HipHarpAcademy.com Presents
Deborah Henson-Conant’s Online Learning Experience
Hands-on-Harmony
What if you could learn all the basics of harmony & theory – right on your harp – in one focused day – or stretch it out for 3 months? Hands-on-Harmony teaches you functional theory and harmony specifically for harp at your own pace
Hands-on-Harmony is an “On Demand” class. You can join anytime.
Do you already have a full-level Hip Harp Academy Annual Membership?
If you’re currently a full-level Hip Harp Academy Annual member, then you already have access to “Hands on Harmony”.
Current Members Log-In Here and look for the “Hands-on-Harmony” Badge.
Not a Full-Level Academy Member and want the full annual multi-course training?
Click here at HipHarpAcademy.com to learn more about yearlong membership.
WHAT IF…it was a fun online learning experience specifically focused on HARPS with play-along examples you could try out right in the moment – and then download to practice again later?
WHAT IF…your leader was a bona fide harp master, a Grammy-Nominated international touring performer – who LOVES harmony and LOVES to create ways for you to get it into your hands?
WHAT IF…you could ask questions about anything you didn’t understand and get answers without having to search all over the web for them?
WHAT IF…you felt the joy of “Hey, I can DO this!!
Hands on Harmony lives in my “Hip Harp Academy” yearly membership site, where you can access ALL my online courses … or you can take just this one class.
When you register for the FULL access year-long program, you’ll get access to all my online courses for harp players – including “Hands on Harmony. Once you’re in, you’re automatically directed to the classroom where you can jump right into the learning!
What Students are saying about “Hands on Harmony”
“I have been asking people how to noodle for years, but this is the first time anyone broke it down to a place to start” – Joyce Kraut
How cool is this?? You can play while the teacher is talking! You can practice the progressions with a whole bunch of other people and nobody can hear you — and you aren’t distracted by anybody else!” – Joni Morris
“Wow – this is fun! Using the slap bass, just got a whole new groove going! A new song idea was just born!” – Kate Kunkel
I built this course as the HARMONY FOUNDATION from a Harpist’s perspective.
How harmony works on OUR instrument. I really want you to have this in your hands and your head – because it will make all the other courses I teach so much more fun and enriching for you.
That’s why I made many ways for you to learn in this course: replays of the most recent classes and weekly chats, play-along exercises – and the ability to review it all for a whole year in the Academy – so you can really get it into your mind, your heart and your hands.
Each session is broken into bite-size pieces and the great part is that you don’t have to worry about remembering any of it in the moment – you can just focus on enjoying the learning – because it’s all recorded so you can watch it again and download the handouts.
What’s Included in “Hands on Harmony”?
Hands on Harmony lives in my “Hip Harp Academy” yearly membership site, where you can access ALL my online courses … or you can take just this one class.
When you register for the FULL access year-long program, you’ll get access to all my online courses for harp players – including “Hands on Harmony. Once you’re in, you’re automatically directed to the classroom where you can jump right into the learning!
Once you register, you get into the classroom where you can start learning – and you can learn a little or a lot at a time. It’s up to you and your learning style.
The main subjects are:
- How to build and extend chords (to play 7ths and 9ths)
- Learning the ‘Families’ of chords (like the Family of C Major) and what chords are native to that tuning
- The basics of noodling, voicing and reading basic chord symbols
- How to Alter chords – like, how to get a G7(b9) or a Bm7(b5)
- The basics of Chord substitution
- How to Navigate the Minor Scale(s)
- The basics of Modulation
- And we do a LOT of playing so that you get it immediately into your hands
How can one Harmony Course work for ALL levels of players??
My teaching style is the same as my personal learning style: I teach starting with basic principles and patterns – then each person puts them into play (literally) at their own level playing the Hands-on-Harmony Progressions.
Once you know the basic concept in its simplest form, pattern and shape you can embellish and expand it infinitely. The key is understanding the basic, simple concept in a way that CLICKS with your mind and your hands.
That’s how I learn — and that’s how I teach – and that’s why I’m still fascinated and still exploring the same basic ideas after decades of playing with them.
“Hands on Harmony” is $297
Includes 6 months access to all video trainings, plus download of all PDFs and audio files. Got questions about how it work? Scroll Down.
Who’s the Instructor?
Hi, I’m Deborah Henson-Conant, and I’ve been composing, arranging and creating shows since I was a kid. I now play shows with symphonies and on solo stages with the electric harp that was created for me by CAMAC Harps, the “DHC Light”.
But I started on the ukulele, playing and singing with my mom.
When I was 10, she taught me how to read chords on the piano, and from there I learned about how to expand chords to 7th and 9ths, and how to alter them with “flat-9’s” or “sharp-5’s” – and eventually how to substitute one chord for another.
When I started the harp, in my early 20’s, at first I was frustrated because xxx but then I realized how brilliantly the harp is set up, and how xxx and I began to believe that everyone who wants to understand music harmony and theory should learn it on the harp – because the harp is like a brilliant, beautiful 3-D power-point metaphor for how harmony works.
I learned this by playing – not from a book – so I just focused on learning what works so I can PLAY — not theoretical analysis.
Sometimes, honestly, I feel a little sheepish because I can show you how to do it, and how it works, and the beauty of its simplicity — but I can’t always spout off the technical terminology. I honestly just don’t know it!
What I DO know – and what I share in this class – is what I’ve learned, and what I’ve discovered – HANDS-ON – and it’s gotten me onto some of the greatest stages in world, playing with symphonies from the Boston Pops to the National Symphony Orchestra, to tour with rock legend Steve Vai, and to compose concertos, chamber music and musicals — so you don’t have to know the technical terminology to have harmony open up your creative life.
That’s why this class is called “Hands-On Harmony” – because it’s about getting your hands on the instrument and PLAYING what you’re learning, to really internalize how it works, to have “AHA” moments, to realize how much FREEDOM even a little bit of understanding gives you – especially on the harp – whether it’s pedal harp or lever harp.
There are really just 3 basic concepts in harmony to understand: extension, alteration and substitution. Once you understand them, it’s all about putting them in to play, a little bit at a time.
In other words, it’s not a matter of technical skill, but of jumping in and playing simply until your skills start to grow.
I realized that PLAYING – the way we do as children – is the most powerful tool for learning as musicians. So every program in Hip Harp Academy is built on the idea of playing with very simple ideas – the kinds you can often explain or show in a few minutes – and getting more and more comfortable with them until they start to bloom in your hands.
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How does the course work, exactly?
How long does the class last and when can I take the lessons?
“Hands on Harmony” is an online class that’s ‘go at your own pace.’ You’ll get 6 month’s access to the classroom so you can take it as slow or as fast as you want and you can take the lessons whenever YOU want – from your computer, your phone or your iPad.
You’ll be able to download all the PDFs and Audio files – so you’ll have them on your own computer forever if you want – and you’ll have access to the video lessons in the classroom for 6 months. (Don’t worry – we’ll give you 2 weeks warning before your access ends just in case you haven’t downloaded the files yet.)
It’s all pre-recorded, so you don’t have to schedule a lesson or worry about missing a class.
Watching the lessons is like watching YouTube – but they’re playalong lessons, so you play along on your harp. The training broken into bite-size modules with a lot of exercises to get the learning into your HANDS.
“Hands on Harmony” was originally recorded as a full-day online retreat, so it’s casual and fun. We then edited the videos and added some from other online events I’ve done so that it covers a wide swath of harmony training — starting from the basics of how chords are built to how to extend, alter and substitute them – and how to use them in harmonic progressions
You will basically learn these three concepts:
1. How chords are BUILT (triad stacking)
2. How they MOVE (harmonic progression)
3. How to PLAY WITH them (extension, alteration, substitution)
Most importantly – it’s HANDS-ON!
YOUR hands on YOUR harp!
So you’re playing as you learn!
Still got questions? Use our “Ask a Question” form to get your question directly to Deborah or someone on the team.
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