I play for a spectrum of events including weddings, children's puppet shows, funerals, private parties, health care centers and bedside therapeutic music.

 

A long time musician, I love to play everything from beautiful haunting Celtic tunes and meditations to traditional ceremonial to contemporary music.

 

Veronica Kent

 

 

My first instrument was guitar, which I started learning at age 10. I had a few years of lessons and learned to sing while accompanying myself. I developed thick calluses on my left fingertips and a love for the music of the 1960's, which was popular when my guitar teacher was a teenager.

 

I played bassoon in (and occassionaly conducted) our school's concert band, played saxophone in jazz band and bass drum in marching band. I sang the music of the Renaissance in concert choir and wrote songs on guitar, using simple chord progressions.

 

I traveled around the country with my drum and guitar, playing on street corners and coffee shops. I joined a world beat group as a singer, percussionist and songwriter. We recorded an album and were hired to play at festivals, restaurants and parties. It was around this time that I started teaching music to young children. I feel like the most important part of this job is to convey a sense of love for the music.

 

About a decade ago, I found the harp, or rather the harp found me. I had a dream in which I was playing the harp. I woke up with the feeling of peace and tranquility and of yearning to play this instrument in my waking life. I found a good harp maker in Pennsylvania, and commissioned him to make my beautiful cherry wood harp for me.

 

I developed my technique with some guidance local harpists, and soon went on to study contemplative music with Therese Shroeder-Sheker. Therese instilled in me a sense of listening deeply to the music and making every note deliberate, allowing the beauty of the moment to change the space around me through my harp music.

 

I have had other mentors including famed electric harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, with whom I performed in Boston in 2011.

 

As a Waldorf kindergarten teacher, I have written and played music for our beautiful puppet shows, which are largely based on traditional tales from around the world. I also play for meditations, church services, weddings, elder care groups and festivals.