Harp and Flute Concert in Streetly

The flute and harp partner together as synonymously as wine and cheese – it’s just a natural combination.  Jennifer and I played a wide range of pieces and entertained the guests for nearly an hour.

It was a bright, sunny morning in February when Jennifer and I entertained an audience at All Saints Parish Church in Streetly, Sutton Coldfield with an eclectic mix of classical and contemporary pieces.

Jennifer and I met in a most unusual way.  A few months earlier, a close friend of Jennifer’s purchased a gift voucher from me for harp lessons and gave it to Jennifer for a birthday present (I have just started offering harp lessons in Sutton Coldfield.  Having always wanted to try out the harp, Jennifer booked her lessons with me and we spent an equal amount of time working on harp technique as talking!  I learned about her family and background, and when the subject of musical experience came up, she shared that she had played the flute for many years but hadn’t brushed it off for a while.

After the harp lessons we agreed to get together to play music together, and held a couple proper Jam Sessions trying out songs and working together.

When I was approached by All Saints Parish Church to play the harp for their Coffee Morning, I immediately asked Jennifer if she would like to join me.  It was a natural fit as Jennifer lives in the local community and is an active supporter (you can read all about her position for Walsall North on her Facebook page).

We prepared an hour-long concert of music interspersed with some information about our respective instruments, lives, musical experience and how we came to be playing together.  Our repertoire included:

Flower Duet by Lakme

Moon River

Danny Boy

Ave Maria

My Heart Will Go On from the movie Titanic

After the concert, the audience gave us a lovely round of applause and spent time seeing our instruments up close and chatting with us about their musical backgrounds.  It was a really warm, wonderful morning and I hope we are able to do it again.