Goodbye to an interesting month
Thank you to everyone who has posted and shared photos this month. I am housebound for a bit as I wait for my new knee to grow together, and reading your blog entries has been wonderful! Especially when you mention songs you know/knew/would like to learn. Because of the way our old house is built, I haven't been able to get myself through a tiny door into the 'harp' room, but sooner or later I'll stop napping each afternoon - who knew surgery would take so much out of me??? - and set down and play just for the joy of it.

Earlier this month, I went to the third-of-five long weekends to prepare to be certified as a therapeutic musician, and it was wonderful. I have become friends with a flutist who's on a teaching sabbatical this year, and during breaks in class we play all kinds of off-the-cuff duets. I love the challenge of making up harmonies and counter-melodies on the fly, and I think it's one of those "use it or lose it" skills; mine could certainly use some polishing! It was extremely gratifying to read, in my evaluation, that the head of the program has moved me from the 'intermediate' to 'intermediate/advanced' category of musician. Which certainly won't hold if I don't put this tablet down right now! So thank you all again for keeping me awake and keeping me inspired! Happy New Year!!!!

December? Already?

SNOWSTORM #1

SNOWSTORM #2

Snowstorm One was pretty and about eight inches.  Snowstorm Two was heavy snow, truly wet cement, and almost a foot and a half before it was done with us.  A nightmare.   We lost a lot of trees and I spent hours outside knocking snow off of trees near the house.  Knox spent two and a half days out on his big tractor moving snow around with the bucket.  Of course, he grumbled but was more or less in guy heaven.

Meanwhile, since I last posted, class ended.  We had a post-class concert and with a couple of others I played the slow Joe Bane's reel I got off of Kate MacNamara's album "Are You the Concertina Player" on the harp and that went really well.  Also our Among Friends bi-annual concert was in early December and I played Marbhna Luimni which was taught to us by Maeve Gilchrist at the Harper's Escape.  I am so madly in love with that tune!   I also played Captain O'Kane with Rakes of Clonmel  (as Kathy taught it - I know there are other versions) with a couple of friends (flute, fiddle)  I managed to get one person to learn a new Carolan tune. Tried to get her to learn two, but it is an uphill battle with these non-harpers!  It was Laoise Kelly's version of "All Alive" which I got from her years ago at East Durham.  It's really a nice tune. Weird key.  

I've played at the hospital, down to two visits a month--really just because of winter and the busy disease.  Once the snow falls like this I get less and less inclined to leave home and more inclined to stay put.  I am still editing my book and will be doing so for at least another couple of months, I think.  It's taking forever, but that is the way writing is.

For some INSANE reason I feel the need to 'recover' "Flying to the Fleadh" and also to work on the other Patrick Davey tune, "The Rectory Reel".  Why?  I don't know, perhaps to prove to myself I can.  I also wish to revive "Soft Mild Morning" and fifty other tunes.  But for the meanwhile no playing at all as I have one of those skin splits on my thumb-- too much shoveling and carrying on out in the snow.  

Nothing much coming up in my music life.  Maybe I need to stir up some trouble?

Keep on posting!

Mid- December Panic!

Well, it is the oddest late fall I can ever remember.  Roller coaster temps.  Ice on top of snow, on top of mud on top of ice ...you get my drift!  behind on holiday preparations in every facet of my life.  A choir who is just now been introduced to Christmas Eve service music.  Last minute harp exchanges for Celtic Evensong, due to the Fisher busting an A string right in the middle of the harp 20 minutes before I was planning to load up the van and head for church.  Thank goodness my Kortier workhorse with the small voice  (aka "Patrick") was standing by after being pretty much neglected the past year and a half- barely needed tuning!  And I stuck the mic down inside as usual for that space, and he sounded great.  The tension on that bird's eye maple is harder. so not the same feel as his little sister, "Colleen"- not so many ornaments- but I really felt good with his size.  The Fisher is a lot smaller and lighter, tho only 2 strings less than the Kortier.  Which makes life easier.  And she has a brighter tone, and much bigger voice.  But I was reminded about the things I really love about the Kortier.  So, I guess I am not ever selling him again!  (Sold and then repurchased him from a student after she gave up harping..)  Unless I can find another harp that does what he does, only with a voice to match the size!

Tonight I am playing at our local library.  They have had a Festival of Trees display for the past  few years, and tonight they are inviting folks in after hours to stroll thru the trees while hearing lovely music.  I was first told it was "background" music, which is fine- but then all the press releases billed me as a performer and the hour as a performance!  Yikes!  Wrong time of year to start prepping for an hour long PERFORMANCE!  So, we shall see- that is a lot of music, and they have now assured me there will just be a few chairs, and people will be encouraged to wander about and chat...and I am going with Christmas music printed!  So it will be a mix of stuff I have nailed for memory, and pot luck from the books!

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and Wonderful New Year!  Stay safe!  Stay warm!

love, Sharon

December in Kilfenora and surrounding area!

Another gig!
I just got another gig playing at an awards ceremony this Thursday!  The awards are from the Burrenbeo conservation trust!

Also I have learned a new tune (all in one day!)--The Kilfenora Jig (sometimes called The Clare Jig).  In honor of my new home.  I am also going to play it at the gig along with anything from this area, like The Cliffs of Moher, The Mist Covered Mountain, and all the Junior Crehan tunes I can get up to performance ready standards.



That's me playing during the awards ceremony.  The Boghill Centre won three awards!  And I gave out a few business cards to people who said, "I do a lot of weddings" including a couple hotel owners and the DJ (who is very famous, so I am told)!

Kifenora Cathedral Christmas Choir and Miscellany Concert

My little performance in the cathedral was a success.  I was only a little bit nervous and there was enough light to see my strings, bonus!

I got several nice compliments, but the best one of all was a woman who said, "You really played from the heart; I could feel it.  And that's really rare."


And another gig!
Now I have a third gig booked!  I will be playing background music as a prelude to a trad female trio on New Year's Eve!  I play for about an hour at a local pub, Kilshanny House, and this time I get paid!  Not loads, but it's a step in the right direction!  And the bonus is I know what I'm doing on NYE!

A lot of practicing!
I've been practicing loads for my NYE gig!  I'm feeling really confident!  I've decided (maybe even had a major shift in my thinking / being) that life is too short not to be fabulous!  Life is too short to be scared!

I really need to be on form on NYE because this is the real deal ladies!  I am in IRELAND playing Irish harp, opening up for a trio who are high profile!  It isn't three ladies, but two ladies and one guy.  It's led by Norin Lynch who has a CD out.  She is a wonderful singer.  The flute player is a young lady who I think is called Clara and the third is a fiddler / guitarist called Quentin.  Both Quentin and Norin are in Eoin O' Neil's band The Ceili Bandits.  The Ceili Bandits also have a CD out and Eoin does a trad program called The West Wind on Clare FM.  He is a local celebrity and plays bouzouki and fiddle!

So you see, this *could* lead to some gigs and to be on the same bill as these people is a bit daunting but I'm taking the bull (Irish cow??) by the horns and going for it, because LIFE IS TOO SHORT NOT TO!