Mary Muckle grew up in a rural farming area outside of the (then) very small town of Whitby, Ontario, Canada. Her first instrument was the piano, taught by an organist whose passion, not unusual in an organist, was for the Baroque, so from the beginning she had a firm foundation in contrapuntal music. Much later this foundation was useful in arranging ensembles for her harp students.

After completing a B. Ed. At the University of Toronto Muckle began her professional life in Newfoundland at St. Francis of Assisi School in Outer Cove, which like many maritime elementary schools at the time had a thriving ukulele program. It was for her combined ukulele and recorder classes that she began arranging ensemble music. This became a life-long interest, thus far culminating with ”Harp and Soul – A Harp Ensemble Tutor”.

Another passion, harpsichord studies, eventually led to harp study with Carla Furlong, and later, Katherine Ely and Sarah Davidson.

Her latest effort, Harp and Soul, is a definitive and distinctly harpistic approach to ensemble playing for teachers, students and performers. These ensemble arrangements were written over a period of 25 years for harp students who were studying with Muckle in both private lessons and group classes. The tutorial/book combination is 158 pages and along with scholarly text, also contains 8 Duets, 1 Trio, 3 Quartets, 1 Sextet, 1 Voice/Harp Duet, and 1 Flute/Harp/Piano Trio.  Harp and Soul.