28/06/2010
Congratulations to Rachel's 3 pupils at St James the Great branch of Comhaltas in Glasgow! Marie, Hannah and Gemma received 1st, 2nd and 1st places respectively in the harp competitions at the 'All Britain' Fleadh at the weekend. This means they all progress to compete at the harp competition at the 'All Ireland', world Irish music competition this August. Congratulations too to Rachel's pupils Blair and Kristina who received 1st and 2nd place at the Glasgow Mod, Gaelic harp competitions.
You've made your teacher proud girls!
If you would like to get taught by Rachel, she'll be teaching a one-off workshop on the Isle of Man on Thursday the 15th July on the Isle of Man. It's part of the Yn Chruinnaght festival and Welsh/Irish harpist Harriet Earis will also be teaching. More info can be found on the 'gigs' page.
10/05/2010
**NEW HARP MUSIC BOOK ON SALE NOW**
Rachel is pleased to announce the publication of her harp music book 'Mostly Scottish Harp : Scottish, Irish, Manx & Original tunes arranged for Celtic Harp'.
Featuring 17 tunes from lower-intermediate to advanced level, the book is a mixture of traditional tunes and Rachel's own compositions, many of which have featured on her albums. Arranged in Rachel's unique style, each tune has both right and left hand, and fingering where required.
A welcome addition to any harpers repertoire 'Mostly Scottish Harp' can be purchased from the shop page on this website.
14/04/2010
What a fantastic time the last 7 days have been. The trio had a great time over in Austurias with packed out gigs. We met some lovely people, ate some fab food, enjoyed the sunshine and of course sampled the traditional cidre!
Rachel the returned home and went straight to the Edinburgh International Harp Festival where she taught a Scottish harp class to students from Scotland, England and Sweden. Great fun.
The Scottish tour kicks of tomorrow night in Gairloch so it would be great to see you at some of the gigs so check out if the trio are playing near you on the gigs page.
Just to let you know we've had some problems with Rachels "Mostly Scottish Harp" book and we've had to send the copies back to the printers for a reprint after an issue regarding quality control. Hopefully it will be back with us soon and then we'll be selling it here on the website.
cheers :)
30/03/2010
Well, summer is officially finally here. Although if you were to look out any window in Glasgow right now you'd see a raging gale and snowy blizzards! Hopefully the weather will calm down though as Rachel and her trio have lots of gigs coming up in the coming month including a visit to Austurias, Northern Spain and a wee Scottish tour.
Coming very soon is the eagerly awaited (its been in progress for the past 10 months now!) "Mostly Scottish Harp: Scottish, Irish, Manx & Original tunes arranged for Celtic Harp"... Rachel's first harp music book. It will be available to buy from the shop on this website from Monday the 12th April, but if you're attending the Edinburgh International Harp Festival you'll be able to get it there a bit earlier, on the weekend of the 10th/11th April.
05/02/2010
Well Celtic Connections has finished and what a great festival it was. Rachel was a special guest of Manx group 'King Chiaullee' at the Old Fruitmarket and had lots of fun! Check out photos from the gig in the gallery, and check out the great review from 'Oak and Thorn' who were are the gig.
The festival also saw Rachel and her trio perform 2 special sellout education concerts in the main auditorium of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall This saw nearly 5,000 schoolchildren dancing around and enjoying their music!
Some dates for 2010 are starting to appear on the gigs page. Rachel performs this sunday with Gaelic singer Joy Dunlop and over the next couple of months will see her trio touring Scotland and performing in Northern Spain. New gigs are coming in all the time so keep checking back for ones in your area.
06/01/2010
Happy New Year!
January is a busy month for Rachel with several gigs and workshops. This coming Friday (8th Jan) will see Rachel joining fellow special guests Jamie Smith, Malcolm Stitt and Greg Joughin to perform with Manx supergroup 'King Chiaullee' at the Centenary Centre on the Isle of Man, as a preview to the same concert taking place at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow on Wed 20th Jan.
Rachel is proud to be part of Celtic Connections Education program which will twice see her trio perform in front of several thousand children at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. She'll also be teaching harp as part of the 'come and try' Celtic Connections outreach series in schools around Glasgow.
06/11/2009
Rachel and her trio are heading to Denmark next week for a wee 5-day tour so check out the gigs page to see where exactly in the country they'll be playing.
Its been a few years since Rachel has performed there so she can't wait to get back there, have some hopefully great gigs and catch up with old friends. Joining Rachel as part of her trio will be Jenn Butterworth (guitar and vocals) and James Lindsay (double bass).
13/09/2009
Rachel is taking part in a very special event in a few weeks time "Tillidh Mi Dhachaidh - The Ullapool Homecoming", in the Highland village where she grew up....Ullapool.
Celebrating the wealth of talent from the Creative Arts that has spawned from the area the 26th September to 16th October will see concerts, exhibitions, school and community workshops in Scotlands year of Homecoming.
Rachel will be joining other local musicians including James Graham, Mairearad Green, Michael Bryan, Andi Neate, Stuart Hossack and others to perform at special concerts on Friday the 2nd and Saturday 3rd October.
Find out more at www.ullapoolhomecoming.com