Harpist Emily Granger is no stranger to the harp’s sweet and tender sound, and now she wants to spread its magic to hospital wards and treatment rooms.

In collaboration with percussionist Claire Edwardes, Granger recently released Magic Sky with The Hush Foundation, a sublime 11-track release designed to whisk listeners away to a realm where time seems to move slower and peace hangs in the air a little longer.

“I knew from the beginning that this was a really special project,” Granger tells Limelight over Zoom, with a smile. “With the magical nature of the harp and marimba, we knew how great it was.”

Looking to Magic Skies: Claire Edwardes and Emily Granger. Photo © Cole Bennetts

The project has its roots in the COVID-19 lockdowns, Granger explains. Near-neighbours living just a block apart, Granger would wheel her harp down the street to Edwardes’ house for musical get-togethers. With the pair extensively involved in commissioning and premiering new Australian repertoire, these informal sessions convinced Granger and Edwardes to join forces for something bigger. 

Edwardes was already familiar with the work of The Hush Foundation, having contributed to a previous Hush collection, A Castle for All – The Tivoli Suite. Granger, too, was a fan of Hush’s mission to improve quality and safety cultures in healthcare settings. Sharing the same vision, both were keen to help the organisation bring the healing touch of music to people in need of it.

Before breathing life into Magic Sky, Granger and Edwardes, along with composers Anne Cawrse, Jessica Wells, and Hilary Kleinig, followed the founder of the Hush Foundation, Professor Catherine Crock, around St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney to see how exactly they could contribute.

“That was quite a profound experience,” Granger shares. “The thing that we all noticed was, there was no music anywhere. You go to Woolies, the bank or the mall and there’s music playing in the background, but then you go to this very stale environment, and you can just feel the tension and the seriousness of being in a space like that.”

Granger recalls seeing flashes of breaking news on the TV screens placed in waiting rooms, transit lounges, and renal facilities, which she found “pretty harrowing”.

Immediately, she saw the vital significance of the project they were about to embark on. “We need music in these spaces, we need art, we need warmth, care, compassion  and human connection, not just breaking news.”

Emily Granger. Photo © Cole Bennetts

Magic Sky highlights the work of eight Australian female composers (Wells, Cawrse, and Kleinig, along with Elena Kats-Chernin, Andrea Keller, Natalia Mann, Katia Mestrovic, and Sally Whitwell), a choice Granger says was deliberate.

“It’s a very specific type of music that we wanted to be written. This is music for healing, for people in hospitals, for people in potentially the darkest moment of their life,” she describes. Granger and Edwardes wanted to seize the opportunity to spotlight a harmony of all Australian talent.

“Claire and I are both involved in wanting to have some change in terms of equality, especially when it comes to programming, commissioning, and championing women’s voices. We wanted to commission eight amazing voices and they all just happened to be women.”

It’s difficult to listen to Magic Sky and not feel moved by it. Granger and Edwardes’ connection to the cause and with each other shines throughout the album, and the result of that synergy is a beautifully produced album with a whole lot of heart.

Granger has also surprised herself with this project, in a way.

“I’m obsessed with the album,” she grins. “I normally absolutely hate listening to recordings of myself. This is the first recording that I’ve actually found myself listening to because I love the music so much. I’m just in love with it.”

Little Star by Hilary Kleinig, specifically, is a track on constant rotation. “It’s my favourite piece, and I know it’s Claire’s as well. I love all the pieces so much, but if I had to pick an absolute favourite, Little Star is just so sweet and so tender. I have it stuck in my head all day long.”

With a selection of works that create tranquillity amid chaos, Granger only hopes that Magic Sky will encourage people to simply breathe.

“I just want people to feel like they can take a very deep breath, and let the music cleanse them. I hope it makes their day even just 1 percent better,” she says.

Granger herself knows this feeling all too well. When asked why the harp speaks to her as a medium amongst every other instrument this world has to offer, a glow washes over her face as she recalls how she began playing the harp in the first place.

“When I was 11, I was given a CD of Celtic music for Christmas that year and I became obsessed with this one track on the album that was the harp but I had no idea what it looked like,” Granger admits.

“The very first time I actually saw a harp was a year later at my first harp lesson. I walked into my teacher’s home and her living room was filled with harps. I remember having this very distinct and decisive feeling that was like, ‘Yes. This is what I’m going to do with my life.’”

“For me, it’s the resonance [of the harp]. I can pluck one string and the entire instrument starts to vibrate and I think it’s got that magical effect on people, where the sound washes over you. I also think it has something to do with the way that you sit at the harp because it’s so physical. I’m hugging the instrument between my arms and legs. It really feels like an extension of my body and soul.”

Right now, Granger says she’s enjoying a renewed sense of self-assurance from her involvement with Magic Sky.

“Our role as musicians is to provide our audiences with a moment of transcendence out of this world, right? Just to be able to hit pause on everything that’s going on, everything that we don’t have control over.”

“With Magic Sky, it’s deliberately meant for healing,” Granger beams.

“For me, it really feels like, ‘Okay. This is my calling.’ I feel like right now, I’m being really true to what I want to be doing as an artist.”

Magic Sky is now available on the Hush Foundation label.

This feature has been created with the support of 2024 Music Writers Lab Commissioning Fund.