Getting Ready For Irish Arts in the Catskills

Okay so I am officially nuts because I signed up for concertina with Edel Fox and harp with Kathleen Loughnane.  Maeve Gilchrist, who is, by the way, Kathleen's niece is also teaching and they plan to team teach, which should be interesting.  I'll go to both classes on Monday and then I'll decide . . . It was only 60$ extra to get the option of both classes (340 to 400) so it seemed worth it.

Besides deciding what to wear I've been practicing both instruments a lot.

I should also add that so far this year I've acquired a decent number of tunes on the harp, to my surprise!

Brand new:
1. Isabella Burke (Carolan)  (from Dominique Dunne)
2. The Orange Rogue (set dance) (from Hilari and Benedict's class, learned first on C'tina)
3. The Drunken Gauger (set dance) (ditto above)
4. The Flail (also known as Cathal's Favourite) (jig) Vincent Broderick  (Emily's request*)
5. The Whistler at the Wake (jig) also Vincent Broderick (ditto)

"Emily is my sister, a fiddle player.  I was supposed to learn these on the C'tina but they are much better on the harp!!!!!

I've also worked hard to really learn for keeps
All Alive (Carolan) which Laoise Kelly taught eons ago at an Irish Arts

I will post a photograph after I get to Irish Arts.

Summer Harping Down Our Long Dirt Road

Finally school is out, and my summer has really begun! I have finished my long year of 5 looooong weekends to become a therapeutic musician, and next week I'll start playing at the bedsides of patients at Concord Hospital. I need to get in 45 hours of face-to-face playing time with patients before I am officially certified, and at 20 minutes a pop, I know that's a long road, too, but I am excited to get started. I have made the nicest friends at our weekend trainings, and hope to see them at the hospital as I drive my harp from room to room. I bought this sweet little wheeled platform from MusicMakers that the harp sits on; you bungee and web strap carefully, and then your harp is the steering column; when it's time to play, you set the brake, tip and pluck away. I watched women use them at Somerset last time I was there and was impressed. 

I've also been playing at our local hospice, only in their living room until I'm done with Volunteer classes there. I can hardly think of a setting that would help you lose any stage fright more agreeable than this. People that leave the rooms of their dying friends and family members for a bit of solitude and respite are the most grateful listeners. You can hardly imagine how kind they are, and gracious that you've given them a moment of...spiritualness?? I try to play for 2 hours at a time, and it really has helped me in so many ways. I have tried out arrangements I've made of Here Comes the Sun, I Will and Yesterday with hardly a person listening. I've played for 45 minutes just in the Key of G, so I'll be ready to play seamlessly at someone's bedside  And I might have truly conquered my stage fright altogether in the process. (On that subject, I'm really interested in reading a new book called Playing Scared, which is supposedly about a female pianist who froze at performances. More next month after I've bought/finished it! )

The worst part of the summer so far - besides the electric bill that pays for the humidifier to run 24/7! - is that I suddenly have a bad thumb, due to what I think is Trigger Finger. I am hoping that a splint and injections will do the trick, although they certainly didn't work with my carpal tunnel. It is the easiest surgery our ortho does; maybe you're out for 10 minutes tops? Does anyone out there have experience with this that they'd like to share??

I am trying hard to learn Kim Robertson's The Selkie. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time on the C section; it's not the octaves, I think it's the memorization. I haven't learned anything new in a long time; I did make up a fancy finish to Fanny Poer and Miss Murphy (O'C.) but sadly that's it. I am the keyboard player in a cover band - haha, I didn't think I'd be playing Leonard Skynyrd when graying at 62! - so that rehearsing seems to take up most of my time. Somerset will certainly inspire me!! I haven't been in a year or two, so the excitement is really building! 

I'm waiting for Shadowharp to contact me re: duets. Sharon, are you there? Are you still interested? I am much more comfortable about driving my harp around, so just say the word and I'll arrive at your doorstep!

Happy heat and humidity, everyone. I am saving my pennies for a trip to see Andee, hope you are, too!

July and the Adventure Continues....

Another gig at Kilshanny House Pub

I had another gig at Kilshanny House Pub playing for a private lunch for officials who were here to decide whether or not the Burren would keep its' GeoPark status (the jury is still out).

I continue to take my harp to two different weekly sessions in Doolin (Fitz's Pub on Monday and Gus O'Connors on Friday).  I was invited to a brand new session last Saturday which is out in the middle of the Burren in a little place called Carran in Cassidy's Pub.  It was a lovely session and the pub was packed with locals and a few friends of those who played in the session as well.  

I am learning a few more new tunes now including Farrel O'Garra's (reel), The Rolling Wave (jig), The Kerfunken (jig), and Jenny Picking Cockles (reel).  I am having my own private Harper's Escape with all of these new tunes, plus the ones I mentioned last month.

Well, watch this space, as you know from my previous months I am always adding onto my post throughout the month....

This photo is from the Saturday night session at Cassidy's Pub in Carran in the Burren.  The fireplace behind me is big enough to stand in!

Another new tune:  Lucy Farr's (barndance).  Anyone else play it?  It's not too hard, has a lovely swing to it--I played it at the Monday night Doolin session last night, also did Hills of Coore again as requested by a friend.

Also, I was mentioned on the West Wind radio program on Clare FM (you can listen to the programs on podcast or whatever it's called) on Friday by the host and my friend Eoin O'Neill!  He went into a play by play description of me starting up The Rolling Wave and the guys all joining in one by one, as the tune went round, lots of dynamics and we played it over and over and grooved with it as per the normal Monday night style.  I was very floored and flattered.  I know I'm not the best harpist out there but I am doing my best and the continued support and love from my friends is truly amazing!

For anyone curious enough to listen to the program (and it's a great trad program!) here is the link, it's the one from Friday the 17th of July::


http://www.clare.fm/west-wind-eoin-oneill