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!
Road trip!! With harps!! Good for you!! I need to find that Glass of Beer tune- I keep seeing it mentioned! Love the Groundhog picture- too bad they are so destructive, but they are so darned cute! And, this one definitely looks musical!! I totally agree with your statement that bringing back "forgotten" tunes is pretty quick work- not lost after all. Aren't brains amazing? Not to mention the muscle memory part! Don't you feel that reviving an old tune lends itself to changes more easily than adding variations the first time through? Something about the processing time, perhaps. The tune has been cooking gently on simmer, the whole time we thought it was forgotten! I have also been reading how valuable it is while earning a tune the first time, to NOT practice it to death, but hit it for short periods, then let it percolate...then work on it for a bit, and steep some more! Love it!
ReplyDeleteI posted a bit more here -- forgot to add that I leave on the 26th Feb and the get together is the 27th, Andee.
ReplyDeleteGlass of Beer is in one of Grainne's books and it's a very nice arrangement.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I do notice that I can change things if I let a tune lie dormant for awhile. This has been extremely helpful when I've decided to change an accompaniment.
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