{"id":2920,"date":"2015-12-09T08:36:57","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T08:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harpblog.info\/?p=2920"},"modified":"2017-06-29T07:20:08","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T07:20:08","slug":"cambridge-jazz-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.camac-harps.com\/blog\/en\/uncategorized\/cambridge-jazz-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"A day with Tara Minton…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Telynau<\/a>As with the recent Princeton Harp Festival<\/a>, our involvement in the Cambridge Jazz Festival<\/a> was a collaboration with one of our international partners. We have a wide network of distributors<\/a>\u00a0over the world, and we often co-sponsor projects with them. I was delighted to be able to go to Cambridge with Telynau Vining Harps<\/a>!\u00a0Telynau Vining is based in Cardiff, but like us is frequently on the road with exhibitions, events and regulation opportunities.<\/p>\n

It takes particular force of character to be a harp distributor in Britain, because every time you unlock the back doors of the van, God realises you are about to move thirty\u00a0harps\u00a0and sends hurricane gusts and torrential rain to be your guide. Undeterred, we set up in Clare College’s attractive Garden Room, and welcomed a big turn-out of all ages and stages to Tara Minton<\/a>‘s workshop. Working with\u00a0lever and pedal harp alike, Tara began with modal jazz, before turning to harmonic jazz in the second half. In fact, participants didn’t begin by playing their harps at all – but rather by breathing, and singing improvised melodies to express emotions called out by Tara, such as happiness, or anxiety. Everybody, no matter how young, got a chance to solo against the backing of the harp big band, and everyone left with a good overview of the different possibilities available, if you dare to exit your classical comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\t\t