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!