Season's Greetings!

Hello Fellow Harpers out there!  Are you there??!! 

Cold, crisp, snow and ice covered New Hampshire is looking and feeling like Christmas.  When I spoke with friends in Scotland last week, they were complaining it was warm and gray- not at all feeling like the holiday season.  I guess we have to make do with what we get!

Playing Carols on the harp by ear- just noodling- and am amazed that this completely paper trained person has been able to learn tunes by ear and figure things out without a note in front of me!  I fought this as a possibility for so long- insisted I was not good at playing anything by ear, much less being able to put a left hand and harmony to it!  And memorize pieces- like, a LOT of pieces!  Found I could play with much more confidence without referring to the music.  Total shock when 5 years ago or so I found this whole new world. Piano and keyboard stuff, depending on sight reading ( which I was very good at) convinced me I was only good in a "visual learning" scenario.  If you know a struggling new harp player, pass this along!  There is a reason traditional tunes were taught for generations this way.  Our education system the past 50+ years has discouraged memorizing or learning anything "by rote"-  you can always "look it up" the teachers said.  Well, that philosophy has done a huge disservice to students all that time.  So- having fun with noodling around on the strings- and playing piano and organ music (WITH the music!) getting ready for Christmas Eve.  Lots of music- all good!

Have missed hearing anything from Lucy and Andie- hope things are ok with you both!  I know there were some new ventures and projects happening- I just hope harping has been part of it all, somehow.  So impressed with Pamela- what an inspiration!  Best of luck with the new endevors!

So- we have a smaller group coming for Christmas dinner this year- our family circle seems to be getting smaller, and I know we are not the only family missing loved ones this year.  Some are just too far to come home, and others have left us completely...bittersweet time for many of us.  I hope this Christmas will still bring you all much joy- good memories are shared and new ones made- and praying fervently that 2017 will be the year the world decides to try Peace instead of War, heals the earth with care, and acts in Love rather than Hate and Fear.  We are all connected- as music lovers and music creators, we know this better than most!  So- Harp On!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you All- love, Sharon

My Once a Year Post :))

Hello everyone, I've been lurking for months, and finally thought I should get off my duff and give you something to read in return! Maybe I can inspire you to start posting more as well? I am hopeful that going public with the blog will give me more inspiration about learning new tunes; I am quite lazy about tackling new stuff!!

I have been busy this past year as a therapeutic harpist at a local hospital and hospice. I teach school Tues-Thurs, but every Monday I am so very lucky to be hired to play at the bedside of patients about a half hour from my house. I have one of those wooden platforms that my harp gets fastened to so I can travel the floors and elevators, and my supervisor writes me a schedule of patients to see. I've played in private rooms, in the Infusion Center, in the lobby, even in the Emergency Room one morning! I can't find words to express how very wonderful it is to help people who are sick need less pain medication, have less anxiety, lower blood pressure, etc, etc. People have cried when I played, have blessed my hands and my harp, have invited their family members and all the doctors and nurses on the wing in to their room to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow together. Nurses call in to the office and request the harpist, families meet me in the hallway and ask me to visit their relatives. Most enriching is playing for NAS babies, who are born addicted to drugs. Nurses tell me that their little bodies relax into them when the music begins. Both my dad and mother-in-law died under hospice care, so of course I am so very pleased to give back. And a few weeks ago I was invited to play for the annual  Physician's Dinner while my supervisor talked about the benefits of Therapeutic Arts. I am so proud of myself for completing the training to become a therapeutic musician, and feel so lucky to be able to play locally and be paid. Can you tell how much I love this work?? :))

I also play once a month at a local retirement/assisted living facility - also paid! I meet the kindest, most respectful people when I play there. I wish I could do this as my full-time job. And occasionally I play out at the local coffeehouse that I manage with my husband. Together with my husband JP, I play weddings, parties and local gatherings. This month I'm trying my hand at playing at a wedding fair, hoping to get more gigs. I got off my lazy behind and went to a recording studio to make a CD this summer, and handing out free copies has gotten me a lot of gigs. Wish I'd been brave to do this years ago.

But the best harp-related item this year was traveling down a little dirt road in the burren and meeting....Andee Anko! My goodness, so beautiful, lively, kind, gracious, and what a terrific harpist! We were sorry that we were on the way to Dublin (which we were not that excited about to be honest) to meet our daughter and son-in-law. next time we go to Ireland I'll be sure to book a few nights at Bog Hill if they'll have us.

I have 2 songs that I'm working on, one a little more successfully than the other. We have that Frank Volz version of Angels We Have Heard on High at our house, and my husband and I are arranging a guitar/harp version, which we'll play at a nearby Christmas concert we've been invited to join. I hardly ever play jazz harp, so this is fun, but a little tricky. The harder one is the Deborah Henson-Conant (argh, is this right??) New Blues. My God, it will be a miracle if I ever, ever get the muffing and the syncopation down perfectly!!!!

I see that I have used the word 'I" close to a trillion times in this blog post, and I do apologize, but when you only post once a year and you're telling about your harping life these things just happen. I wish you would comment and tell me what you're working on, where you've played, and how things are going. I was one of the people dragging this blog down by not posting, but I'm hoping I can inspire you to start posting like crazy. I promise to do the same!!
Pam

October colors despite the drought!

Greetings- if anybody is out there?!
Mid- October, and I have begun to practice in earnest for a gig on November 5th.  Entertainment for a large group of church musicians and music ministers!  Thankfully only a half hour time slot. I prefer to play from memory when not doing "background music", and keeping 30 minutes of tunes, lever changes, and more in the brain and under the fingers is still a bit daunting to me!  I was unable to play for the first weeks after losing my Dad, but taking the job has pushed me to get back on track, and start to enjoy some of the new tunes we "learned" in Lubec in August, as well.  I must say, I have always found playing for other accomplished musicians to be scarier than for other audiences. And now that I am no longer playing in church each month for Celtic Evensong, and have not been able to schedule a time slot at our local open mic venue for many months, I am definitely out of practice for performing.  Too bad, as a year ago I had really begun to shed the nerves, and was enjoying a lot more confidence and less stress while on stage, or front and center. Three steps forward, two steps back.

So, anybody else playing?  Trying new things? Doing anything fun and adventurous?  Hoping all is well!  Love to all- Sharon

Way Too Quiet Around Here

Yep, things around here have gotten much too quiet.  I am barely playing the harp at all and no one is posting, so I've decided to take this blog public again.  So don't spill too much about yourself that you don't want anyone to know about.  

This blog needs to be mainly about playing the harp, about keeping yourself going without a teacher, about supporting each other in that way.  I belong to a book group on-line too, and sometimes we forget that the primary focus is to write about what we are reading, as well as about our pets, our real life ups and downs.  

By taking the blog public again, I hope to attract a few more contributors and to help us all remember what we are here for!

I am looking forward, in early October, to going to the final Harper's Escape.  I can't believe it will be the last one!   I am going to miss the Escape but I must admit that I will not miss the drive. My private fantasy is that  harpers like ourselves might think about organizing small weekend retreats, closer to home, sans teachers, each person bringing something to teach the others, but very laid back.  

Lonely sad September...

Greetings Fellow Harp Bloggers-
Summer is fast disappearing.  We are still in major drought with stressed plants and trees, and critters, and people.  Our wonderful trip to England in the spring seems like it happened decades ago- if it truly happened!  Why is that? Time and memories play such tricks on us....

Had a good July and August despite heat and humidity (with no rain??!!) that felt more like the deep south than New Hampshire.  Harpy friends I had met in Lubec decided to rent a cabin on a nearby lake for a week before I returned to Lubec, Maine and Summerkeys music camp for adults!  We got together twice and jammed with harps and a flute or two (my daughter was here for the first jam, with her flute, and they brought a friend who was a first chair flute in a Virginia orchestra!)  What fun!  I love making music with other people!!

Had another fabulous week way up in Maine.  Brought my harp student along, who also loved it, and really felt that week of intensity without real life butting in to distract us, really helped her gain confidence on the strings, and push forward.  Sue Richards is so fun to be with as well- such an incredible talent and such a wonderful, funny, kind and chock full of tunes lady, besides!   Great teacher- wonderful mentor.  Unfortunately, at the end of the week she let us all know that after all these years, she will not be returning to Lubec next season.  Too far to travel, she says, now that she lives in Asheville.  I am very very sad about this- she had promised we would be old women together, still at Summerkeys, and enjoying hot chocolate on the island of Campobello after lessons, swinging or rocking on Josey's Porch, overlooking the Bay.  Life- too many changes, too fast.  I am not happy.

And the not happy continued as we were driving home on that Saturday- my cousin called to let me know her brother had committed suicide that morning. Third relative in three years to do so, on my dad's side of the family.  Upon arriving at home and calling dad to let him know the news, I was informed HE was in the hospital.  End stage CHF- he turned 86 while in the hospital, but until then was living independently, doing his own shopping, cooking, laundry, driving- taking care of his precious dog who kept him going after mom passed 6 years ago... after an intense roller coaster week of med tweaking, bad events, positive outcomes, no guarantees and an unhappy prognosis, it looked like we would be taking him home  after the Labor Day weekend- "with help".  That Saturday he felt better than he had in weeks, and died in his sleep in the early morning on Sunday.  We are in shock, even though we knew we were on borrowed time.  Need to get the apartment cleared out by the end of the month, and I am executor, so need to handle the legal stuff.  Thankfully I have a terrific sister who is a huge help, and much more savvy about legal stuff than I am.  And she is only an hour away.  Also, thankfully, dad was extremely well organized, and methodical, so we have far less chaos to deal with than many other folks do.  And also, already having downsized from a house to apartment living many years ago, the sheer volume of THINGS to sort, pack, throw or otherwise disperse, is minor compared to folks who have a huge house, barn, sheds etc to stuff things into from many generations past!  The world is drowning in stuff.  We are suffocating with stuff.  We are poisoning the land and water with our stuff.  And if we don't make and buy STUFF, our economy collapses.  How do we change this vicious cycle???

So, you would think this would be a perfect time to wrap my arms around Colleen and pluck those strings... but the truth is, she has not seen the light of day since I returned from Lubec.  I have played out some sorrow on the piano- my first musical love- but I kept getting snippets of this phrase about hanging harps in the trees because of the sadness....turns out it is from a Psalm (137?) that says... By the waters of Babylon they wept, remembering Zion....and hung their harps in the willows, in the midst of it...   Too sad to harp, yet I know when I can bear it, it will be healing.  I have accepted a paying gig for Nov 5th, so I know I will have to push myself to prepare for that and focus. In the meantime, packing, sorting and crying a lot while driving!

So- also not happy to have lost contact with everybody on this blog!  Hope all is well, and things are bringing you joy as you create music, or other art!  Would love to know you folks are still out there- Love, Sharon

Hello out there! It's July already! Anybody else playing??

Greetings!  I have an excuse!  I was in Merry Old England for 3 weeks from May 21st til June 10th, and have been flat out playing catch up, instead of just playing, ever since!  Well, no, we have also been going thru all our pictures, and talking about the incredible travel experience we had in the UK, and how we want to go back, like immediately!  It was a success, on every level.  Except, did not get much local music in it somehow.  Only made it as far north as Perth, but doing too much sight seeing, I guess.

At any rate, besides playing catch up, I actually have begun making time for Colleen the Harp in earnest.  And learning some new simple Scandanavian tunes from Sue Richards book, and I am brushing up Eile Gheal (sp?) and the Electric Jig....and wondering how I never learned Star of County Down until now??!!  Such a sweet piece, and sounds so iconic, actually.  Like the quintessential Irish tune.  Maybe not, but, at any rate, enjoying it immensely.

Also, very relieved that my one (of longer duration) harp student, who has been going at her lessons in fits and starts, and is an amazing musician already, has finally begun to click with her hand position and technique!  Just when I was beginning to despair that I was not a very good instructor after all.  I did tell her, it would click, and then it would be like a new world- and it has, so PHEW!

So, my far flung harp friends, what is going on with you?  Still making music or heading off to completely different pastures of creative endeavor?  I am not going to Somerset, yet again, but I have a harp friend staying with me for two days before she heads south to do just that.  I am planning to go back to Lubec, Maine and Summerkeys, at the end of August to study with Sue again, and am bringing one harp student with, and meeting up with good buddies in class while there.  And have a trip to Greece planned for September, with my cousin, and a workshop on the Psalms at Holy Cross Monastery on the Hudson River in Oct, being led by one of the founding members of Manhattan Transfer (pretty jazzy music!) and will be allowed to bring my harp to play in the off hours of the retreat/workshop.  So, planning to keep the music going lots of places, as well as at church, on several levels.  It will help cure this ailing world, raise the spirits of the oppressed, depressed and overwhelmed; and give expression to our humanity in ways only art and music and dance and creative writing, etc, can do!!  Keep the faith- make music- share the love- spread Peace!  Hope you are all well!

Merry Month of May!

Here's a little bit of manga to start the month - a "Kitsune" magical being playing the harp - I googled Harp-Fox-Images and this came up along with a number of other odd images.  The reason being that we have a fox den near the house, filled, no doubt with kits as I see the parents trot by several times a day, working hard to feed them all.  I'm reading a marvelous book about foxes.  It just tickles me what can come up when you randomly google images.


Meanwhile, I started off May playing an odd but lovely Carolan tune, Sir Ulick Burke with a friend at a little house concert and played, i think, the calmest and best I ever have.  Steady as a rock throughout.  Amazing to me.  We finished up with George Brabazon, one of my first Carolan tunes!

Irish musicking has been very big the last month - it seems that anywhere from three to four days a week I have something, a class, a session, a practice session or a party/event to go to, either playing or as a listener.  And with the summer coming soon, it will only get busier I know.  I am, like Andee, quite distracted by other pursuits, among them the concertina which seems to be percolating into a new level, and with my writing, with a book accepted by an agency and all the revision work I have to do.

April is the Cruelest month...?

Well, it is now April 20th, and no one has blogged for quite some time!  I cannot believe we are here already.  Easter came early, so much of March was consumed by music prep for church services.  I love Palm Sunday through Easter- very emotional and spiritual time for me.  BUt March was strangely warm for NH, and things started acting like late April normally does!  Then, as I flew down to Florida to help a friend drive back, the weather up here became frightful- dumping heavy snow on fragile daffodil stems, and setting the weather clock back to February!  Yikes!  I had my first experience ever of Florida.  An interesting place, but quickly succumbing to the FRANCHIZIFICATION disease that so much of our country has done.  So much natural beauty, hidden behind the same plazas, restaurants, strip malls and more, that you can find everywhere.  Makes me very glad I live where I live.  Makes me sad to see it happen anywhere. Sad....
Also, I have been very involved in trying to get the messages of Bernie Sanders out there.  Never one for politics, this has been a learning experience, to say the least.  And a discouraging growing awareness of the corruption inherent in our political process.  Ugh.  Not a democracy, but truly an Oligarchy, run by the wealthiest, worldwide.  We need a revolution.  It has begun.  Can we keep it up?  The world needs more MUSIC!!

Speaking of, I had a terrible time with a pinched nerve in my neck/ shoulder region.  For too many days I was feeling pain and tingling in my arms and fingers. Not constant, but recurring.  It happened a few times in the past, but always righted itself with stretching, heat and massage.  And usually fairly quickly,  Playing the harp definitely exacerbated the condition, and my fingers felt pretty clumsy. UGH. Decided to take a break, and then concentrate on the stresses in my life, and my posture when playing the harp. Just as I was about to cave in and seek a chiropractor to help, it cleared up.  But I feel the problem is lurking in the background, waiting to reappear.  Has anyone out there in this blog used a chiropractor successfully?  I am feeling I need to get over my fear of being "crunched" and just find a good one.  Ugh! 

So, that being said, I am playing familiar tunes, with an eye on my body's relationship to the instrument.  Hand forms, arms floating, shoulders back, not craning my head to watch the strings.  Any ideas or hints would be appreciated.  I feel like I need an observer to help me correct whatever issue may be causing the issue, if you know what I mean!  I have not played in public for so long.  How does this happen?  Just as my confidence was high, and my joy in sharing was greater than my fear of failing, I have either dropped the ball, been excluded from playing places I normally would have, and allowed time to slip away.  I have great intentions, and lack of follow through!  As usual!! AARRGGHH!  I am still enjoying my 2 students, and that is keeping me somewhat grounded, musically.  And preparing music for piano and organ also is good. But....plate too full?  Life too disorganized??  Sigh.

So- enough moaning.  To myself and whomever is ever going to blog on this blog again!  I feel like I need to surround myself with people making music.  Maybe I will move to Ireland and bunk with Andee!!

Happy Spring to you all- Harp on!!

March with Lion, Lamb, and Harp

Never ceases to amaze me what turns up when I google certain search words!   Presently I am in Florida, in Sarasota.  I drove down so that I could have my dog and my Fisher harp with me and I am staying here for most of a month as an "experiment."  I miss the cats terribly, but I don't miss the cold and that is the point, ultimately.  

The drive down was wonderful!  I stopped at Laura Enuco's in New Jersey and we had a party!  Me, Laura, Kathy, and Emily, and Tovah were able to come and we dashed through a bit of the Harp Orchestra repertoire and Harper's Escape tunes.  We ate a lot too!!!  Very very nice. 

Then off to Debbie Brewin-Wilson's down in Maryland.  We took a wonderful long walk, I saw her church which is old and beautiful (she is an Episcopal minister, for those of you who haven't met her - but probably you have met her or gone to her Sunday service at Somerset?) and a little bit of harping. 

The rest of my trip was pretty much drive drive drive, with one stop to see a friend from an on-line book group on LibraryThing.  We'd never met but it was as if we had spent hours together which in a way we have over a six year acquaintance.  

One night on Amelia Island in a B&B that was a bit disappointing.  Ironically, besides my stops at friends' houses, the best night on my own was at an excellent Best Western in North Carolina.  Go figure!  It was well-appointed and immaculate.  

I hope, next Sunday to make it to the session I like here, and, for at least one of the two Sundays I can attend, to bring the harp as they have asked me to do.  So I am practicing like mad.  It does make a difference, eh?  I'm practicing just the basic tunes I play well already, I am learning to be cautious and conservative and to remind myself that even if I have played a certain tune a gazillion times, odds are the listeners haven't. 

xx

February 2016

Hello ladies!   I am touched that you were missing me this month.  I have taken a bit of a break from my music in order to do a lot of writing.  I will get back in the harp swing in March.

The video above is from a peace vigil my friend held on Christmas Eve (hence the alternate name of I Am Peace), but it also goes with one of my poems.  The title of the poem is Return to Avalon which also is the name of the piece.  It is a bit bumpy and rough (funny how you can play it perfectly when you don't hit the 'record' button!)

I am still loving being here in North Clare and love going to the sessions to play and listen, but now I also go to open mics to read my poetry.  Eventually I will be able to combine the music and poetry into a single performance.

Not much more to report........growing, expanding, learning, loving......... <3

Hello?Hello?

It is nearly the end of February. The weather has continued to be totally bizarre. I am raising the biggest fattest crop of Squirrels in my front yard that I have ever seen, and the birds are glad I have added some squirrel distractions so that the birds get SOME chance at the bird food!  Time is still flying by.  And I keep checking to see if there are any comments or new posts on this blog!  Where is everybody??

Andee, I am really missing your updates from Ireland.  Pamela, would love to see your therapy experiences described here.  Lucy, when are we going to make a plan to meet?   And how is the writing going?

My two harp students are challenging me mightily.  Both are experienced organ/piano professionals.  Their musicality and depth of understanding theory,  and sightreading ability, seems to be getting in the way of learning the basics of place ahead, place in groups, close completely, thumbs high, etc.  Take that simple looking melody SLOWLY until you are consistently fingering and placing. They want to get right to the finished product, and actually THINK they are placing ahead when they are actually playing the strings as if they were on the keyboard.  Very interesting to observe.  Now I understand my own early struggles better.  You have to UNLEARN the piano technique, to LEARN the harp. Anywho, I continue to rein them in, focus on the baby stuff....not as much fun as leaping ahead to a fast jig or reel!  At least they get it, intellectually.  I remember a great quote I heard years ago- "To know, and not to do, is not to know!"  And another one recently, when I watched a video on a guy who learned how to ride a "backwards bike"....when you turned the handlebars to the right, the wheel went left, and vice versa.   He decided, "Knowing does not equal Understanding", and realized that first he had to unlearn the traditional bike skills in order to learn the new technique.  Then, after 3 or 6 months, he was able to ride that backwards bike beautifully.  THEN he tried to ride a regular bike, and couldn't!!  It took him only 20 minutes of work to relearn the old way, though, so obviously our brains can learn and adapt and relearn more quickly.  That's why going back to an old piece of music I used to know by heart, takes so much less time to brush up on.  Which is a relief!

Well, not much else new harping wise here.  We are busily planning our unbelievable trip to the UK this May.  Too much to do beforehand, and time is like a runaway train....

Hoping all is well with you folks!  Sending hugs and love- Sharon

What Happened to January??

 Greetings from a chilly dreary soggy mess here in NH.  Feels more like March.  What a strange winter!  But, I am also finding myself playing more harp!  Added another new student- also an organ performance major and a professional musician.  Daunting that both of my students are so far ahead of me musically, but I am able to start them off right on the harp!  I pretty much channel my incredible harp teacher, Mary Graham, and what I have learned in workshops along the way from other amazing harpists.  I do not think I will need to guide either one of them for too long.  While getting that proper position, and learning how to work both hands and get the best tone out of the harp is a steep learning curve, even for great keyboard players, once it CLICKS the rest is really up to the player.  Play, practice, listen, learn.   Check in to be sure you haven't picked up some bad habits. Play and have fun!

I have been working on a bunch of new (to me) tunes and trying to get them off the page really quickly.  Eilie Gheal (?) is lovely, and the Electric Jig is just pure fun.  Also trying to learn some more Scandanavian  tunes from Sue Richards' book.  AND, a first for me, working with the exercises in the famous Grossi book!  I hate to do exercises (all kinds, no matter what part of the body or mind- sheer laziness or easily bored??!!)  but after attending the South East Harp Conference this fall, Emily Mitchell really showed us the value of this book, and of taking the time.  Strength and agility are acquired thru these exercises, and you certainly need both to play well.  So, I bit the bullet and bought the book- and have actually been using it!  Now I am singing the praises, but may just be preaching to the choir! 

I know I had 3 sets of houseguests in January!  My son and his wife came to stay for 9 days, but we barely saw them.  Guess we will have to travel to Denver if we really want to spend focused time with them!  Too many people here want to see them, besides us.  Also had my new(ish) harp friend from Maine  down early in the month for 3 days, with her beautiful Thormalen.  Kate always challenges me- and we have a ton of fun playing together, trying new stuff, and playing duets or parts.  Multiple harps make just the most magical sound!  Got to invite my more experienced student to join us- we did trios!  Wow!!  Too much fun, and the visit was over too soon. Definitely inspired me to make the time to play more without the guilt of "I should be doing..." xyor z chore.....!

So, Lucy, we need to make a plan to meet somewhere in between me and you!  When the weather is somewhat less messy.  What do you think?! 

Well, except that I am also very involved in the Bernie campaign- and will be going full blast this coming weekend- life is running fairly smoothly.  Hope that is true for all of you!!  Happy Harping!!

Love, Sharon

February Already?

So this is the closest I can get to a groundhog playing a harp, which for some reason (best not to examine) is what came into my head this morning.

I can say that January ended nicely harpwise - I've been playing more than usual, but I have a reason which is that I plan to drive to Florida later in the month and am going to stay with Laura Enuco and then Debbie B-W on my way down.  Saturday, without a doubt, there will be some sort of harp-do so I am reviving all the DVCHO tunes I can think of and buffing up various HE tunes as well.  It's amazing how quickly they go out of my head and hands, but thankfully most of them come back with a little effort.  With Glass of Beer, for ex, though I am complicating things by changing the accompaniment from what Kathy taught me which was super-simple to the slightly more complex arrangement Grainne has, plus a little of my own that has crept in.  That's one good thing about "forgetting" a tune, when you re-learn it you can fix or change things.

It is oddly warm here - one could say ridiculously warm - around 50.  If by some miracle it freezes fast and hard I might get to skate!

Adding on.  The trip has really shaped up nicely!  I'm stopping at Laura's and on Saturday Kathy and Emily Greenberg (new to you Andee but you would adore her as I do), and maybe Corinne and/or Tovah.  It's so great and I've been practicing my Dvhco tunes as well as my HE tunes.  Maybe we should try calling you with visuals, Andee!

The next day it's off to impose myself on Debbie B-W in Maryland.  I'm really looking forward to that time as well.  I have lots of great music lined up to listen to as well as the Shardlake mysteries which I am MAD about - (take place in Tudor England, great story and setting and characters and a great reader too.) so I am even ok about all the driving.  I usually put in an albums and listen to it obsessively, three or four or five times over before switching to the next one.

Don't know if you are on Kathy's mailing list for HE anymore - but next year is the last one that will take place here and 2017 we are TOURING IRELAND.   Hooray! It will be amazing!

HARPY NEW YEAR!

  This image at least has a feeling of something New Yearish about it, I tried googling "fireworks harps" and found nothing.  Did better with "lights harps".  Ah well.  The big question for me would be what will happen this year.  Anything? Nothing?  I seem to putter along on the harp with small bursts of enthusiasm followed by nada.  I had a student for three months, but truly she was not very committed, busy getting engaged and now moving and finding a new job.  We had so few lessons and she practiced so rarely that we never even got to the left hand of South Wind.  However, she did learn the whole melody and has worked on hand placement and knows how to tune a harp.  So she has learned something.  

Meanwhile, I think my biggest insight for 2015 is that the harp is the harp is the harp.  What I mean by that is that some tunes work best on it and it is best to stick with those and insist too, on playing in a way that shows off the harp's special qualities.  I did, in December, spend a lot of time on Inis Oir, and also on the three Broderick jigs (or is it Crehan?) The Whistler at the Wake, one in the middle that I am forgetting the name of temporarily, finishing up with The Haunted House.  It's a brilliant set. 

I'm also working on Last Train to Loughrea - using a wonderful slow setting of it that I think will turn out really well once I figure out the left hand so it really complements the tune.  It's good to come here and write about this, because it reminds me that even though I don't play as much as I think I ought, I am playing some.  

Love and Happy New Year to all!

New Ventures for 2016

Happy New Year everyone!  The above picture is from my New Year's Eve gig which was at Kilshanny House Pub again.

I have been writing poetry for the past few weeks, this is something new for me and extremely consuming.  It takes a lot of time but I love it and I have a lot to express and the stuff keeps coming.  Some of it (much of it) has been very emotional for me and it has been cathartic, but that is not why I am doing it.  I have stories to tell and they need telling!  I am really excited about this!

If you are at all curious about my stuff:

https://www.facebook.com/andeeankoharpandpoetry/?fref=ts

Now what does it all have to do with harp?  I intend to write music to go with at least a few of the poems.  I have one of the pieces finished.  I can't play and recite at the same time as both piece and poem are too complicated for that!  I am not so coordinated.  But I will weave it together by reading poem and playing the piece and then coming back in with the poem or a reprise of the poem.  Something like that.