Hellooooo Fellow Harpists, Harpers, Harp Players and Harp Lovers!!
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My new full-length DVD, "Invention & Alchemy" of my original performance with the Grand Rapids Symphony has hit the stands! I want you to see it, and I need your help in spreading the word! How? Here are the top three ways:

A. POST A REVIEW AT AMAZON.COM for the "Invention & Alchemy" DVD. If you don't have a copy of the DVD yet, see the "September Sale" below. Post your review at Amazon.com. You don't need to buy the DVD through Amazon to post a review, you just need to have an Amazon.com account. If you don't want to deal with the administrative headache of trying to put your review on Amazon.com, just send it to us and we'll put it on for you.

B. BECOME A MYSPACE FRIEND! Post a friend request, leave comments, hear audio clips, see pictures! Come back often! Shara just revamped the site and we'll have new features often. Go directly to Deborah's page by clicking here. If you're new to MySpace and need a quick tutorial, Shara made a MySpace 101 tutorial that's on our FAQ page.

C. TELL YOUR FRIENDS about "Invention & Alchemy" - encourage them to watch it with their kids ... or their parents ... It's a rare mix of art and entertainment that many generations can enjoy together, so take advantage of that!

Kids especially enjoy the "White Rabbit" interactivity, the behind-the-scenes film clips they can access whenever they see the special "White Rabbit" icon. Little kids love "The Garbageman," with its bombastic garbagecan finale, teens are suitably amazed at the rock-guitar-like solos in the blues, and the timpani-harp solo in "Catcher in the Rye" -- and everyone tells us how much they love "The Nightingale" (I personally love the way the orchestra plays this song!) and "Danger Zone," where the entire symphony turns into a scene from a mad scientist's lab. It's dazzling, it's beautiful, it's powerful, it's funny, it's even ... (drumroll, please) educational!

So spread it around! Lend your DVD to friends or buy them copies, get your local video store to carry it, or buy one for your local library. And thru Oct. 15th, you can get cut-rate copies! See more information below in the "FALL CD & DVD Sale!"

A decade ago, on New Year's Eve, I saw a vision of myself playing electric harp with symphony orchestra, I saw it, I felt it and I had no idea how to make it possible. I didn't know how to write music for orchestra. I didn't have an electric harp. The harp I imagined - one I could strap on and play like an electric guitar - didn't even exist!
But I had to make it happen. I had to create a body of music that could show the harp and harpist as a powerful force, equal to the orchestra, able to partner equally with a full symphony orchestra, able to show the audience a full spectrum of what our instrument is capable of.

It took me ten years to create the music, to try it out with orchestras like the Boston Pops, the National Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, and the Phoenix Symphony. It took me ten years to work with builders like CAMAC and Lyon & Healy, for them to build harps capable of performing this music. And then it took a team of award-winning producers, directors, and designers to capture all that on video. But now it's out! And I want you to see it. I want you to bring it to your friends and family to show them what's possible with this incredible instrument we love.

The DVD is called "Invention & Alchemy". Why? "Invention" is the creative power of the individual and "Alchemy" is the chemistry of magic - the creative explosion you get when two powerful elements collaborate on a single idea. I wrote all the music for this DVD, all the stories, all the orchestrations - that's the "Invention" part. But the "Alchemy" is what happened when I had the opportunity to bring that invention to life with 80 talented, dedicated, passionate - and funny - musicians, the Grand Rapids Symphony.

Want more reasons why you should get the DVD? You can go to my website, InventionandAlchemy.com. You can see a video trailer, you can see video stills from the DVD, AND you can read Sylvia Woods' "15 Reasons to Buy Invention & Alchemy"

To make is even easier for you to get copies of the DVD, I'm having a Fall Sale through October 15th (see details below)! If you order through my office (www.HipHarp.com / 888-DEB-STUF). I'll also be happy to sign those DVDs - just tell the sales manager exactly how you want them signed and it shall be done!

I just started a new 6-week Performance Exploration Series at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA. It's called "Inviting Invention," and every Tuesday night at 7:30 I get to collaborate with a different guest and take a leap into the artistic unknown! Click tour schedule for more info or for a link to buy tickets. If you just want to read more about the shows, go to Press Releases or Event Pages (where there's also a fun photo montage from my recent trip busking at the Farmer's Market)!

"Inviting Invention" happens every Tuesday night at 7:30 from Sept. 19 to Oct. 24, and my special guests include a radio producer, a mime-dancer, an improv theater troupe and a jazz cellist! Each week the guest is different but the show format is basically the same: First a mini-concert, then a brief discussion ... and in the second half my guest and I experiment with a spontaneous improvisation.

Want more info? Want a discount coupon? Get them here:
Schedule Info
Press Release
Flyer & Discount Coupon
Buy Tix Right Now

We’re having a FALL sale! Get 20% off any DVD or CD order by October 15th! And it isn’t even Christmas yet!

HOW TO GET YOUR DISCOUNT: Put the words “Fall Sale” in the “How to get CDs Signed” box at www.HipHarp.com or use those words when you make your order by phone at 888-DEB-STUF. Don’t worry if you don’t get the wording exactly right you’ll still get the discount.

WHAT YOU WON’T SEE: Our computer system doesn’t compute discounts. A real person (amazing!) is on the other end and she’ll administer the discount and send you an email with your balance. If you have any questions, or want to place your order by phone, you can call and talk to her in person at 888-DEB-STUF.

WHAT IS and ISN’T DISCOUNTED: All standard discs (CDs & DVDs) and sheet music are discounted. Amplification Kits are NOT discounted. Specialty CDs (CDs that come with specialty packaging) are NOT discounted.

DOUBLE DISCOUNTS? $15 DVDs?? YES!!! We also have a “Four for Three” discount - buy 3 CDs and get a 4th for free. And Yes! You CAN combine that discount with the the 20%-Off Discount through September. Yes, DVDs as well as CDs ARE eligible for all discounts. So if you order 3 DVDs, you get a 4th for free - and with the 20% discount, that means each DVD is only $15!! (Just remember that if you order discs of different prices, it’ll always be the lower-priced disc you get for free, not the higher-priced one.)

READ AN INTERVIEW with Deborah at “Jazz Monthly”

READ SYLVIA WOODS' "15 Reasons to buy Invention & Alchemy"

READ THE APPLE.COM ARTICLE about the “Invention & Alchemy” DVD

Here's what's happened in the last few months:

We released "Invention & Alchemy", with release parties in Boston, Denver, New York, Grand Rapids and LA - Apple.com ran two great articles about "Invention & Alchemy" producer Jonathan Wyner - Deborah helped Yahoo.com launch their new Yahoo! Answers site by playing in a giant brain atop the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square - Deborah headlined at the largest Celtic festival in Europe (Festival Interceltique Lorient) in France - Flew to Wales for another lovely harp festival - Deborah was on the cover of the premier harp trade magazine, "The Harp Column" - She presented lecture-performances for the IDEAS Boston Youth Summit and "Inventing and Reinventing Your Life" for the Women's Economic Club in Michigan - She interviewed with Jazz Monthly - Shara, our production manager for "Invention & Alchemy", left for Graduate School and Elisabeth, our new Artist Relations Manager-in-Training came on board - and Shara, in her new guise as graduate student, took over MySpace Operations from her remote location in Amherst! PHEW!

Thanks for reading and - KEEP ON PLUCKIN'!

From my harp to yours...
Deborah Henson-Conant
     and my intrepid team: Joy, Jonathan, Catharine, Shara, Bea, and Elisabeth

p.s. See column at left for questions, privacy policy and other small print.