I’m practicing diligently on my tunes for the International Autoharp Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas that is held in mid-September each year. In 2023, I made the Finals and was very proud of my arrangements and performances of St. Louis Blues, Crazy, Someone to Watch Over Me, and Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out on a 21-chord chromatic ‘harp using alternative chords. I made the Finals again in 2024 playing four tunes that were all up-tempo, technical, and entertaining…Britches Full of Stitches (Celtic), Dear Ol’ Dixie (Bluegrass banjo tune), Washington County (Bluegrass fiddle tune), and Sadie Green (Jug Band tune).
This year I am working on improving my hand development for incorporating all my fingers to achieve greater speed, virtuosity, and balance , as well as greater accuracy for open noting in the diatonic style. Also, I am working on thumb lead picking style for playing fast fiddle tunes and plan to play both closed and open noting style tunes in the competition this year.