Update: We raised £174.64 on the day itself and received a further £40 in donations from supporters, making the total figure £214.64 raised for UNICEF - thanks to all who took part and donated, this was a beautiful day of music-making and a brilliant result for UNICEF. We received a lovely letter of thanks from them less than a week later :)

Hello friends, just a quick post today! Myself and some students will be playing outdoors today at Easton Walled Gardens from 12-4pm. This will be under a gazebo kindly lent to us by one of my students, Katy Phipps. The gazebo idea was in case of rain but we have been blessed with an extraordinarily beautiful day, so we may well need it for shade!

I love this time of year. I cannot wait to play outside today, hearing the wind rustling gently through the strings of the harp, making them glow and shimmer with sound, resonating with the other-worldy 'aeolian' quality that composers try desperately to recreate with entire orchestras - but can't! Only the harp can stand outside on a grassy verge, a rocky ridge, a beach, in a forest or next to a Victorian Kitchen Garden (like today) and play by itself. The sound is magical and ethereal and it's almost a shame to place 'proper' music on top of it!

Today we are raising money for UNICEF's appeal to help the people of Pakistan, devastated by the floods. I have just set up a fund-raising page, but it is not live YET. Hopefully, by Tuesday 14th September it will be, and it will be online and available to donate through, until 30th September. The URL will be: www.supportunicef.org.uk/harpoperpetuo

Bye for now,

Highly Strung x