About Alison Vardy - Harpist & Owner of West Coast Harps
alisonvardy.com
Fall colours in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria British Columbia Canada
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Harp Gardener
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Harping at an angle
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Alison Vardy
Emigrant
Alison started playing the harp at age 32 after she and her husband Stephen emigrated from Canada to New Zealand in 1984. She had fallen in love with the instrument when visiting friend and luthier, Andy Rigby in Melbourne. He recommended contacting Kim Webby, a Whangarei harpmaker if her plans to move to New Zealand became reality. They did, and she was thrilled to welcome her first harp, a used 30-string Webby Celtic harp when 8 months pregnant with her first child.
Mother
Baby arrived and Alison set to learning. Her sole resource was Sylvia Woods book "Teach yourself to play the Folk Harp" supplemented by hand-written arrangements mailed to her from the late Dorothea Franchi, retired symphony harpist in Auckland. Thank you Dorothea!
Learner
Alison finally received her first lesson a year after starting the harp, from a Dunedin harpist who corrected her winging elbows and hunched shoulders. Her first highly-anticipated gig, volunteer of course, was for the Society of the Hearing Impaired requested by her dear elderly friend Dora Grubb. In 1989 Alison and Stephen moved from the small south island farming town of Gore to the bigger centre of Dunedin. Alison found her niche among other folk musicians, serving on the board of the New Edinburgh Folk Club, organising concerts and folk festivals and hosting many visiting musicians. Eventually she became one of those working and touring musicians herself, teaching, playing weddings, community and corporate events and presenting concerts solo or with other musicians.
Immigrant
In late 1997 the Vardys moved back to Canada with modest baggage that included 2 harps in boxes; the original Webby harp plus a 2nd Paraguayan harp that Alison built in 1993 in a workshop with Andy Rigby. Her parting tribute to Aotearoa was her CD, Harping On, published the same year. Sales of that CD paid many rent and grocery bills in the next few years of settling back into Canada.
Teacher, Performer, Composer - alisonvardy.com
The Vardy family, Alison, Stephen, Alan and Meaghan chose to live in Sidney, British Columbia, a small seaside town just north of BC's capital, Victoria. Alison started teaching, playing weddings, organising concerts (her own this time) and writing & publishing music. She self-produced two more solo harp CDs; Apasionada in 2000 and Island Suite in 2003. The family moved to Victoria in 2004 and the larger space allowed Alison to set up a separate studio for lessons and workshops. In 2005 she imported her first harps for sale to her students and in January 2006, West Coast Harps was born.
Importer, Retailer, Shipper, Sole Proprietor
Alison is now sole proprietor of West Coast Harps and has a studio full of harps, hammered dulcimers and bowed psalteries from at least five different manufacturers across the USA. You can read in detail about these craftsmen under Our Instrument Makers. The children and spouse have fledged or flown and new challenges lie ahead - websites, quickbooks, brokerage forms and bills of lading....
Teaching, performing and shipping harps now form a life fabric along with walking, reading in Spanish and English, bicycling and gardening. Music has brought great delight and fulfillment to Alison's life and she looks forward to sharing the joy!
Emigrant
Alison started playing the harp at age 32 after she and her husband Stephen emigrated from Canada to New Zealand in 1984. She had fallen in love with the instrument when visiting friend and luthier, Andy Rigby in Melbourne. He recommended contacting Kim Webby, a Whangarei harpmaker if her plans to move to New Zealand became reality. They did, and she was thrilled to welcome her first harp, a used 30-string Webby Celtic harp when 8 months pregnant with her first child.
Mother
Baby arrived and Alison set to learning. Her sole resource was Sylvia Woods book "Teach yourself to play the Folk Harp" supplemented by hand-written arrangements mailed to her from the late Dorothea Franchi, retired symphony harpist in Auckland. Thank you Dorothea!
Learner
Alison finally received her first lesson a year after starting the harp, from a Dunedin harpist who corrected her winging elbows and hunched shoulders. Her first highly-anticipated gig, volunteer of course, was for the Society of the Hearing Impaired requested by her dear elderly friend Dora Grubb. In 1989 Alison and Stephen moved from the small south island farming town of Gore to the bigger centre of Dunedin. Alison found her niche among other folk musicians, serving on the board of the New Edinburgh Folk Club, organising concerts and folk festivals and hosting many visiting musicians. Eventually she became one of those working and touring musicians herself, teaching, playing weddings, community and corporate events and presenting concerts solo or with other musicians.
Immigrant
In late 1997 the Vardys moved back to Canada with modest baggage that included 2 harps in boxes; the original Webby harp plus a 2nd Paraguayan harp that Alison built in 1993 in a workshop with Andy Rigby. Her parting tribute to Aotearoa was her CD, Harping On, published the same year. Sales of that CD paid many rent and grocery bills in the next few years of settling back into Canada.
Teacher, Performer, Composer - alisonvardy.com
The Vardy family, Alison, Stephen, Alan and Meaghan chose to live in Sidney, British Columbia, a small seaside town just north of BC's capital, Victoria. Alison started teaching, playing weddings, organising concerts (her own this time) and writing & publishing music. She self-produced two more solo harp CDs; Apasionada in 2000 and Island Suite in 2003. The family moved to Victoria in 2004 and the larger space allowed Alison to set up a separate studio for lessons and workshops. In 2005 she imported her first harps for sale to her students and in January 2006, West Coast Harps was born.
Importer, Retailer, Shipper, Sole Proprietor
Alison is now sole proprietor of West Coast Harps and has a studio full of harps, hammered dulcimers and bowed psalteries from at least five different manufacturers across the USA. You can read in detail about these craftsmen under Our Instrument Makers. The children and spouse have fledged or flown and new challenges lie ahead - websites, quickbooks, brokerage forms and bills of lading....
Teaching, performing and shipping harps now form a life fabric along with walking, reading in Spanish and English, bicycling and gardening. Music has brought great delight and fulfillment to Alison's life and she looks forward to sharing the joy!