2024 JaNEWary Challenge | harpsnorthwest.org.uk

PAPER SAVING PRINTING -

What's this?

From day 2, this system allows you to put your existing printed music from previous days back into your printer, and will only print the newest material, spaced so as to not interfere.

So long as you load it the right way in your printer, this will reduce paper usage - but you may want to get familiar with your printer set up before trying this!

Welcome to JaNEWary Challenge 2024!

As we start another new year, here is your 2024 JaNEWary Challenge!

2024 is a special year for Harps North West as it is our 20th year, and we are so grateful to all who have joined us along the way as we've grown and flourished! On that note, it's worth looking back on a little bit of history...

Looking back:

Our month-long intensive music learning challenge began in November 2015, with one stunning piece from the marvellous Karen Marshalsay. Participants spent the entire month on “Tracey’s Wriggly Jig” and it was quite the achievement to make it to the end! We listened to feedback and adapted, changing the month to January and also length of the pieces, introducing more than one piece in the month to provide shorter, more manageable challenges that people could pick and choose from.

Over the subsequent years, we have continued to listen and respond to need. We are so proud that HNW was offering this style of access to learning and connection across the globe long before it became a necessity in 2020, and our ability to adapt allows us to continue to offer our members flexibility and access to great music from the comfort of your own home.

THIS YEAR, in response to feedback, we are delighted to be bringing new music to you in a slightly different way.

JaNEWary:

Join us on Jan 1st to learn a beautiful piece created for us from Eira Lynn Jones. As in recent years, we will take our time with it, with plenty of rest days to support and consolidate learning, culminating in a live zoom session to share it together. This will be our sole offering this January, and in providing a shorter time period and removing the pressure of multiple pieces, we hope this will allow members to engage fully without being over faced.

However, this is not all…

JuNEWary:

To complement our January offering, we will bring you a second gorgeous piece in JUNE, and in a lovely full circle moment this piece is from Karen Marshalsay, our original contributor and composer in residence!

As always, these offerings are brought to you through Mary Dunsford’s daily gentle teaching videos, supporting you every step of the way as the piece grows day by day under your fingers.

JaNEWary SHEDULE:

We start the month as always on Jan 1st, with Eira's beautiful new piece, Midnight Lullaby. On each teaching day there are two videos - one to teach the section, and one that allows you to playalong at different speeds.

Jan 4th, 7th, and 10th are rest days - a great opportunity to catch up, consolidate what you have already learned, and to pull the music together into a cohesive piece, using the playalong video supplied those days.

We have our final video offering on the 13th, pulling the entire piece together, before our LIVE ZOOM session on SUNDAY 14th, where you can play alongside fellow participants around the globe have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have. There are no daft questions - if you are wondering something, chances are someone else is too!

(Videos will go live at 6am GMT on the relevant day -

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