A Silly Month Indeed!!

Pam- I am so sorry about your harp accident!!!  But, I LOVE the folks at the Harp Connection in Salem, Mass!!!  THE place to go for harp repairs and regulating your harp!  So glad you found the help you needed- and for shipping as well.  Kudos!

I have just returned from SummerKeys camp in Lubec, Maine, where Sue Richards led a group of 5 of us harpers (all skill levels) in learning new tunes and ensemble work (well- duets played amongst the group as we could manage).  Private lessons followed thruout the day.  I was really working on picking up more tunes "by ear", as it seems IF I can learn a piece that way, it seems to stay in my memory banks longer, and I master it faster, than my usual "paper trained" approach!  For a visual learner, that is a puzzlement to me- why would I master it faster learning by ear...?  But, that is really the second step from sightreading, I guess...getting the tune in my head!  Once it is in the head, and I am humming it everywhere I go, and can't stop thinking about it til I try it again on the strings...pretty quick to getting it!  This was especially true of the Scandanavian tunes we worked on- Var Det Du was a repeat from last year, then I added Josefin's waltz and an absolutely WILD contemporary piece called Amanda by a Swedish "rock group" named Vasen (with an umlatt over the a)  (they play an instrument called the nyckelharpa, as well as guitar and fiddle- really fast!!!) that sounded very ancient and possibly a little Middle Eastern!  And you tune the harp with fsharps and bflats! ( My music theory is weak...my daughter says it is melodic minor, but not exactly...some mode perhaps??)  Definitely enjoying adding a bit of Scandanavia to the Celtic repertoire!

Also really enjoyed getting to know my new harp better- still nervous about the heat and humidity fluctuations down here!  Ugh!

I believe Grainne and her hubby Will are both coming to do a concert in Dublin, NH on October 9th.
I have been so blessed to have had workshops with both of them when Mary Graham was organizing such wonderful events in Wilton.  Grainne is just amazing, and so very sweet besides...I may have to try Somerset out next year by hook or by crook, just to have the chance to learn some more from her!

Pam, I am so jealous that you have such a great and willing musical partner to play gigs with you!  I have a house full of musicians and can only get my daughter to play with me on rare occasions...If you are not over performance anxiety by month's end, I will be as surprised as JP!  And, as someone else blogged, and Sue Richards also emphasized: "it isn't about you...it is about the music and the audience."  Still....working on that!  Hope you get your Dusty back soon, safe and sound!

Thanks, ladies- you are all an inspiration!!  Sharon

August

Well I am just back from two weeks in Ireland!  Not a lot of harp news for me other than practicing for my upcoming gig at the abbey on Sunday.  I played my harp at a couple of sessions, BUT not sessions out at pubs, just sessions at the Boghill Centre where we stayed.

I did play my fiddle out a bit more this year than I did last year and I learned a few new tunes (which can be transferred to harp eventually),  I was most excited by learning a couple tunes from fiddler James Devitt, one of the senior members of the Kilfenora Ceili Band.  He taught Tell Her I Am and Humours of Ennistymon as well as The Red Haired Lass.  The third one I don't really have yet.

Oh, Lucy--I found the Junior Crehan book in the music shop in Doolin.



I just remembered that you asked me to post what tunes we did, Pam--I will try and get to that by tomorrow.

August and Angst

What a great topic it might be, for this August, to tackle performance anxiety.  I will be playing in a concert in mid-September where it would be appropriate for me to at least play one round of several tunes solo, starting them........ the group I play with was invited to play in the bandshell at the Friday Farmer's Market and it's a 2 1/2 hour gig basically so there will be a lot of time to fill and variety is important.

Week One
I'm briefly on the road visiting family, but I will watch the video Pamela posted and get serious about all this when I get home.  I did bring my harp with me and I have played a bit, never as much as I would like, but enough to keep the fingers going.

Probably the most exciting harp news I have is that for my birthday I was given one of those fabulous carts by my loving husband - he even found it for about half the price at an on-line vendor.  One reason I think I decided to bring the harp with me on this trip was really just the excuse to use the new cart!   But I also find playing in unfamiliar places helps with the above problems.  Once I have played a tune (successfully or close to it) in front of people, that tune seems to start to settle in and I can stay unflapped and confident.

Weeks Two and Three
Not sure what my excuse is for being so lax here lately - it's that time of year, I guess, and I have been gadding about or loaded up with family and guests.  However, I have been steadily playing the harp because we do have a big gig (we being my little irish music posse in VT) on September 20 - and I will be playing four tunes on the harp and accompanying some hornpipes..... So besides those I have a ton of tunes to work on on the concertina, many of which I basically have to learn......Let me see, I will be playing Joe Bane's (a slow reel) and The Piper's Picnic and Leslie's (Oscar and Malvina) and Fanny Power..... accompanying..... I can't remember right now, three hornpipes,  I think one of them is Mrs. Crotty's.....! I've kind of worked out the accompaniment, but I haven't had someone to play the tune while I play what I've worked out.  Pam and Andee you are lucky in that you have a live-in person who can do that!

Otherwise I've been trying to keep various tunes alive, specifically The Sweetheart Reel, Maghera Mountain, a couple of Airs that Grainne taught - names temporarily unavailable.....

About performance anxiety....

Do you get The Musicians' Way newsletter? Because if you don't, I thought you might like to watch this video, which a link in the newsletter brought me to It's long, and not all of it is about performance and your 'little voice', but I thought what she said on the subject was really, really valuable!

http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/are-great-performers-as-cool-and-collected-on-stage-as-they-appear/?utm_source=The+Musician%27s+Way+List&utm_campaign=84dfdf047d-Aug_2013_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd12a0d389-84dfdf047d-412962138