Jazzin' It Up With the Harp
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Jazzin' It Up With the Harp
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- Did You Know?
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Gloria Galante produced two Therapeutic Harp CDs to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
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Galante & Pope Harp-Sax Ensemble
This assembly program offers a rare opportunity to see the harp up close and performed in a jazz setting! Combined with saxophone, piano, bass, and/or percussions, this versatile ensemble puts a whole new slant on jazz from Dorothy's Somewhere over the Rainbow to Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man.
Gloria helps students discover the joy and beauty of music as they listen to the variety of wonderful sounds of the harp and are introduced to the history of this unique instrument. The harp is one of the most ancient of the stringed instruments. Remains of harps have been found in Egyptian tombs that are 6000 years old. The harp’s beautiful sound and aesthetic triangular shape have captured people’s imaginations for many centuries, and even today, the fascination lives on. Harp music has experienced resurgence in popularity in recent years. Reflecting this, harps are now regularly part of ensembles in traditions as widely varied as folk, early music, Renaissance, popular and jazz, as well as world and fusion styles.
Gloria Galante leads the program on the harp and is accompanied by Odean Pope on saxophone. Schools can also book a larger ensemble that includes percussionist and bassist.
Magic and Magnificence of the Harp
with Gloria Galante
Designed for smaller audiences, this intimate solo harp program features harps from around the world, a slide presentation, and a mini-harp lesson. Music from Baroque to modern makes this a complete experience, as the audience sees first hand how this ancient instrument produces its unforgettable sounds. This program concludes by bringing the audience into 20th and 21st century jazz!
The Irish harp, still used today, is a fairly small instrument, and has between 22 and 34 strings…. The harp evolved from a hunter’s bow and arrow. In Ireland and Scotland, harps, in the form we now know them, were first in evidence in the 9th Century A.D. These early harps had metal strings, and the sound box was usually carved from a single log. They were a focal point of Celtic music, reaching their greatest use between 1000 and 1750. A bit later these small harps were strung with gut and played in the royal courts of Europe. This is the harp that evolved into the pedal harp, which is used in orchestras today.