Sylvia Woods’ Blog and Podcasts

Ever since we made the announcement that we are reconfiguring our retail storefront of the Sylvia Woods Harp Center and moving to an “appointment only” harp showroom, rumors have been flying throughout the harp world. I’d like to take this opportunity to “set the record straight” and explain why I have made this business decision.

First, let me emphasize:
We are still here! We are still in business! You can still order harps, books, CDs, accessories and gifts by phone or via our web site at www.harpcenter.com.

The most noticeable difference will be for our local customers, who are in the habit of dropping by during our regular business hours. Besides our excellent phone and web site services, we will still be here for anyone interested in sampling the harps or renting a lever harp; you just need to call in advance to make an appointment.

Now, for the rumors: #1. I am not retiring. I will continue to actively run the Harp Center and my publishing business. #2. I am not sick. My health is fine. Thank you for your concern!

The decision to alter the way in which we do business will allow me to remain healthy, by reducing my stress level. I hope to stop “working” every waking moment, and I’m looking forward to actually “having a life” outside of the Harp Center. The good news for you is that this change in our business focus will enable me to have more time to create the harp books you all enjoy.

The current economy and the rise of Internet access has forced many business owners to re-evaluate their companies and make necessary changes to deal with the new economic climate. Our new business model will enable us to stick around for many years to come, and continue to serve our world-wide harp community.

I would like to personally thank all of you who have sent warm, congratulatory messages to me regarding our move. Change is never easy. It is not easy for us, and we know that this has been disconcerting for some of our customers. However, we’re sure that once we’ve completed our move, life will be better, and we’ll be better able to serve the greatest number of our customers.

A SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR LOCAL CUSTOMERS
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our loyal customers who have been coming to our retail store for the past 16 years. We know that you are the people who will be most affected by these changes. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. But look on the bright side: with the escalating price of gas, you’ll probably save money by ordering over the phone or on the web, instead of driving to see us! So please remember, we are still here! Just a phone call or a mouse click away!

Thank you again for all of your support. We’ll miss seeing your smiling faces every day! And we look forward to many more years of serving you, our wonderful customers.

Sincerely,
Sylvia Woods

The Sylvia Woods Harp Center is Streamlining to Serve You Better!

So that we may be more responsive to the needs of our customers, we are making major changes at the Sylvia Woods Harp Center.

As a world-wide purveyor of harps and harp-related merchandise, the vast majority of our business occurs through our website and by phone. 

Therefore, to better serve the greatest number of customers, we are closing our current retail store in Glendale, California, and opening a new “by appointment only” harp showroom, about 6 miles away in nearby La Crescenta.

Our last day at our current location will be June 28, 2008.  After this date, you will need to make an appointment to see the harps in our new showroom after our move.

Our new harp showroom will feature harps by Dusty Strings and Lyon & Healy Harps, two of the largest and most distinguished harpmakers in the world today, as well as other select models.

When you make an appointment to try out these fine harps, you will be given personal service and attention, assisted by one of our harp specialists. Books, CDs, gifts, accessories, strings, harps, and all of our other items will still be available through our website, by phone or mail order.   

We currently have a number of harps by Triplett, Salvi, and Wm. Rees that we are offering at a discount of up to 33% off, while supplies last.  This can mean a savings from $200 to over $2,000!   Click here to see our current selection of sale harps.

Our new “Harp Essentials” program is another great way we thought of to help you save money.  When you purchase any harp from the Sylvia Woods Harp Center (including our sale harps), you receive a 20% discount on selected “essential” harp accessories such as strings, benches, electronic tuners, and more.  Click here for more information on our Harp Essentials program.

We continue to add many exciting improvements to our website, making it even more innovative, informative and easy to use.  Some of the new features that are already in place or will be added during the coming months include: sample sound clips of all of our CDs; video clips of harps, performers, and products; how-to videos; personalized help through Live Chat; CD, sheet music and book downloads; and much, much more!  We feel that the Sylvia Woods Harp Center website is the best harp resource available on the web, and we plan to keep it that way . . . constantly working to make it even better!

We will conitnue to send our compact catalog through the mail every fall.  However, the best way to receive updates on new products, sales, and special money-saving coupons is to sign up for our monthly E-Mail Newsletter. Click here for more information and to sign up for our newsletter. 

Change is never easy.  However, we are confident that this evolution of the Sylvia Woods Harp Center will allow us to focus our attention and expertise on giving the best possible service to the greatest number of our wonderful customers. We’ll still be here, going and growing strong, ready and willing to assist you! 

I would personally like to thank you for your business, and hope to continue serving you through our new, improved Sylvia Woods Harp Center.

Sincerely,
Sylvia Woods

Sylvia Woods Harp Center

“Harp Essentials” 20% Discount Program

I’d like to tell you about an exciting new program that we have at the Sylvia Woods Harp Center. Purchase a harp from us and you’ll get a 20% discount on the following “Harp Essentials.” This offer is valid from the time of your harp purchase until 7 days after you receive your harp.

Harp Essentials
* Extra strings (individual, or a complete set)
* E-Z Adjust bench
* Adjustrite Musician’s Chair
* Electronic tuners
* Clip-on tuning pick-ups
* Music stands
* Extra tuning keys
* Metronomes
* Space Blanket (to protect your harp from the sun)
* Rubber rings for levers and/or tuning pins
* Kart-A-Bag folk harp cart (not for Prelude or pedal harps)
AND
* Any (and all) publications written by Sylvia Woods
(including books, sheet music, Quick Charts, CDs, and DVDs by Sylvia)

This can add up to hundreds of dollars in savings, just when you need it most: when you’re buying a harp!

Contact us today to order your harp and get the 20% Harp Essentials discount.

You spoke . . . we listened . . . and now YOU can listen, too!  

Our customers have been telling us they would love to hear audio samples of the CDs we offer. Listening to an audio sample can help in choosing from the myriad of wonderful recordings we have available for you to add to your music collection.

Now you can listen to more than 1,000 audio clips from over half of the CDs on our web site, and we are adding more audio clips each and every day!

Depending on the CD, audio clips between 30 to 120 seconds of selected tracks are now easily accessible on our web site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with many offering an audio clip from EVERY track of the CD!

Here is a partial list of artists with audio samples on our web site:

Adagio Trio
Lori Andrews
Erik Ask-Upmark
Paul Baker
Barnes & Hampton
Stella Benson
Robin Huw Bowen
Greg Buchanan
Stella Castellucci
Maire ni Chathasaigh
Ellie Choate
Elaine Christy & Patricia Davila
Cormac De Barra
Cynthia Douglass
Robin Fickle
Aryeh Frankfurter
Deborah Friou
Grainne Hambly
Deborah Henson-Conant
Nancy Hurrell
William Jackson
Jan Jennings
Beth Kolle
Margot Krimmel
Elaine Litster
Jo Morrison
Rudiger Oppermann
Alfredo Rolando Ortiz
Laurie Rasmussen
Kim Robertson
Susan Robinson
Shawna Selline
Sunita Staneslow
Christina Tourin
Michelle Whitson-Stone
Kim Robertson
Sylvia Woods

Go online, browse and listen! Listen to someone you know or someone you’ve never heard before. And keep coming back, ’cause we’re adding more audio clips every day!

In January, 2008, I will be giving concerts and harp workshops at three locations in Florida: 
Marco Island: Saturday January 19, 2008
North Fort Myers: Sunday January 20, 2008
Orlando: Sunday January 27, 2008

You can see the complete schedule, locations, times, and prices at www.harpcenter.com/FloridaTour.htm.  I hope to see all of you Floridians there!  Many thanks to Kim Adamson, Barbara Kraichy, and Jan Jennings for setting up this tour for me.  I really appreciate all of their hard work!

Although I have lived in California since kindergarten, I have had several ties with Florida. I lived in Talahassee from the age of 3 until 5 when my father was a physics professor at Florida State University.  I only have a few memories from that time . . . one of them was hiding under the bed when I heard on the radio that a hurricane was coming!  Luckily, my mother found me an assured me that it wasn’t going to come anywhere near us. 

I have many more memories of Florida from when we spent the summer of 1961 at Cape Canaveral.  By that time, my father was working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, but he was often sent to the Cape for rocket and moon mission launches.  We spent the summer in a small house on Cocoa Beach, playing in the ocean and being bitten to death by mosquitos!  Our favorite pasttime was to wade through the water out to a sandbar, wiggle our feet in the sand, and find sand dollars.  I also remember several times being awakened by my father in the middle of the night so we could go out and sit on the beach and watch a rocket being launched from Cape Canaveral.  It was quite a magical summer! 

 Here’s a picture of me from that trip.  My father loved to take “trick” photos of us.  This one shows that I’m almost as tall as a rocket!  Yup, that’s me!

 I’m looking forward to seeing you all in Florida in January.  Be sure to check the schedule and make your reservations in advance!  See you soon!

 Happy New Year to you all!

I’m very excited that my new book, Groovy Songs of the 60s is finally out. I had so much fun arranging these forty songs for harp. I graduated from high school in 1968, so the 60s were my prime “radio-listening years.”

Here are some of my musical memories from that decade.

When I was in bed with the measles, I listened to Simon and Garfunkel non-stop. The 59th Street Bridge Song was one of my favorites!

I sang Blowin’ in the Wind, and The Times They Are A’Changin’ around the campfire with the Girl Scouts, and those were some of the first songs I learned on the guitar. I wasn’t aware at the time that they were both written by Bob Dylan.

The Association was a local band in my area. They gave an assembly at my high school, and their hit Windy was one of the songs they performed. (The Doors also gave an assembly at my high school, but our principal “pulled the plug” half-way through the assembly because they were singing “dirty words!”)

I was a huge Beatles fan. My friend Corie and I went to see A Hard Day’s Night about a dozen times. We had most of the dialogue memorized. Paul McCartney was (and is) my true love . . . he just doesn’t know it! One of my prized possessions is a Coca Cola can that Paul drank out of. My brother happened to be in a recording studio when Paul was there, and rescued his Coke can from the trash. He had it mounted on a plaque that says “Paul McCartney’s Coke.”<

There are no Beatles songs in this new book, however, because they are all in my Lennon and McCartney book that I arranged in 1998. I wanted to add George Harrison’s Here Comes the Sun to this new book, but wasn’t able to get permission to arrange it. Apparently his estate is not giving permission for any of his songs to be put in collections. That is too bad, because it is a lovely song!

At the end of each piece in this book, I’ve inluded some extra information or trivia about the piece. Here’s a fun trivia quiz for you. To get the answers, you’ll have to buy the book!

1. What Simon and Garfunkel song was written about the Queensboro Bridge in New York City? (See page 7.)

2. What hit by The Turtles replaced Penny Lane at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1967? (See page 11.)

3. What 60s song did the Nigel Wick character “play” on a pedal harp in an episode of The Drew Carey Show? (See page 17.)

4. The Toys’ 1965 hit A Lover’s Concerto was based on what classical melody? (See page 20.)

5. Was Jerry Jeff Walker’s Mr Bojangles written about Bill “Bojangles” Robinson who appeared in many Shirley Temple movies? (See page 45.)

6. Who was the only member of the original Beach Boys who was a surfer? (See page 67.)

7. After the Beatles, what was the next group to sign Brian Epstein to be their manager? (See page 75.)

8. What Gerry and the Pacemakers hit was named after an English river? (See page 77.)

9. What song was English songwriter Tony Hatch inspired to write after his first visit to New York City? (See page 79.)

10. What was the first song written by Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards? (See page 81.)

I hope you enjoy playing these songs as much as I enjoyed arranging them for you. So put on your embroidered bell-bottoms, wear some flowers in your hair, and feel groovy!

Sylvia Woods Remembers . . .

The date of September 11 has taken on a world-wide significance because of the terrorist attacks on that day in 2001. The residents of the Hawaiian island of Kauai also remember the date of September 11, 1992, because that was the day that Hurricane Iniki devastated many parts of this beautiful Garden Isle.

That September weekend in 1992 was very significant in my life.

First of all, on Friday, September 11, my house in Hanalei, Kauai was severely damaged by Hurricane Iniki. I was in California at the time, and it was 5 days before we heard any word of what had happened on our end of the island. As it turned out, the tin roof from the shopping center down the street slammed through our upstairs wall and windows, allowing the wind to rip the roof off of most of our house.

But I didn’t have time to worry about Hurricane Iniki and its aftermath. I already had my hands full. The next day, Saturday, September 12, 1992, was the Grand Opening of the Sylvia Woods Harp Center store in Glendale, California. I had been selling harps, books, recordings and accessories out of my home and by mail order since the 1970s, but this was my first venture into a real “brick and mortar” store. As you can imagine, I was up to my ears in a million last-minute details.

When we opened the store, we had 2,000 square feet and 20 harps on the floor. (See photo on left.)

Over the years, we’ve expanded twice, eventually taking over the entire building. We now have over 3,500 square feet, and at times have over 100 harps on the floor!

Since this month marks the 15th anniversary in our current store location, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped make this business an on-going success, allowing us to continue to bring harps and harp music to the world!

First, I would like to thank all of my former and present employees. They take such pride in their work and in their mission to give our customers the best service to be found anywhere! I couldn’t do this without their expert assistance, support, and dedicated hard work. I would especially like to thank Heidi Spiegel, who has been with me since 1988. She and I have seen a lot of changes in the past 19 years, and it has been wonderful to have her right by my side through all of our adventures.

And, of course, we couldn’t have done this without you, our customers and friends. Many of you have become like “family” to us. You send us photos of yourselves with your harps, you write to us about your personal and musical triumphs, and we share life’s ups and downs. We love hearing about how the harp has changed and enhanced your life, and enriched your world. We are very proud to have been a part of this magical transformation.

And so we now look ahead to the next 15 years . . . and beyond. We promise to continue to provide you with stellar customer service and support. We’ll continue to create and find new products to assist in your harp adventure. 2008 will be the 30th anniversary of my “Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp” book, so the anniversary celebrations will continue!

Now, go out there and bring your music to the world!

Bonjour! 

In early July I took a trip to France to play harp for my niece’s wedding. Here’s a photo of the happy couple, Jennifer and Cyril Raimond!

My sister, Sheryl, moved to France in 1970 and has lived in or near Paris most of the time since then.  Jennifer played the harp for 7 years while she was growing up, and my sister took lessons for a year, as well.  It was nice to have family members following in my footsteps!

The wedding festivities were in a lovely, rural location near Tours, in the Loire Valley region of France, a couple hours southwest of Paris. Fortunately, there is a music store in Tours, L’Instrumentarium, that sells Salvi Harps.  They were kind enough to let me borrow a Salvi Livia harp. (Thank you very much, Mr Ransom!) 

I played at the city hall where the “official” wedding took place, and then at the more personal ceremony later in the afternoon. 

In France, they don’t have a maid of honor, but the bride and groom each have two witnesses. One of Jennifer’s witnesses was Maria Rees, a girl from Missouri that she met at summer camp here in the States.  Whenever there was a talent show at camp, Jennifer and Maria sang a duet of Bette Midler’s song The Rose.  So, at the wedding dinner, I accompanied Maria and my sister as they sang The Rose  for the bride and groom. We used the arrangement right out of my 22 Romantic Songs book!  It turns out that Maria’s mom is a harp player who is learning to play out of my Teach Yourself book.  Maria said that her mom was thrilled that she was able to sing with me . . . so I autographed the Romantic Songs book and sent it to her mom as a present.

We spent several days vising a lot of the historical sites and chateaux in the area including Villandry, Chenonceau, and Azay-le-Rideau.  Each one was different, and they were quite spectacular. The only harp we saw was a reproduction in the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud museum. The sign on the display said: “Projected reproduction of the harp held by the eighth Elder from the Revelations of St. John on the central portal, the Portico de La Gloria, at Santiago de Compostela (1188).  By Yves d’Arcizas, 2002.”

I took a 2-day side-trip to see the Salvi Harp factory in Piasco, Italy.  It is in a small town, about 45 minutes from Torino (where the Winter Olympics were held recently). The taxi ride from the train station was lovely, driving through fields of corn, fruit trees, and kiwi farms. I was surprised to see kiwis, but according to Wikipedia, Italy is now the leading producer of kiwifruit in the world!

The Salvi Harp factory was amazing, and it was fun to meet some of the artisans and craftspeople who build these intricate instruments.  I have been fortunate to be able to visit the factories of 5 harpmakers in the past few years (Dusty Strings, Triplett, Wm. Rees, Salvi, and Lyon & Healy), and it is fascinating to see the similarities and the differences in their equipment and their techniques.

 A highlight of the trip was being able to spend 30 minutes in the Victor Salvi Museum, which is located above the factory.  About 40 rare harps are on display from Mr. Salvi’s collection of instruments representing the evolution of the harp during the past 300 years.  I had seen photos of these harps in the beautiful book of this collection, Three Centuries of Harpmaking, but it was wonderful to be able to see them “in person” and be able to examine them up close.

I would particularly like to thank Massimo from Salvi for being such a wonderful host and tour guide.  He really made my trip extra-special.  Thank you, Massimo!

The book that I took to read on my trip was Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund, a novel about Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI. I thought it was an appropriate selection to read in France.  According to the book’s introduction, contrary to popular belief, Marie Antoinette never said “Let them eat cake.”  That was actually spoken 100 years earlier by the wife of King Louis XIV. And now for another bit of trivia . . . Marie Antoinette played the harp!

Au revoir and arrivederci for now.

I recently completed a two week concert tour in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Colorado. It was exhausting, but I had a great time. It was especially nice to meet all of you who came to my concerts and my workshops. I appreciated all of your enthusiasm, support, and kind words. It was fun to get to know you, and hear your stories about learning the harp with the help of my books. You make all the hard work worthwhile! Check out the fun photos below.

I also want to give special thanks to my hosts who made me feel so welcome, and who made this tour a success: Heid Music in Appleton, Wisconsin, Felice Pomeranz at the Berklee School of Music, the Boston Chapter of the American Harp Society, The Harp Connection in Salem, Massachusetts, and Kolacny Music in Denver, Colorado. You all did a fantastic job of organization, promotion, and hospitality. A big thank you to all of you!

Although I’ve given numerous concerts and workshops at harp conventions and harp society events through the years, this was my first real TOUR since 1983. It is hard for me to believe that it has been about 24 years since I toured the midwest and performed on the Prairie Home Companion radio show three years in a row. How time flies!
I had so much fun on this tour, and I met so many wonderful customers and fans, that I’m looking forward to doing more touring in the future. And this time I promise I won’t wait another 24 years!

So, here’s where you come in. If you’d like me to give concerts and workshops in your area, contact your local harp society chapter, or your local harp store (if you have one), or any other harp group and ask them to contact me about coming to your area. Who knows? Your town might be a stop on the next Sylvia Woods Tour!

In the meantime, please be sure to put the Sylvia Woods Harp Center on your vacation itinerary if you’re coming to Southern California. We’re just north of downtown Los Angeles, and less than an hour from Disneyland! It is quite impressive to walk into our showroom and see rows and rows of harps! I’m often at the store, and would love to meet you. And even if I’m not there, my wonderful employees will take great care of you with our exemplary customer service. So stop by and say “hi!”

Harp workshop with Sylvia Woods at Heid Music

Sylvia Woods evening concert at Heid Music

Wisconsin harp teachers

Sylvia Woods and Sunny Link from Heid Music

Harp workshop with Sylvia with Harp Connection in Salem, Massachusetts

Lots of harps at the Harp Connection workshop!

Sylvia with Rachael Stahl, Nicole Sterling, and Ariel Gabriel from the Harp Connection

Welcome to our newly re-designed website . . . and to my first blog!

Our new website is easier to navigate, and includes lots of wonderful new features. In the coming months we’ll be adding more videos, music and other fun surprises.  I’ll be introducing these new site features here on my blog.  So check in frequently to see what is new.

For those of you who are familiar with our old site, you probably noticed our new column on the right.  We’ve added easy-to-see icons for many of our most popular links.

At the top of the menu on the left, click on the “Useful Information” link.  Here you’ll find a variety of  . . . well . . . “Useful Information!” One of the new features here is the “Get to Know Us” section.  We’ve added short bios of everyone who works at the Harp Center.  And soon, we’ll even have short video clips of them telling you about themselves!  So, read all about us, and then you’ll know who you’re talking to next time you call the Harp Center.

We’re also in the process of re-designing our e-mail newsletter.  The new format will feature new products, upcoming events, useful information, fun stuff, and money-saving coupons that you can use on our website.  We expect to send the newsletters by e-mail about once a month.  Sign up now, so you won’t miss any of the fun and excitement!  You’ll find the sign-up box at the bottom of the right-hand column . . . or just click here!

That’s about it for now.  Thanks for visiting our new site.  We hope you enjoy all the new features that will be coming SOON!

Sylvia