the groove
Just set a few, and your song will soon improve
There must be fifty ways to set your levers
Fifty ways to set your levers.
CHORUS:
Just flip up your A, Kay
Natural your C, Lee
Sharp up that F, Jeff
Just listen to me
Don't use a harsh touch
You don't need to fuss much
Don't flat the B, see?
Just play the right key.
I flipped one lever, and it gave me quite a fight
I finally got it with a motion swift and light
And then I flipped some more
And I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to set your levers
Fifty ways to set your levers.
REPEAT THE CHORUS
Thank you, Leah, for making us all smile and laugh. May you rest in peace.
| | The Farewell Song Lyrics Contest | | |
Here's the second fun thing that inspired this newsletter!
Many people tell me that Farewell is one of their favorite pieces in my Teach Yourself book. I have tried to find the lyrics to this beautiful Scottish song, but I have never been successful. If any of you know the correct lyrics, please email them to me.
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Many, many years ago, one of my students told me she made up lyrics for Farewell. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who my student was, but I definitely remember all the lyrics! Here they are.
Fare thee well, Fare thee well now. Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well.
Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well now. Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well.
Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well now. Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well.
Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well now. Fare thee well, Oh fare thee well.
Well, they aren’t the most interesting or original lyrics, are they? But they do work!
Last month, one of my students mentioned in her lesson that she is a poet, and so she’d write some lyrics for Farewell to help her learn it. And that gave me the following brilliant idea.
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FAREWELL SONG LYRICS CONTEST
I have created a contest to see who can write the best lyrics for Farewell. The words can be funny, silly, stupid, romantic, serious, sad, mournful, historical, hysterical, or whatever you’d like. They just need to be your original words. Please do not use Artificial Intelligence, or "borrow" from other songs or people. Of course, you may work with another person as a "team."
If you don’t have my Teach Yourself book, you can download a free PDF of Farewell and also listen to an mp3 of me playing the song.
How I'll choose the winners will depend on the number of submissions I receive.
The winners will each receive a $50 Sylvia Woods Harp Center gift certificate. The winning lyrics will be included in a future newsletter.
Lyrics must be submitted by the end of Sunday, August 2nd, to enter the contest.
Start writing NOW and then add the due date to your calendar so you won't forget to submit your masterpiece in time.
When you are ready to enter the contest, click here to submit your lyrics. You may include as many verses as you would like in your submission. But if you have written more than one song, for example, one about a leprechaun and another about a dinosaur, please submit a new form for each one.
I can't wait to see (and sing along to) the lyrics you create. Good luck!
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When I was very young, I used to play a duet with my father on the piano. We played Nola, which was written by Felix Arndt in 1915 as an engagement gift for his fiancée, Nola. Although it was originally a piano solo, it became popular with orchestras in the 1950s.
In the duet version my father arranged for us, he played most of the piece, and I just played the last melody note of each short phrase with my index finger, about every 4 notes. Luckily, the notes were all close together on the piano keyboard. I played B A B A, E D C# B, A G F# E. Father then played the following, more complex short section by himself, until the original melody returned.
We played Nola much, much, much slower than pianist Cory Hall plays it in this YouTube video, but the video's first 18 seconds feature the section that we played over and over. I played the notes that Cory plays with the pinky of his right hand, which are marked in red in the lyrics below.
And, of course, we made up our own lyrics for this part of the song, spelling out Nola’s name, one letter at a time!
N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A.
N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A.
N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A, N-O-L-A.
As you can see, our lyrics were as original, innovative, unique, and brilliant as my former student's "Farewell" lyrics. 😂
| Pachelbel's Canon's SPAM Lyrics | |
"Back in the day," the word SPAM referred to a type of canned meat from Hormel. As I mentioned in the Kauai Restaurants section of my October 2018
newsletter, that's still what it means here in Hawaii.
Of course, nowadays, the word "spam" also has a totally different, and annoying, meaning regarding emails. As my sister Sheryl joked last week: "Spam used to be edible, and now it is indigestible."
In the 1990s, my friend Patti and I played handbells in the bell choir at Glendale First United Methodist Church in Southern California. In 2001, Patti was having problems with the timing in Pachelbel's Canon. Although she is a good musician, she admits that counting is not her strong suit, especially when the music has lots of 16th notes.
At that time, I had recently bought a fun book by John Nagimicho Cho called SPAM-KU, which includes over 150 SPAM-inspired haiku poems. That book inspired me to write SPAM lyrics to help Patti. I printed them on her copy of the music. By singing the lyrics in her head, she was able to play it perfectly!
When I called Patti a few weeks ago to tell her about this newsletter, she sent me this music that she had kept for 25 years.
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This month's sale features my Groovy Songs of the 60s, since it includes three songs by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel: 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy), Bookends, and Old Friends.
My silly SPAM lyrics for a section of Pachelbel's Canon may help you learn part of this piece.
Harpers Are Not Bizarre is a very silly song that I wrote in 1982 on my way home from an Alan Stivell concert in Santa Barbara. You can watch a video of me playing and singing it on the product page.
Farewell is in my Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp book. I'm also including my other two books that have free downloadable PDFs of the lyrics, as I mentioned above.
To get the 15% discount, enter the code word Lyrics in the "Enter Promo Code" box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code" by August 2, 2026. See the "How to get the 15% discount" section at the bottom of this newsletter for more information.
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Groovy Songs of the 60s
including 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy), Bookends, and Old Friends
by Simon and Garfunkel
arranged by Sylvia Woods
PDF or Book
15% off with Lyrics code
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Pachelbel's Canon
for harp solo,
harp duet, or
harp and flute or violin
arranged by Sylvia Woods
Book or PDF, CD or mp3
15% off with Lyrics code
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Harpers Are Not Bizarre
composed by Sylvia Woods
PDF or Sheet
15% off with Lyrics code
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Teach Yourself to Play
the Folk Harp
including Farewell
by Sylvia Woods
Book or PDF, CD or mp3, DVD
15% off with Lyrics code
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Irish Dance Tunes
arranged by Sylvia Woods
Book or PDF, CD or mp3
15% off with Lyrics code
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Hymns and Wedding Music
arranged by Sylvia Woods
Book or PDF, CD or mp3
15% off with Lyrics code
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How to get the 15% discount
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15% off select sale items when you use the code word Lyrics
Our newsletter promo codes are redeemable online and are only valid for the products listed above in the monthly sale section. They are not valid for phone or email orders. This month's code word is Lyrics.
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 Lyrics in the "Enter Promo Code" box and click "Apply."
The actual price of the featured sale products on this page will then automatically change to reflect the discount. For example,
Unit Price: $9.95 (the original price)
Total Price: $8.46 (the discounted price)
You'll also see a note below the Promo Code box that shows the name of the promo code you entered and the percentage discount.
REMEMBER: You must enter this month's code word Lyrics in the Promo Code box and click "Apply" on your shopping cart page by August 2, 2026, to get the discount!
If you forget or have trouble adding it to your order, email Sylvia immediately.
This offer expires at the end of the day on 8/2/26.
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Sylvia Woods Harp Center
Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii
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