Recordings & Videos

Performed by Heartland Harp Ensemble, director Lorinda Jones

Performed by Heartland Harp Ensemble, director Lorinda Jones

Gray Cat (Kotyku Sirenkyi) is a traditional Ukrainian Lullaby arranged for harp by Kathleen Blackwell-Plank. In this comforting video she has combined beautiful music with photos of cats is various settings of tranquil repose. These photos are interspersed with natural beauty of stones in an amazing variety of colors and shapes. 

Spy, Isuse, Spy is a traditional Ukrainian Christmas Lullaby. This harp arrangement created by Kathleen Blackwell-Plank highlights the lyrical beauty of this melody. This restful video couples the music with images of blue and white lights against the night sky.

George Gershwin was said to have been deeply moved by "Oy Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon," a traditional Ukrainian lullaby when he heard it performed at Carnegie Hall in 1929 by the Ukrainian National Chorus. The opening motif of Summertime, which he began composing in December of 1933, is reminiscent of the beginning of the lullaby. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has arranged this lullaby for harp.  In this video the hauntingly beautiful melody is coupled with Blackwell-Plank's stunning flower photos. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement of this Japanese lullaby utilizes special effects on the harp to imitate the sounds of traditional Japanese musical instruments.  Her nature photos lead us on a relaxing forest walk to discover unexpected beauty and calm.

Lyrics vary from region to region, but all tell of finding the wildflower, Doraji by the mountain stream. This five-petaled flower, found in both purple and white varieties, has a large, poofy bud, and is commonly called Bell Flower or Balloon Flower. In this arrangement, the lever harp is tuned in Eb and all the D G levers are set to the sharp position, creating the pentatonic scale which is beautiful for creating effects and lovely pentatonic glissandi. The glissandi suggest the sounds of water or a gentle breeze.  

The Han River is a major river in Korea, flowing from the mountains, through Seoul and on to the sea. Imagine a peaceful boat ride while enjoying the scenery on the river. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank’s arrangement utilizes the special tone colors of the harp to render this beautiful traditional Korean tune.  The grace notes in this arrangement reflect the vocal ornamentation common in Korean folk music.

This cradle song has been found throughout Europe. The earliest version of this lullaby dates back to 1611.  The current melody was written by German composer Friedrich Reichardt in 1781.  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement for harps and violins is coupled with beautiful botanical garden photography to create a moment for comfort and relaxation. 

The melody and text were collected by Philipp Friedrich Silcher (1789-1860) a German composer known for his development of choral singing, lieder and collecting of folksongs.  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank, harpist, violinist, arranger, and photographer has coupled this relaxing tune with images of sunset. 

This lullaby begins with the chorus based on the Scot's word "baloo" or lullaby,  The first verse alludes to myths of changelings, the fear that a fairy would secretly substitute its own offspring for an unguarded human baby.  The second verse implores the angels to protect the child and the third hopes the baby will sleep soft.

This Ukrainian lullaby tells of doves lighting on the baby’s crib. The verses contemplate how to feed the baby, maybe some honey, a bagel or sweet milk. The crib goes squeak, squeak and the baby sleeps, sleeps. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank’s arrangement of this traditional tune utilizes special glissando techniques to suggest the flight of the doves. 

This pastoral love song is an Irish Air from the 18th century.  The courting song is a dialogue between a smitten young lad and a hesitant milk maid. While the birds sing in the boughs, the lad compares the pretty maid to numerous priceless treasures. However, she protests her poverty.  The lad declares his affection, stating that he would rather live on the poor mountain with his love. 

This slow Scottish strathspey was first published around 1808.  An acquaintance of composer R. A. Smith was fond of the traditional tune Lord Balgonie's Favorite and wished that there were words to this lovely song.  Smith  approached his friend, Robert Tannahill, a Paisley weaver who often composed as he worked the loom.  The poet created this love song which describes the passing of winter into spring.  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has created an arrangement for the harp which she has coupled with photographs of the coming of spring. 

Angels Hovering Round is an American folk hymn dating back to the mid 19th-century.  It appeared in "Millennial Harp" in 1843, "The American Vocalist" in 1949 and "The Revivalist" in 1868. This popular camp meeting, revival and Sunday School gospel hymn was sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers at a revival at Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK in the 1870s.  In this video  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has coupled this gentle arrangement with the idyllic beauty of a garden and nature sounds. 

Wondrous Love is a Christian folk hymn from the American South.  The anonymous text was first published in 1811 in a camp meeting songbook.   Many hymnals of the time were published without music and the texts were sung to familiar folk tunes.  The hymn was commonly sung to an old English melody known as “The Ballad of Captain Kidd.” However, the tune predates the Kidd usage by at least a hundred years.  The text and melody first appeared together in print in the appendix of the 1840 edition of the Southern Harmony, a book of shape-note hymns complied by William Walker. The shape-note singing grew out of the singing school movement that developed to teach people who could not read music to sing using notes with different shaped heads pared with solfege syllables. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has coupled her arrangement for harp with photos of reproductions of antique samplers. 

The word lulajże means to sleep while being rocked like a baby in a mother’s arms. In this Polish carol, Mary sings baby Jesus to sleep while comforting, caressing, and guarding him in her loving arms. The text of this 17th Century carol is found in a 1705 collection kept in the Archdiocese Archives in Pozań. Musical scores are preserved in seven books dating from the 17th and 18th centuries which are found in the Benedictine monastery in Steniatki. In 1754, Anna Kiernicka is noted as the composer of one of the songs for three female voices with continuo. The carol tune is dated 1738 in Kiernicka’s cantionale. In addition, it is found in manuscripts of other religious orders including a Carmelite collection and, in a Franciscan, cantionale. In this video, Kathleen Blackwell-Plank combines her arrangement for harp with her watercolor painting "The Shepherds Visit the Holy Family" after the Renaissance painter Giorgione. 

This Ukrainian Christmas carol describes the joy of Christ’s birth which is heralded by a star over the manger.  Angel choirs welcome the newborn babe.  There is a rich tradition of gathering and going house to house caroling between the Christmas and Epiphany seasons. In this hospitality tradition, the head of the household is expected to warmly welcome carolers with bread, salt, and mead or mulled wine.  In return for the generous hospitality, the singers warm the home with joyous song. 

Hanter Dro is a traditional dance from Pays Vannetais in Brittany, the Celtic region of France.  It is danced in a circle, alternating men, and women, with the elbows linked in the "fortress hold" or chain.  This foot dance has a "quick, quick, slow, slow" rhythm with a little bounce in steps. Hanter Dro was a dance used when the community gathered to beat the earth floor of a new home or a threshing floor.  This was a time to dance, celebrate and to pound the floor to prepare for use.  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank’s arrangement for harp uses two different traditional tunes, “Hanter Dro de Languidig” and “Hanter Dro.”

Arran Boat Song is a slow Scottish Air known from the 1700s.  It is named for the largest island of the Firth of Clyde off the West Coast of Scotland.  Robert Allan (1774 – 1841) wrote lyrics for the traditional folk tune.  His poem tells the story of Queen Mary’s escape from Lochleven Castle.  The tune is in Dorian mode and has a gentle rocking meter establishing a restful mood.  Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement for harp is coupled with her nature photos to create a restful journey into night. 

Noël des Ausèls is an old carol from the Bas-Quercy region of southwest of France. This carol tells of the birds who flew to Bethlehem to sing their joy at the birth of the Christ child.  They followed the “Noël Star” and flew into the stable to sing by the manger.

       There is a rich history of improvisation in French organ music dating back to the Baroque period. Organists often started with a tune that was familiar to the audience and then proceed to create a set of variations.  During the Christmas season, the variations were often based on popular carols and became known as organ noëls.  

        Whence Comes This Rush of Wings appears in print in "Carols Old and Carols New: for use at Christmas and other seasons of the Christian Year."  The collection was compiled by Charles Lewis (1916) and published in Boston, Massachusetts.   Kathleen Blackwell-Plank’s arrangement for harp utilizes rolled chords, glissandi and grace notes in the introduction and interludes to create the ethereal sounds of birds’ wings and songbird calls to set off this joyous melody. In this video the carol is coupled with the beautiful avian photography of Gail Gibson. 

     Plyve Kacha Po Tysyni translates “the duckling swims down the Tysyni river.”  This traditional old Ukrainian folk song is a warning of the dangers of war. 

      This farewell song took on new meaning after becoming identified with the “Revolution of Dignity.”  On February 18th and 20th, 2014 dozens of people defending democracy, human rights, and the freedom of the Ukrainian people were killed by snipers in Maidan, Kiev’s Independence Square.  Those who died were mourned in a mass funeral on February 21st.  This folk song was sung to memorialize their lives. 

       Since Russia attacked Ukraine in February, 2022 the song has taken on even greater meaning. 

     Jenny Pluck Pears was published in John Playford’s 1651 The English Dancing Master in the key of A minor.  The Song form is AAB with the first section in 6/8 meter and the “B” section in 3/4 time.  In this fast dance, the dotted quarter note of the “A” section equals the dotted half note in the “B” section.  Jenny is a common name for a rustic sweetheart.

Drifting Waterferns, Floating Clouds (Bèo dạt mây trôi) – This traditional Vietnamese love song in the Quan họ style is from the Bac Ninh Province.  The Quan họ tradition utilizes women and men singing antiphonally.  Each of the four verses utilizes nature imagery common to the Vietnamese landscape:  waterfern, clouds, birds, duck wings, fish, the moon, wind, and bamboo.  The song paints a deeply nostalgic scene of the longing of the lovers to be together again. 

     In this arrangement for harp, Kathleen Blackwell-Plank uses sixteenth note patterns, rolled chords and glissandi to imitate water and nature sounds.  Special harp techniques are utilized to imitate the sounds of Asian instruments.  

Aruru mi niño (Hushaby My Baby) – There are many variations of this Hispanic lullaby throughout the Spanish diaspora with slightly different melodies and lyrics.  This version comes from Cuba.  Usually in Spanish “aruru” is spelled with two r’s and means a cooing or shushing sound to lull a baby to sleep.  This arrangement for harp with optional voice utilizes one version of the melody with the lyrics and incorporates a second Cuban melody (Duermete mi niño) in the introduction, first interlude and closing coda.  An Argentinian melody (Arroro mi niño) is used in the second interlude.  

A Las Puertas del Cielo (At the Gates of Heaven) – Is a 16th-century Basque lullaby from the people who lived in the western Pyrenees Mountains in modern Spain and France. The song was brought by Basque who came to the New Mexico region with Spanish explorers in the 1500s and settled as sheepherders.  As part of the WPA Federal Music Project the song was collected by Aureliano Armendariz in 1936-1937.  The Informant was Anita Bergere of Sante Fe, New Mexico.  Though of Basque origins it is sung in Castilian Spanish, rather than the Basque language, Euskera.  In the video Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement for harp of this gentle lullaby is combined with her photos from the Santa Fe area. 

Canción de Cuna Nahuatl: Macochi Pitentzin (Sleep My Little Child) - This lullaby is in the Nahuatl language of the Aztec.  The Nahuatl language is still spoken by approximately 1.5 million people who live primarily in the central region of Mexico.  In Nahuatl “cochi” means to sleep. “Pitentzin” means little one. The lullaby is also sung in Spanish. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's gentle arrangement for harp with optional voice is coupled with her nature photography for a restful experience. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has made a harp arrangement of the Manx lullaby, When Lilacs Are Lush (O Bee Dty Host, Lhiannoo).   This soothing lullaby is full of nature imagery of bird calls, bees, blossoms, and green boughs. The third verse provides the delightful image of the sliver of the moon as a “silver cradle” and the child being serenaded by the songs of the stars. The music of the introduction and interludes mirrors the swelling of the sea gently rocking the cradle. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has made an arrangement of this lullaby to baby Jesus and combined the music with images from her watercolor paintings. The lyrics of this lullaby from the Isle of Man were collected from H. Kelly, the High Bailiff by Mona Douglas a Manx folklorist sometime before Kelly’s death in 1938. Douglas is recognized for her efforts to preserve Manx culture. This lullaby alternates in two measure phrases between English and Manx lyrics. Mary sings her “precious lamb” to sleep. As the lullaby progresses Mary acknowledges the honor bestowed upon her by God.  She then foretells the sorrows the future will hold but protects the “little one” she holds in her arms. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has made a harp arrangement of this Manx lullaby identified as a “Nursing Song” when collected by Dr. John Clague on August 1, 1895 from singer, Elizabeth Callister. One verse in Manx was noted on the margin of manuscript underneath the melody taken down in the key of E flat.  Written in English below the Manx song title appears: “Little brown bird of the black marshy ground.”  A. P. Graves' version reads "Little red bird of the black turf ridge."  Each verse asks the little red bird where he slept during the night.  The first night in the briery hedge rocked by the cruel wind, the second night on the cold roof's edge and third night in a bush by the bridge. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank has made an arrangement of this traditional Manx tune for harp. The music is coupled with the beautiful avian photography of Gail Gibson. In Dr. John Clague’s 1893 collection this tune is entitled There Was a Lady from the North. He gathered this song from T. Kermode. A. W. Moore titles the tune There was a Sailor form the North. 

Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement of this beautiful Manx melody is for harp. The music has been couple with her nature photography. The Carval ny drogh Vraane translates as Carval of the Bad Women. It is one of the best known and earliest of these religious ballads to be found in print. The lyrics start with Eve in Genesis and proceed through the Bible to tell the stories of all the women who led men astray. By the end of the carval there is some relenting of the tirade against feminine tempters since Jesus was born of Mary, a woman. In the absence of lyrics, perhaps we can forgive the misogynistic history of this tune. The Clague Collection: A Catalogue of Song and Tune Titles indicates that the melody was to the folk tune The Farmer’s Daughter. 

This well known traditional folk song is a capstan sea shanty which was sung as the capstan was turned to raise the anchor. The song was sung as ships were homeward bound. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement is for harp, one hand alone. This arrangement is deal for those recovering from a hand or arm injury or those who wish to enhance left-hand technique. Upon recovery the piece may be played divided between the hands.

In Dr. John Clague’s manuscript of 1893 there are two versions of "Let Us Magnify the Lord" (Carval Lhig dooin ard volley choyrt da’m chiarn). One was collected from Henry Clague and a second version was obtained from Simpson Clucas in Castletown. Many thanks to Ruth Keggin Gell, the Manx Language Development Officer of the Manx Heritage Foundation or Culture Vannin for the translation of the Manx title into English. The literal translation is “Let us give high praise to the Lord.” Ruth Keggin is Manx Gaelic singer committed to bringing Manx music to a wider audience. 

Dr. John Clague collected this tune in Dorian mode in 1893. The haunting melody was scrawled by hand in his small manuscript book. On that day no title or place was entered, nor informant given. We do not know the lyrics so I’ve titled the song Manx Memory. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement for harp imagines a boat buoyed on the sea. The music suggests images of water, sea and perhaps a light rain as distant memories arise. 

Carval Yoseph is a traditional Manx folk tune that was sung on Christmas Eve in the church after the vicar had gone home. The unaccompanied singer started at the back of the church and took a step forward after each verse and continued until reaching the front of the church. The carols usually had many verses. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement is for one hand alone on the harp. This beautiful version is ideal for harpists recuperating from a hand, arm or shoulder injury or for those just desiring to improve their technique in one hand.  Upon recovery the piece may be played divided between the hands.

The full translation of the title of this Manx dance tune is On Account of the Dangers of the Sea. It appears in the collection, Manx Ballads and Music, published in 1896 by Arthur William Moore. Moore was a music and folklore collector who was active in the late 19th century efforts to preserve the endangered Manx language and culture. In 1898 an arrangement for piano appears in Manx National Songs. The music in this publication was selected from the collection of the Deemster Gill, Dr. J. Clague and W. H. Gill. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement is for harp, one hand alone. It is designed for those recuperating from a hand or arm injury.  Upon recovery the piece may be played divided between the hands.

Molley gys Jee, my chaarjyn (Praise God, My Friends) is a Manx carval or Christmas Carol. It appears in Manx Ballads and Music (1896) a collection by A. W. Moore (Arthur William Moore) who lived from 1852 to 1909. The tune is very reminiscent of the Irish song Star of the County Down. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement is for harp for one hand alone.  It is designed for those recuperating from a hand or arm injury.  Upon recovery the piece may be played divided between the hands.

This parting song was collected by Dr. John Clague in 1896. The same tune in the key of G major also appears in the collection as Adieu My Lovely Nancy. The lyrics tell of parting and emigration. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement of the traditional Manx tune highlights the unique colors and sounds of the harp. She utilizes special techniques including pres de la table (playing near the soundboard), rolled chords, and glissandi. One glissando is played by the backs of the fingernails of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers (indicated by the downward facing crescent shape). The result is a fluttering effect. Kathleen Blackwell-Plank's arrangement is for harp, one hand alone. It is designed for those recuperating from a hand or arm injury.  Upon recovery the piece may be played divided between the hands.