Recordings & Videos

Toutouig is a Breton lullaby in A minor.  The 6/8 meter creates a comforting rocking rhythm.  The gently descending bassline carries one down to rest.  In this video Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has combined her comforting harp arrangement with beautiful nature photos.  This theme and variations establish an almost hypnotic effect as the tune repeats. The text of the first verse of the cradle song is provided in the score in the original Breton.  Through the six verses, the mother reassures her little child that she is here by the crib.  In the first verse she refers to her restless little one as squirrel.  Mother is singing to her little lamb in verse two. The third verse describes the mother’s previous sadness but affirms she is laughing today.  In the fourth verse mother refers to the child as “my poor little one” and reiterates that it is time to sleep, “my wee one.”   The child, “my little rose” rests her cheek upon the mother’s heart in verse five.  In the final verse, mother instructs “my little angel” not to spread your wings to fly toward heaven, instead, sleep. This soothing lullaby works well to provide a calming, meditative mood and is appropriate whenever soothing music is desired. 

 Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has made an arrangement of this traditional song for pedal or lever harp.  Characteristics of traditional Philippine music include simple singable tunes, relaxed easy style and duple or triple meter. The song has a unitary form, that is only one melodic section.  It is in a minor mode and utilizes a slow, resting heart rate tempo.  Traditional Philippine musical instruments include bamboo flutes, zithers, lutes, drums, gongs and xylophones.  This arrangement utilizes special harp techniques to imitate the sound of some of these instruments.  Sons Xylo is a technique where the fingers of the left hand are placed against the base of selected harp strings just where the string emerges from the sound board while the right hand plucks the strings.  This creates a xylophone like sound. Harmonics create a pure flute-like tone and arpeggiated patterns create the sound of a gentle breeze in the trees. 

During the pandemic Kathleen Blackwell-Plank found joy and solace in walks in nature and gardening.  Her awareness of trees, birds and plants grew on her neighborhood strolls. The impact of climate change has become apparent even on the local level inspiring a desire to take steps personally to establish and nurture gardens that will attract and support pollinators, birds and wildlife.  The commitment to biodiversity is now an inspiration for her original composition for pedal or lever harp, “Butterfly Weed: Asclepias.”  This beautiful piece explores the many tone colors of the harp using techniques such as sons xylo, where fingers of the left-hand mute strings to create the sound of a xylophone or pincé where the string is pinched and pulled by the index finger and thumb.  Près de la table (p.d.l.t.) or playing with the hand near the soundboard provides another voice for the melody.  Images of nature and the movement of butterflies are suggested by the musical motifs utilized. 

Fern in the Hard Ground is an original composition for pedal or lever harp by Kathleen Blackwell-Plank. Always a nature lover, Kathleen found joy in gardening during the pandemic. Since that time, she has expanded her sun and shade gardens to attract birds and pollinators. This piece in E minor is in triple meter.  The tune was inspired by digging in the hard red clay of the North Carolina piedmont. By utilizing special harp techniques, various tone colors of the harp are explored. Près de la table (playing near the soundboard) is utilized when the melody moves to the bass. In the Pincé passage, the thumb and index fingertips of the right hand come together “pinching” and pulling the string. For the sons xylo passage, the sound of a xylophone is created by placing the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers against the base of the “e,” “f,” and “g” stings right at the soundboard while the melody is played in the right hand.  Kathleen’s downloadable sheet music is available from Melody’s Traditional Music, Sylvia Woods Harp Center, and Harp Column Music. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has made an arrangement of two lovely Manx traditional tunes for lever or pedal harp.  The Sheep Under the Snow has been described as one of the most beautiful Manx Airs.  It is sad story of a farmer who lost many sheep under a great snow.  Two different sets of lyrics have been gathered and translated by ethnomusicologists who labored to preserve the Manx musical traditions, W. H. Gill and  A. W. Moore.  This slow air in triple meter has been linked with the Song of the Ploughboy which is a jig or dance tune.  This beautiful music is joined with nature photography and art.  Gail Gibson has provided avian photograph 

Pisgah Sleeps is an original composition by harpist and nature photographer, Kathleen Blackwell-Plank.  This piece in Dorian mode is for lever or pedal harp with optional voice.  The lyrics are inspired by her abiding love of the Pisgah National Forest of the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.  This peaceful song is well suited for many settings including providing soothing therapeutic music.  Blackwell-Plank's downloadable sheet music is available through Melody's Traditional Music, Sylvia Woods Harp Center and Harp Column.

Pisgah Sleeps is an original composition by harpist and nature photographer, Kathleen Blackwell-Plank.  This piece in Dorian mode is for lever or pedal harp with optional voice.  The lyrics are inspired by her abiding love of the Pisgah National Forest of the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Jean Kadela is the vocalist who shares her talents on this version for harp and voice. This peaceful song is well suited for many settings including providing soothing therapeutic music.  Blackwell-Plank's downloadable sheet music is available through Melody's Traditional Music, Sylvia Woods Harp Center and Harp Column.

This tune is a traditional Manx song collected by both Dr. John Clague and A. W. Moore.  The informant is listed as Mrs. Henry Clague of Bellanorris.  Dr. Clague lists the title in Manx as a carval, My chaarjyn gow jee tastey cair.  Ruth Keggin Gell, the Manx Language Development Officer for Culture Vannin kindly translated the title.  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement is in G minor and hints at nature sounds such as cascading water and bird calls.  This beautiful arrangement is is combined with her nature photography to create a calming experience. 

Steal Away was composed by Wallace Willis sometime before 1862. Willis was a slave who became a Choctaw freedman. Alexander Reid, a minister at a Choctaw boarding school, heard Willis sing the song and transcribed the words and melody. He then sent the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Fish University was founded in 1865 after the Civil War to educate freed slaves, both men and women. The first classes included students from age seven to seventy. However, by 1871 the school was in financial trouble. To save the school, George L. White, the University’s treasurer, and music director pulled together a student chorus of four black men, five black women and a pianist to tour to raise funds. Audiences were enthralled and the group traveled throughout the United States and Europe singing for such celebrities as Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, Johann Strauss, and Queen Victoria. They raised enough money to save the school and build Jubilee Hall, the South’s first permanent structure for the education of black students. This spiritual expressed Christian faith but also served as code about plans to steal away to freedom via the Underground railroad. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement for pedal or lever harp utilizes special harp techniques to explore a full range of tone colors and to highlight aspects of the lyrics.  Playing near the soundboard is used to imitate the sounds of trumpets. Low bass chords suggest thunder and a gilssando using the back of the finger nail describes lightning. 

Willis Laurence James graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1923 with a B. A. in Music. While teaching at Leland College in Baker, Louisiana he began his work as a folklorist collecting black folk songs along the Mississippi River. In 1933 he began his career at Spelman College in Atlanta. He received a General Education Board Grant which allowed him to continue his work collecting tunes in the South Carolina Sea Islands, Georgia, and Florida.  During field research in 1939 he collected this spiritual and noted that this is a tune sung in Georgia. The lyrics draw on the text of Hebrews 12:1-2 which compares the Christian journey to running a race.  For an enslaved people, this song served as encouragement to those escaping captivity and running toward freedom.  Guide My Feet was also sung during the Civil Rights Movement. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement for pedal or lever  harp is combine with her beautiful nature photography in this video. 

Oppressed and enslaved Black people felt a special kinship with the Israelites of the Hebrew Scriptures.  This song uses water as a simile to describe peace, joy and love.  The text resonates with the message of Galatians 5:22 which identifies the first “fruit of the Spirit” as love, joy, and peace.  Both the simple, meaningful text and its repetitive nature make it well suited as comforting music. The melody which gently rises and falls, suggests the feeling of lapping water or the swelling and retreating of waves. 

This Negro spiritual is a heart-felt lament comparing hopelessness to when a child is torn from its mother’s arms.  The roots of this song are buried in the tragedy of the forced separation of families during slavery.  The traditional tune first appeared in print in William Barton’s 1898 publication, Old Plantation Hymns.  This tune is among those introduced to the world by the Fisk Jubilee Singers as they broke racial barriers and traveled the world raising money for Fisk University in the late 1800s. H. T. Burleigh, singer and composer, was among the first Black students admitted to the National Conservatory in New York City.  He served as an assistant to Dvǒŕak and introduced the composer to a number of spirituals. 

Performed by Heartland Harp Ensemble, director Lorinda Jones

Performed by Heartland Harp Ensemble, director Lorinda Jones