#240: Classics for a Relaxing Holiday

It’s Christmas week, and for me, this is a week to finally settle into the holiday mood. This is the time we decorate our tree, get in touch with friends and family, and start reveling in the spirit of joy and peace that feels so elusive other times of the year.

So this is not the week I want to dive into a heavy teaching topic here on the podcast. What I want to do today is spread a little holiday harp happiness with a short musical program for you to enjoy. 

The theme of the program is “Classics for a Relaxing Holiday,” classical music that is appropriate for the holidays, but isn’t specific to this time of year. In other words, no jingling bells or Santa Claus songs - just calm, perhaps even meditative harp music, assembled from my various recordings and videos. 

I’ve listed the program in the show notes, and for some of the pieces, you’ll also find links to sheet music arrangements in our Harp Mastery® shop. I’ve also included spoken introductions to each piece to give you a little of the background to the piece or what I love about it. But I realize you might want to make this music part of the background to your holidays without the narration, so in the show notes I have put links to alternate ways to download or listen to the music. One is a bonus podcast episode that has only the music, without the speaking. The other is a link to the music on YouTube where I’ve added some harp photographs that I have taken on my recent travels.

PROGRAM: all arrangements by Anne Sullivan

Largo, from Winter by Vivaldi  from Break Forth CD
Two from Messiah by Handel   LINK TO SHEET MUSIC
Mozart in a Minute LINK TO SHEET MUSIC
Ave Maria by Schubert  from Break Forth CD
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach)/Ode to Joy  (Beethoven)  LINK TO SHEET MUSIC
Peace, a Fantasy on Dona Nobis Pacem  LINK TO SHEET MUSIC

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Download the playlist to your device.
• Listen to the playlist on YouTube
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

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