Play the harp? Wanna be more creative?  Liberate yourself from the notes on the page?

Think you might want to play HOLIDAY MUSIC any time this season?  I created HOLIDAY Lead Sheet Bootcamp for YOU!   

Join me for six self-paced play-along Immersion sessions – plus hours of bonus play-alongs, creative blueprints and lead-sheets – and you’ll walk away playing and improvising on at least a dozen tunes — plus a skill that will let you create dozens more ALL DURING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. 

READ ON for 12 Reasons WHY HOLIDAY Lead Sheet Bootcamp ROCKS. 

10 12 Reasons HOLIDAY Lead-Sheet Bootcamp ROCKS!

#1

You learn to use one of the World’s Most POWERFUL IMPROV Tools

One of the most powerful improvisation tools is learning to use “Lead Sheets” – the musical shorthand jazz and folk players use. So, starting last summer I began creating “Lead Sheet Bootcamp” events: immersions, retreats and workshops that teach you HOW to use lead sheets and then take you through the process over and over so you walk away actually DOING it. Sign up Now

#2

You learn a new SKILL – that expands your repertoire.

You’ll walk away from those four days playing your own improvised arrangements of over a dozen holiday tunes, and know how to improvise on them. And that’s just the beginning. You’ll get dozens more lead sheets that you’ll now have the skill to turn into spontaneous arrangements.

This means you can sit down and PLAY over a DOZEN new pieces – in just 4 days. Plus …

When you learn to read from lead sheets, it opens a completely new way of playing because you’re developing your own arrangement from a simple melody and simple chords. That means it’s a massive repertoire builder.

When I first started playing harp in my early 20’s, I needed to get a job right away, because I had to play for my instrument! I had to develop repertoire really fast because I was playing in restaurant dining rooms 4-hours a night. If I didn’t quickly create that repertoire, the wait staff was literally threatening to pour a pitcher of ice water in my lap (I’m not joking!)

That’s when I realized I could avoid that ice water AND develop my improv skills – right on the job, every night! And it was all because I learned how to play from lead sheets.

That’s what I teach YOU how to do in “Lead Sheet Bootcamp” and in HOLIDAY Lead Sheet Bootcamp we focus 100% on holiday tunes. Sign up Now

#3

You get to JUMP RIGHT IN to the Basic Training & the BONUSES

The Basic Training videos are already recorded – so you can jump in right now and get a head-start on playing from lead-sheets.  Once you join, you get right into the Lead Sheet Bootcamp classroom where you can take the Basic Training at your own pace – it’s about an hour long.

The BONUS TRAININGS are already on line!

Here’s a secret! When you sign up for HOLIDAY Lead Sheet Bootcamp, you get access to all the replays from last Fall’s basic bootcamp retreat. That means you can start learning right now, and you can do it any time – at your own pace. Sign up Now

#4

The HOLIDAYS let you put what you learn right into ACTION!

HOLIDAY Lead Sheet Bootcamp teaches you to use all the opportunities of the holiday season as a way to develop your improv chops.  And when these holidays are over – you just get apply this new skill to other lead sheets: Celtic Tunes, Latin Tunes – even famous Classical Melodies. Once you have the skill you can apply it to any lead sheet – and you get dozens of lead sheets in different styles along with the class. Sign up Now

I love how step-by-step you teach this. I’ve always been very intimidated and overwhelmed with the very idea of lead sheets, but you build from the ground up and make it doable. I also love the 5-part arrangement plan and am having a blast messing around with it! Thank you!”  (Lesli Pennock)

#5

You learn to create PERSONALIZED MUSICAL HOLIDAY CARDS

Part of what you learn in HOLIDAY Lead Sheet Bootcamp is how to take what you learn and turn it into personalized musical greeting cards that you can send to all your family and friends … or, if you’r a professional harpist – to send to your clients and customers – whether they’re potential brides, churches or therapy clients. Sign up Now

#6

This class is 40% OFF right now

Right now you get 40% off this program, plus access to the Basic Lead-Sheet Bootcamp replays, all the Bonus trainings, the Play-Sheets, dozens of Lead-Sheets that come with the class – and 6 months access to all the video-playalongs Sign up Now

#7

Lead Sheet Bootcamp is a PERFECTION FREE ZONE.

The biggest stumbling block for most people in developing FLUENT playing, is that they’re always stopping to ‘fix’ mistakes (and to give themselves a quick dressing-down on having made that mistake). When you play that way, you simply develop the halting style of perfectionistic performance, and constant self-criticism.

Because we’re playing together in a unique environment where you have support, community and the privacy of not being heard by others, you learn to keep going, which is the single most powerful aspect of play-along learning. Sign up Now

This was brilliant, thank you … So useful to have the repetition for really getting it into my head. (Caroline Talbott)

YOU’LL ALSO GET:

  • IMMEDIATE ACCESS to the ‘Basic Training” module
  • The ‘ARRANGE-O-MATIC’ play-sheet to give you a one-page overview of all the cool things you learned and how to use them including different kinds of intros
  • A PLAYBOOK of dozens of Holiday Tunes from different cultures and countries
  • The ‘RULES OF THE GAME’ play-sheet so you can calmly approach each new lead sheet, get your bearings and play it without stress, anxiety moving fluently, musically – and imperfectly – through the piece.

#8

This is a PLAY DATE like no other!

Lead Sheet Bootcamp is all about learning by DOING: Play-along Learning.

Any jazz musician can tell you HOW to read from a leadsheet. The big power of BOOTCAMP is that we DO it – together – over and over and over – together.

I don’t fill your brain with How-To’s and send you off to do it on your own. We learn and we do, over and over. You’re DOING it, in the moment, right now, so you walk away having had the learning AND the practice. Together. Sign up Now

#9

You learn to play the MUSIC, not get stuck in the notes.

Many people try to just sit down and play without preparing their brains, or understanding the structure of a tune. Great readers can do that – but most of are NOT great readers, yet we think we should be able to read music the way we read a book. 

The reality is – we can’t. But we don’t have to! Reading lead-sheets isn’t about reading notes someone else has written. It’s about learning to take a distilled map of the piece and expand it into a spontaneous arrangement.

That means that once you learn the skill you can apply it to ALL Lead-Sheets. 

Does that mean you’ll be able to read any lead sheet quickly and easily? No. Some lead sheets are really tricky on the harp. That’s why I also SELECT more playable music. So you can have the JOY and PLEASURE of playing and improvising instead of the frustration of just trying to get the notes.

There’s a strategy to playing Lead Sheets:  When you read lead-sheets it’s helpful to orient yourself before you start playing so you can see how the piece is structured, and what’s coming up.

So in the Playalong-Learning Sessions we go thru a ‘psyching out’ process with each tune, so that process becomes second-nature to you. You get a “Rules of the Game” Play-Sheet that takes you through the process of “music orienteering” – looking at the structure of each piece, to see what you can expect, and how to prepare for it.  At first that process takes a lot of thought – but by the end of the sessions you’ll get it down to just a quick moment that will empower you when you play ANY piece. Sign up Now

You learn to keep going, which is the single most powerful aspect of play-along learning [Source: @hipharpist] (Click to Tweet)

#10

Lead Sheet Bootcamp is specifically for HARP PLAYERS

Every instrument has both limitations and unique characteristics, and what’s easy for a guitarist or pianist can be extremely awkward on the harp. That’s why it’s so valuable to be learning this from a HARPIST who went through the same process as you’re going through, and that’s why the lead-sheets I give you are hand-picked to be both CONDUCIVE for the harp and also great for the Holidays. Sign up Now

Thank you! The Celtic harp is SO user friendly for playing these, and Deborah you bring them in such a relaxed and accessible manner.” (Louise Bell)

#11

You can learn at any LEVEL from  Fledgling through Advanced

To take any “Lead Sheet Bootcamp” class you need to know how to play your instrument at least at an advanced beginner stage. (There are many wonderful classes out there for beginners – by many wonderful harp teachers – but this class is not for early beginners).

Working with harpists of all technical levels from Fledgling to Professional supports everyone. Here’s how we do it:

How can multi-level learning work with harp?

This is the power of starting with the FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS of music – concepts that work at any technical level.  In the Basic Training, you’ll learn the fundamental building blocks of how to play with a lead sheet at its simplest level.

Here’s why I love working with a multi-level classroom.

In music, multi-level learning works for everyone – especially in the unique Online-Live environment where, during the play-alongs, everyone is muted except the teacher.

This sets up a situation where fledgling players get to play over and over using the same fundamental version we start with, really solifying it – as more advanced players get to expand from that, each at their own level. Here’s how that works:

  • First, everyone learns the Fundamental level of playing the tune, which is it’s most simple and elegant format.
  • Each time we go through the arrangement, I give the more advanced players another level of creative complexity to explore – and since each level fits ‘on top of’ the fundamental level – everyone is playing together even though each one is playing something that fits their technical ability. And everyone gets to do it over and over.
  • You only use the level of complexity that works for YOUR brain, YOUR technical ability, YOUR instrument.
  • And WE KEEP PLAYING together.

Here’s where I learned that:

As a kid, my family played music together. The kids had a simple part to the play and the adults had more complex parts but everyone was playing the music.

I saw that any piece exists on multiple levels and when you learn to play the fundamentals of it, you can then expand or simplify as you need to for your skills – or your mood of the day.

I learned it again when I learned to compose for symphony orchestra

When I learned to adapt my music for symphony orchestra as an adult, I noticed something interesting: in any particular section of a piece, some instruments are playing very simply, and others are playing at more complex levels.  I saw that these levels all work at the same time – in fact, the fact that some instruments are playing ‘simple’ lines and others are playing more ‘fancy’ lines actually creates a deeper sense of ‘dimension’ in the music.

And yet, they’re all playing the same piece.

That made me realize we can do the same thing in group learning: everyone learns the elegant fundamentals, fledgling players continue to solidify that basic level as more advanced players continue to add complexity, levels of harmony, embellishments to their playing.

I first started teaching this way in large immersion workshops at the Somerset Harp Festival. Then I realized it’s just as effective – and in some ways moreso – when you’re on line, as nobody has to worry about how they sound – or how the person next to them is playing. Everyone’s muted during the playalongs, except me – so you get the experience of playing together through the pieces over and over without the anxiety of how you sound to others.

You find your ‘Sweet Spot’

And everyone is playing the music in their personal sweet spot: the level where they can experience the fluency of playing at their own level. 

Sign up Now

 

You’ll find your SWEET SPOT:  the level where you experience the fluency of playing at your own unique level [Source: @hipharpist] (Click to Tweet)

#12

You gain a Long-Term Relationship with the Music

Learning this way gains even more power through TIME: the fledgling players have a strong foundation that they can add to over time. The more advanced players can CHOOSE to play simply or in a more complex style … for the rest of their lives. There’s no time when you ‘can no longer play’ a piece – you are ALWAYS developing and ALWAYS able to play beautifully and gracefully becuase you know how to adapt your musical ideas to your technical ability.

Join for Freebies, Stories & News

Join for Freebies, Stories & News

Join to get weekly-ish emails with stories, videos & events like concerts & classes

Yay! You should get my next newsletter within the next 7-10 days. I'm so happy we'll be in touch!

"5-DAY Harp IMPROV Challenge" 

A FREE Training 
from  Deborah Henson-Conant

 

Learn the First Step of Freedom: Free Yourself from Reading the Notes on the Page.  Register here to join the challenge

Woohoo! You'r Registered for the 2022 "5-Day Harp Improv" Challenge!