“Creating a pool of beauty that we can draw on”, an Interview with harpist/composer Maeve Gilchrist

Maeve Gilchrist with her harp surrounded by flowers

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If you were to ask me about Maeve Gilchrist, the words that come to mind are musical, encouraging, masterful, literary, and a player who has the unique balance of technique and vision. A chat with Maeve is as inspiring as seeing her perform and can’t but help make you want to contribute to what Maeve discusses as the, “idea of creating a pool of beauty that we can draw on when times are bleak. I think any student picking up any instrument can do that for themselves if they attack their practice in the right way”. This following the thoughts of the great poet John O'Donohue.

ON TEACHING

Maeve loves performing and composing, but is also a passionate teacher,

“The biggest gift I can give as a teacher is the gift of encouraging the student to utilize their own imagination in creating a practice regime that is perfect for them. Because nobody knows our playing better than we know our playing.

”

— Maeve Gilchrist

I asked Maeve what learning an instrument entails for anyone who has not had the opportunity to learn an instrument, “It’s a combination of math and imagination and discipline”.

We discussed teaching music and how important it is to let the instrument sing:

“If you can have a practice which is covering the fundamentals in a way that’s building technique and general musicality why wouldn’t you also want to incorporate creativity into that practice.

”

— Maeve Gilchrist

HARP TALK

Harp Talk was created by Maeve to bring harp players together to discuss the instrument and chat about songs and inspiration. It is an online meeting place for harpists of all sorts geared towards musical growth and cultivating community. The next episode will be this Saturday May 16th and is presented every other Saturday. Harp Talk

THE SOMERSET FOLK HARP FESTIVAL

Maeve has been teaching and performing at The Somerset Folk Harp Festival since she graduated from Berklee College of Music and has been wowing audiences ever since. The Somerset Folk Harp Festival takes place every July in Parsippany, NJ. This year due to COVID-19 the festival is going to be held completely online. All 120+ workshops and numerous concerts will be available from the comfort of your homes. The festival is one of the largest of its kind in North America and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. http://www.somersetharpfest.com/

You can check out past performances on the festival’s youtube channel. Here’s Maeve’s performance at the 2017 festival. This is her original song, “City in the North” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dZqyT11Vrs&list=PL9D65C1CB3E5F87C4&index=23

MAEVE’S BOOK: Rhythm and Hand Separation Exercises

Maeve has a wonderful book of hand exercise etudes to help with technical issues and rhythm to free up your harp playing, but I think it is a great help to any musician, especially pianists who want to work on separating hands and rhythms.

https://harpcolumn.com/music/all-music/artists/maeve-gilchrist/rhythm-hand-separation-exercises-etudes-book-1/

ON PRACTICING

“Music to me is not dots and lines on a page. This music is so alive and it’s so full of shape and dimension. Also as a teacher it is so important for me to share with my students how I envision them creating these shapes and breathing life into the music. Because it’s all about the music. It’s not about me or them. It’s about how we can together can bring the music to life through our vehicle of the harp.

The biggest gift I can give as a teacher is the gift of encouraging the student to utilize their own imagination in creating a practice regime that is perfect for them. Because nobody knows our playing better than we know our playing.”

— Maeve Gilchrist

THE INSTRUMENT AND THE PLAYER’S RELATIONSHIP

Just as a garden both sustains us and we sustain the garden, music and our instruments have a relationship that nurtures both the musician and the instrument as well as the listener. Even someone new to their instrument can create beauty right from the start and allow the instrument to speak. Maeve envisions how, “the tiny sounds of the earth” would sound. A leaf falling to the ground, the sound of new flower shoots as they come out of the ground in the spring, etc. And she believes that, “the instrument [provides] for the player”.

“By teaching everything and by playing everything with this ideal of creating something beautiful it doesn’t just answer the question of why in the music, for me it answers the question of why am I doing this at all. Why is there music? It’s such a deep question. And if even the most beginner musician or the most beginner harp player can start their journey with the harp with this answer to why, it will bring them places they’d never dream of otherwise.”

— Maeve Gilchrist

WHY MUSIC?

Whether we are playing music, teaching, or dreaming we all long, especially in times of great sadness, to create:

“I love this idea of creating a pool of beauty that we can draw on when times are bleak. I think any student picking up any instrument can do that for themselves if they attack their practice in the right way.”

— Maeve Gilchrist

WORDS AND MUSIC

“But really, as a songwriter, the only thing I do is make jewelry for the inside of people’s minds. That’s it.”

— Tom Waits

I spoke to Maeve about her newest album coming out later this year. It is called, “The Harp-Weaver” and is based on the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Words and music are so linked together”. Maeve discusses her experience visiting Millay’s home, Steepletop, in upstate New York in the podcast.

Maeve’s collaborations are magical whether she’s performing with dancers Nic Gareiss and Colin Dunne or The Silkroad Ensemble, or Esperanza Spalding, to name a few Or composing for a small ensemble or an orchestra.

INSPIRATIONAL MUSICIANS

A small portion of musicians who have inspired Maeve in how they transport us with their sound. It’s about the soul and spirit of the playing.

Nina Simone

Tom Waits

Jonie Mitchell

Alice Coltraine

Yo-Yo Ma

Traditional Musicians

Frankie Gavin

Martin Hayes

Kathleen Loughnane (Maeve’s Aunt)

Isobel Mieras