Almost out of 2015!

Dear Fellow Bloggers......Not seeing a lot of activity here!  I know it is a busy month, but I hope that is all that is going on, and nothing in the bad news department!

December is typically crazy for me, with Christmas Eve service preparations and decorating the house, etc.  Shopping, of course, and baking, and mailing packages (which always seems to take longer and involve more than I expect!) and putting up THREE trees, which I love!  Plus, getting all the end of the year stuff organized for the business, and the staff.  Busy.  Not as much practicing as I wanted but my one big gig mid-month did inspire me to take the time I needed to prepare.  Our local library hosts an incredible Festival of Trees, from Thanksgiving Weekend thru Jan 6th,  and one of the events they have been holding involves one night after the library closes, to have people in to enjoy the lit trees with most other lighting dimmed or off.  And me playing the harp as background music.  It is sort of a performance, as people can sit and listen right where I am, but wandering around and enjoying the magical ambience while eating tasty treats is encouraged strongly!  I have almost an hour of music to play that is memorized, along with the occasional chat, and then I take a book of Carols to sight read from.  Sylvia Woods, for the most part.  Easy to improvise the left hand as you go!  Not very exciting, but it sounds lovely in that space.  I love playing the Irish carol, "That Night in Bethlehem", and the Scot's "Christ Child's Lullaby", and "Da Day Dawns".  Of course, "Greensleeves" (aka "What Child is This") is always a hit, and "She Moved Thru the Fair", which I explain in terms of losing your girlfriend madly shopping at the mall....well, not really!  "Cooley's Slide" is fun, too.  Then I did a few Scandanavian tunes, which I really love, and back to the carols.  I played an arrangement of "In the Bleak Midwinter" that is by Sunita, that my harp student introduced me to, and is quite lovely.  Don't have that memorized, so played it off the paper, which sounds ok, but I hear a huge difference in tone and confidence when I have things securely in my head and under my fingers!    I really hate relying on the printed notes anymore, and completely advocate for first learning a tune by ear, and having the paper as back up, as a much more efficient way to learn a tune quickly and get comfortable with it!  Now I really need to work on my improvisational skills! I need other musicians to play with!  Pam, I have not heard further from you on duets, or playing together.  I need buddies!!

Other things going on in life- thoroughly enjoying being AWAKE all day!!  Loving my CPAP machine and the difference it has made in my life....like still having a life, and not being a truly dead person as a result of going to sleep and never waking up!  Phew- close call, that!  Had our first Kid-Less Christmas in 32 years, as the daughter was in Georgia with her boyfriend's family, and the son is in Colorado with his girlfriend and restaurant jobs that are hard to leave at holiday time. An adjustment for sure, but we did fine!  My husband totally shocked me a couple of weeks ago with plans for a vacation in England and hopefully Scotland in May- won't be able to fit Ireland in this time, but now that the ice is broken, maybe next year will see us in Dublin, Andee!!   Tom NEVER takes a big chunk of time away from work- this is a major break through!!!  I am flying high on excitement!

So- looks like it will be an exciting year!  I am adding a second adult harp student this month, and planning at least one harp excursion, back up to Lubec and Summerkeys.  Possibly a foray to Somerset in NJ in July?  Not sure about that yet!

We had a wonderful Christmas, which we are still thoroughly enjoying, and I hope you all did too!  Best wishes for everyone to have a Happy, Healthy, Joyful, Fun 2016!  Holiday Harp stories, Anyone?!?    Love and hugs to all- Sharon

December in Clare!!

Life is good!  The pictures below were taken by my friend Bob who is a brilliant photographer.  Here is a link to his blog if you are interested.  He is an Aussie in Clare and has been documenting his musical adventures.

https://singersongblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/where-does-the-music-in-ireland-go-in-winter-answer-fitzs-bar-in-doolin-2/

I am getting ready for a New Year's Eve gig at a local pub.  I am getting two different set lists ready.  The first is for the cocktail hour, so it's going to be mostly airs and O'Carolan pieces plus a few tunes for interest.  The second set list is basically just tunes.  Two friends and I will be doing a trio after the cocktail hour, which will turn into a session (hopefully!) and take the pressure off of us.

I have a lot of repertoire to polish up and some to relearn.  I let things slide a bit in the past six weeks due to being crazy in love with someone....a long and involved and interesting story (Bridget Jones Diary / Eat Pray Love / Wuthering Heights / Sense and Sensibility haha!), at the moment he has broken my heart (as if I haven't had enough heartbreak in the past year).  But I shall say to be continued for now......

I spent a few hours this morning with my friend Fiana, who was a student of Janet Harbison, she is now a teacher herself.  We played a few tunes and I didn't have a lesson, per se but she had a couple recommendations for ornamentaion in one or two tunes I already play.  My version of Lucy Farr's Barndance was pretty bare bones but now it is spiced up a bit.  We could have spent an hour alone doing this for one or two tunes.  So it is always the decision of, 'Do I make this tune more amazing, (left hand and right) or go on to learn a new tune?'  Same with the fiddle.

Anyway, she left with my little Dusty FH 26 to lend out to one of her students and I will make some money for doing nothing, and the little guy needs to be played.