Beginning in 1986 with one tenacious woman’s dream of learning to play the harp, Island Mountain Arts’ is beyond excited to welcome everyone back for the 40th Anniversary of the Harp school.
Join us for 5 days of dedicated instructor classes, special-interest afternoons, concerts, potlucks and more!
Where: Wells, BC - Lhtako Dene Territory - Dakelh and Secwépemc traditional-use area
Who: Sunita Staneslow (Novice/Intermediate), Sharlene Wallace (Intermediate/Advanced), Tristan LeGovic (Intermediate/Advanced)
When: August 10th - 14th, with welcome the evening of the 9th
How Much: $479 Early Bird + Taxes and Fees; $579 Regular + Taxes and Fees
Your Instructors
Sunita in Unst
Sunita Staneslow - Novice/Intermediate
About Sunita’s Class
We will take a deep dive into musicality and focus on the skills needed to create beautiful music. Building coordination and control is a journey. Sunita will share tips on practicing that can boost your technique while enjoying and listening to the music you create.
We will work with a number of patterns that will become automatic. Landing the fingers in groups and patterns allows your fingers to control the tone and dynamics. We will work on creating flowing arpeggios between the left and right hands that will keep you inspired to play with greater dynamics, breath and freedom. We will learn a few gorgeous melodies and understand some of the unique skills needed to create phrases on the harp.
The goal is to boost your technique and develop habits that elevate your playing so you can enjoy playing the music you choose. Technique, creativity, musicality and beauty are entwined. Sunita has been focusing on phrasing and fluid movement for decades and she will share all her secrets. The Novice/ Intermediate class is the perfect level to understand how to hone the techniques that will help us play beautifully and enjoy the journey.
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Special Interest Class: Therapeutic Harp Music
Delve into the world of a therapeutic musician and learn how the sound of the harp can become a cradle of sound. Explore ways the harp can soothe, distract and inspire someone who is ill or in pain. We will work with different modes and improvise over a descending bass line. Keeping the music simple and being aware of breath and phrasing is the essence of therapeutic harp and builds the skills needed to play musically at all levels.
About Sunita
Sunita’s love of travel and adventure has inspired her to become a versatile performer and arranger. Originally from Minnesota, Sunita spent the past two decades living in Israel, teaching and performing with local musicians before moving to Shetland. Drawing from Celtic, Jewish and classical traditions, Sunita’s playing is deeply expressive and creative. Working as a
therapeutic harpist in a children’s hospital near Tel Aviv enhanced her lyrical and improvisational style. Sunita’s numerous books of harp arrangements reflect her love of music from diverse genres and are played by harpists around the world.
A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and a passionate teacher, Sunita has been a regular instructor at the Island Mountain Arts Harp School in Wells. Every year, you will find Sunita featured at harp festivals across North America and Scotland in addition to the on-line Harp Column Academy. With decades of experience as a performer, teacher, arranger and therapeutic harpist, Sunita’s music offers beauty, reflection, and a sense of connection that resonates with harpists and audiences alike.
You can find Sunita walking her dog by the North Sea, learning to knit or helping her husband restore an historic stone house on Haroldswick Bay in Shetland. Sunita leads boutique harp tours in Scotland and harp retreats in Tuscany and Shetland. You can listen to her on YouTube, Spotify and on her website concert series.
Find Sunita Online:
Website: https://hamars.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunita.staneslow
Instagram: @sunitastaneslow
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sunitaharp
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tX9xtb6eBbSXJrt2vZnsi?si=ucYmz6s2THCMAHpF5BwJqA
The inimitable Sharlene Wallace
Sharlene Wallace - Intermediate/Advanced Harp Class:
About Sharlene’s Class
Inspiration. Fluidity. Beauty. Harp-Joy!
Sharlene's Intermediate/Advanced harp class will offer INSPIRATION from new tunes, exercises and arranging, FLUIDITY from technical ease and pattern recognition, BEAUTY in tone and phrasing and HARP-JOY with playing and sharing together. You are encouraged to bring a piece, composition or arrangement with you. Sharlene will include time for what you are already playing/working on amidst the new tunes, exercises, arranging, improvising, Shar-Philosophies and over all Harp-Fun!
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Special Interest Class: The Wisdoms of Shar
Join Sharlene's special class of wisdoms and encouragements with technique, exercises and practicing suggestions. Conversations to inspire and to answer your questions about technique and playing.
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About Sharlene
Sharlene Wallace is a Canadian lever and pedal harp player, composer, educator and visual explorer, all through which she expresses her relationship to space, the natural world and intuition.
Winner of two international lever harp competitions, Sharlene has given concerts and workshops across Canada, the United States and in Europe and toured with Ron Korb (flutes), George Koller (bass), Joseph Macerollo (accordion), Kim Robertson (Celtic harp), Harp & Holly (Sandra Swannell, Terry Young, Rob Ritchie) and Susan Piltch (flute, piano). Sharlene is a founding member of the trio Iona Passage with pianist Eric Robertson and fiddle player Anne Lindsay.
Sharlene is an influential figure in the lever harp world for her performances, recordings, compositions, teaching and for her use of this instrument in contemporary and original music. Commissions written for Sharlene include Rodney Sharman’s Music for Lever Harp, Strings and Percussion and Alfredo Rolando Ortiz’s Niagara Moon.
Sharlene’s own compositions are featured throughout her nine independent albums. In 2024 she released two albums for lever harp and electronics: Lilac Embers, an album of Shar-compositions for acoustic and electric lever harps with electronics by Jean Martin, and Trees.Listen, a co-composition recording-performance-environmental project with composer Frank Horvat for Celtic harp and fixed electronics. Trees.Listen’s live performance includes photo / video projections by Sharlene.
Sharlene has taught lever and pedal harp privately, in four universities and in workshops across North America, including over three decades for Island Mountain Arts in Wells, BC. She herself has a performance degree from the University of Toronto where she studied with the harp oracle Judy Loman. Sharlene is also a graphic designer, photographer and will defend accordion music to the very end.
Find Sharlene Online:
Website: https://sharlenewallace.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharlene.wallace
Instagram: @sharwallace
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sharwallace
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4TDwf1EgGFmLIScP2HIGTS?si=tV-GKaJeSmGRApnUcJPM9Q
Tristan Le Govic - Intermediate/Advanced Harp Class:
About Tristan’s Class | Breton music: swing it!
Rhythm is a fundamental element of music. In traditional music, swing brings the tunes to life. Without understanding it, all the tunes would sound the same. This course is for those who wish to delve deeper into the traditional style and the most important swings of Breton music, such as those found in the An dro, the Hanter-dro, and other typical dances.
No prior knowledge is required. You may have already played Breton music, or you may not. We will begin by gradually learning a few tunes, step by step, and then we will explore arrangements and variations. The best way to feel the swing of a tune is to share it with others; therefore, working in a group is essential. It may even be the only way to truly understand it. Ear training is indispensable in this workshop.
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Special Interest Class: Improvisation
In this workshop, we'll learn to improvise using tools to create groovy bass lines, rich chords, and melodic elements. No prior knowledge is required. We'll proceed step by step, using simple tools to grasp the process, with a touch of theory and a dash of analysis (nothing complicated, just for the joy of learning). Whether you learn by ear or with music, you're welcome.
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About Tristan
Originally from Brittany, Tristan Le Govic holds a PhD in musicology from the University of Rennes. A gold medalist in Celtic harp and a graduate of the DEM (Diploma of Teaching Music) specializing in traditional music, his musical and pedagogical style has been shaped by numerous exchanges, particularly within the countries where he has lived: Ireland, Scotland, and Sweden.
As a soloist or with various ensembles, he regularly performs at major music festivals, including the Lorient Interceltic Festival, the Dinan International Celtic Harp Festival, and Yaouank in Rennes, as well as in Germany (Interkeltisches Folkfestival), England (Harp on Wight), Belgium (HarpDag), Scotland (Celtic Connections, Edinburgh International Harp Festival), Spain (Noia Harp Fest), Italy (Insubria, Celtic Harp International Academy), the Netherlands (International Harp Friends Meeting), Wales (Cwlwm Celtaidd), the Czech Republic (Prague), Sweden (Nordic Harp Meeting, Öresunds HarpHelg), the United States (Somerset Folk Harp Festival, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans), Canada (Island Mountain Arts), and Russia (ArpaVita).
In 2018, as part of a trio with Tangi Le Hénanff (double bass) and Alan Quéré-Moysan (drums), he won the Nevez Flamm trophy, celebrating innovation in Fest Noz groups (folk dances). Their subsequent CD Dañs, is the result of their collaboration. Publisher of numerous collections of sheet music for Celtic harp, he notably published the Antologiezh Telenn Breizh (The Breton Harp Anthology), a three-volume collection featuring the best harpists in Brittany (Alan Stivell, Kristen Noguès, etc.). Excerpts, videos, and blog articles are available online at www.tristanlegovic.eu
Find Tristan Online:
Website: www.tristanlegovic.eu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tristanlegovic