Sylvia Woods Harp Center
February 2022 Newsletter
Wow! I got more emails about my January newsletter than any other previous issue. I'm so happy you all enjoyed the article about my name. I had so much fun writing it. I even heard from a few other Sylvias. Here's my favorite email.

I got your newsletter today and really enjoyed it, as my name is Sylvia as well. My last name, "Lim," actually means "forest" or "woods" in Chinese. So like you, both my first and last names refer to the woods!
You are right; it is not a very common name, at least here in the States. I was born in Germany, where it was more common. When I was younger, I often traveled to Latin America for work. People would ask me, "Why do you have a Spanish name?" At one point, I had a boyfriend whose mother, sister, and neighbor were all named Sylvia!
Thank you, Sylvia Lim, for sharing your story!
Rhett at Piedmont
In this month's newsletter, I'm proud to feature Rhett Barnwell and his arrangements. This photo shows him with three harps at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Reading Rhett's article reminded me that it was 53 years ago this month that I wandered into the harp room at the University of Redlands and asked the harp professor, Marjorie Call, if she would teach me to play the harp. Little did I know how much that one question would change my life -- for the BETTER!

-- Sylvia
New Music at Harpcenter.com
Here are some of the PDFs that I've added to harpcenter.com this past month.

Technical Exercises for Lever Harp is designed to help lever harp players develop the technical skills they need to increase dexterity and speed.

The Lost Songs of St. Kilda. These five hauntingly sweet tunes from the archipelago of St. Kilda were snatched from oblivion by a happy coincidence. Read Laura's explanation and watch the video to learn about this amazing story.
Our Featured Arranger: Rhett Barnwell
Rhett Barnwell
Rhett Barnwell is our featured arranger this month. Here's what he has to say about himself and his music.

It seems that many harpists, especially those who play the folk harp, come from an eclectic background, and my journey is no exception. People often ask me, "Where did you grow up?" My answer is "Well, I haven't yet…", but I guess the suitable answer would be "Macon, Georgia, a small town in the middle of nowhere." I sang in the Junior Choir at the Episcopal Church. The church had a beautiful pipe organ with an excellent and venerable organist, and I quickly developed a fascination and love for organ music. My parents loved classical music, and my mother took out her violin once a year at Christmas. But most of my musical exposure was listening to my father's classical, jazz, and easy listening records.

When I was ten, we moved to Greenville, SC, and I was introduced to the cello at school. I fell in love with the instrument, and that love has never abated. I also became fascinated with various other instruments. I bought a clarinet at a pawn shop with the proceeds of a summer candy store in our garage! However, I had virtually no formal training, and as I began to discover more instruments, I just figured out how to play them as best I could. I essentially taught myself the piano from watching my sisters practice for their lessons, and then in middle and high school, I took up the bassoon and French horn. By my senior year, I had decided to take music seriously and had formal lessons on cello and horn; the two "loves of my life" at the time.
I was accepted to a prestigious architectural school for college, but at the last minute, I chose to pursue music as my major. When it became necessary to concentrate on one instrument, I transferred to Florida State University to earn a Bachelor's degree in French horn performance. In my senior year, harp professor Mary Brigid Roman put up posters recruiting students, so I decided to give it a try. The harp studio was next to the horn studio, and it was impossible to resist all those beautiful high-gloss ebony Salvi Diana harps beckoning to me. Ms. Roman, who is still teaching at FSU after more than 50 years, was and is an incredible teacher. She said that I "took to the harp, like a duck to water." I only wish I had discovered the harp sooner, but I was on my way to pursuing a career as a horn player.

After graduating from FSU, I earned a Master's degree in horn performance from St. Louis Conservatory, with a minor in cello. There was no harp studio, so I didn't have a chance to play for some years. I was very fortunate, though, to play horn in some amazing professional situations. I was Principal Horn of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and Charleston. I also played with the AIMS Orchestra of Graz, Austria, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife of Spain, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, and many other orchestras around the U.S.
Rhett at Easter
I eventually settled in Atlanta, Georgia, and wanted to do something with music that had more personal meaning to me and would help others. I voluntarily gave up a promising career as a professional horn player and took a full-time job as a church musician, choral director, and teacher. One day the idea hit me that I should take up the harp again and use it for therapeutic purposes. I had played the harp only sporadically since college and had no money at all to buy one. But, since I felt strongly about this, I ordered a Musicmakers Gothic harp.

Along with my best friend and seminary student and some of her hospice nurse friends, we set off into completely uncharted waters! It was the early 1990s, pre-internet, and I had no idea anyone else was trying to do the same thing with healing music. Although I had no formal training in this kind of work and could barely play the harp, I felt called to assist in any way that I could. A hospice in Atlanta asked my friend and me to play for their patients. We played there every week and at hospitals, nursing homes, and private homes. The AIDS crisis was at its height, and men and women were dying at an alarming rate. At that time, very little music was available for lever harp for this purpose. I will be forever grateful to Sylvia Woods because her hymns, carols, and classical music arrangements were perfect for this work.

In 1997, I moved to Charleston, South Carolina, to take a part-time position as organist and choirmaster at a lovely Catholic Church right on the water. I intended to use the rest of my time playing the harp in therapeutic situations. In addition to using Sylvia's music, I realized I needed to start "custom-making" my own arrangements. I had never arranged or composed before, but thanks to the theory and composition classes I had taken in college and grad school, I found I could apply that knowledge to harp music.
Requiem
The harp has always been associated with heavenly creatures. The seraphim, appearing in the writings of both Judaism and Christianity, are the highest order of angels, with unique powers of purification, cleansing, and healing. And so, Seraphim Music seemed the perfect name for my company of self-published sacred, classical, meditative, and inspirational arrangements designed for therapeutic music. I must again thank Sylvia Woods for her guidance and support. She encouraged me to assemble my music into a collection, which she graciously agreed to sell, and thus my first book, A Serenade for the Soul, was born.
Rhett at Somerset
To further hone and inform my craft and mission, I have continued to study both lever and pedal harp with some of the best teachers in the U.S. I also studied Gregorian chant extensively and spent a year in a Doctor of Musical Arts degree program in Gregorian chant and organ, including study in France at the Monastery of Solesmes and the Taizé Community. I am humbled and blessed that I have been invited to teach and perform at many harp festivals and conferences: the American Harp Society, Somerset Folk Harp Festival, Southeastern Harp Festival, Beginning in the Middle, Harp Journeys, Harp in Worship Conference, and others. I have undertaken several concert tours of Italy and Ireland and plan to do more in the future. I am also honored to be publishing the harp compositions and arrangements of some of my good friends and colleagues, Sunita Staneslow, Vicki Collinsworth, and the late Brook Boddie.
Harp on table
In July of 2019, I made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, spending 12 days in the Old City. I took a small medieval harp with me and composed about a dozen musical settings of the Psalms, which I plan to publish soon. I stayed in a convent on the Via Dolorosa for part of my trip, a block away from the Temple Mount. Knowing that these Psalms would have been sung and played on harps in that very place several thousand years ago made it a powerful and inspiring experience!

Here are my descriptions of the images in this article.
1) Playing at Mary Brigid Roman's 50th teaching anniversary celebration at Florida State University, using the harp I learned on!
2) My first Sunday returning to church to record Easter service after the initial Covid shutdown in 2020.
3) The cover image from my Requiem for harp and high voice PDF.
4) Performing at the Somerset Folk Harp Festival.
5) My medieval harp in Jerusalem.
This month's sale
This month, I have put all of Rhett Barnwell's arrangements on sale at 15% off when you use the Rhett code. I sell 66 of Rhett's arrangements, so I'm not listing them all here. Please go to the Rhett Barnwell category on my site. ALL of the music on that page is on sale. If you bought all 66 arrangements you'd save $73.17 with this month's sale!
To get the 15% discount, enter the code word Rhett in the "Enter Promo Code" box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code" by February 28, 2022. See the "How to get the 15% discount" section at the bottom of this newsletter for more information.
PDF
arranged by Rhett Barnwell
15% off with Rhett code
PDF
arranged by Rhett Barnwell
15% off with Rhett code
PDF
arranged by Rhett Barnwell
15% off with Rhett code
PDF
arranged by Rhett Barnwell
15% off with Rhett code
PDF
composed by Rhett Barnwell
15% off with Rhett code

All 66 of
are part of this 15% off sale!
How to get the 15% discount
15% off select sale items when you use the code word Rhett

Our newsletter promo codes are redeemable online and are only valid for PDFs by Rhett Barnwell. They are not valid for phone or email orders. This month's code word is Rhett.

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 Rhett 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 (which is the original price)
   Total Price: $8.46 (the discounted price)

You'll also see a note below the Promo Code box saying the name of the promo code you entered and the percentage amount of the discount.

REMEMBER: You must enter this month's code word Rhett in the Promo Code box and click "Apply" on your shopping cart page by February 28, 2022, to get the discount!
If you forget, or if you have trouble adding it to your order, email Sylvia immediately.  
 
This offer expires at the end of the day on 2/28/2022.
Sylvia Woods Harp Center
Lihue, Hawaii
(808) 212-9525