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.

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.

November is my month....

Greetings!!  Where did October go?  Well, I spent the last two weeks of it on the road as I drove slowly down to Asheville,NC and the South East Harp Conference.  Mind you, I was doing this as a once in a life time experience, in my new little car that just fits the harp in the back seat and has a very generous trunk and good gas mileage.  Visited friends and family on the way down and back.  Had a blast!  The conference was overwhelmingly overwhelming.  I have never done Somerset, so had no real idea what to expect.  I think this one is a bit smaller, and I had never been to Asheville, so I thought it was doable on many levels.  Really, getting to be with so many other students of both sexes and all ages (though, over 55 seems to be the largest demographic!) was fun and inspiring.  The workshops were challenging- I had three with the "force of nature" known as Deborah Henson Conant!!!  Two with Kim Robertson.  One with Maire Ni Chasthasig(God, I cannot spell her name!  So sorry, all you Gaelic speakers!)  Overwhelming.  Still processing.  Never will absorb it all!  However, here is one validating thing that Deborah STRESSED!!!  Lucy, this may or may not help you at all.....she said we are usually so focused on our goals...on the next level we want to get to...that we forget to REVEL IN THE LEVEL WE ARE AT AND MILK IT FOR ALL IT IS WORTH!!!!  She went on further to explain, that the simplest tunes, rendered with the best tone, emotion and insight we can play them with, touch our audience and ourselves in ways that a flawlessly performed piece of virtuosity cannot.  Basically, with my busy life, this is what I have been doing for the past 10 years- getting more comfortable and just plain better at the things I already know and love, while slowly adding more pieces to my memorized repertoire that I also love.    It was validating to me to hear that, and I am going with it!

The other piece of amazing news is health based.  For many years I had a snoring issue, that was kind of a joke in my family. If I was sharing a tent or motel room with a friend on those rare occasions, they would let me know they thought I actually stopped breathing, fairly often, along with the snoring.  Of course, I was still going full tilt so how bad could it be?!  Well, the last few years I have noticed an increasing constant fatigue, weight gain, waking up often at night, etc, and began trying a variety of over the counter remedies for the snoring....nose tape, mouth pieces, chin strap, etc.  Figured a lot was due to age.  Figured my metabolism was shot.  And I did not want to spend the money, take the time, etc on a "sleep study" that was not really necessary.  Stubborn.  By this past spring I knew I was in big trouble, and that falling asleep over my desk as I wrote payroll checks, falling asleep on page 2 of my book, falling asleep at the wheel, falling asleep while having a conversation with my dad in the afternoon, etc, was not good!  It finally hit me, that unless I was standing or eating (to keep energized, I guess) I was in danger of dropping off at a moments notice.  Or with no notice at all.  To say I was exhausted does not even come close.  I felt like the walking dead, and that was on a good day.  If I did not have responsibilities to fulfill, I could have stayed in bed 24 hours, continually, for a month, sleeping non stop....or trying to sleep, more like it. So I began to venture into this craziness of our fabulous health care system and get help- mid May I signed on with a new PCP and explained I was getting desperate and falling asleep at the wheel, etc....my first appointment with them was not until the end of July!  Sleep doc referral was not til the end of Sept! (I had already done the road trip to Lubec, Maine by then) and FINALLY a home sleep study done the Monday before Friday Oct 16th when I was due to leave for the 2 week road trip to North Carolina.  I planned the trip so I would not be on the road too many hours in one day, and would have plenty of time to pull over and snatch a quick nap if I was getting dozey.  I was in Norfolk, VA when the sleep doc tracked me down- told me I needed to make an appointment for the sleep center overnight test asap- as soon as I got back!  My oxygen levels apparently were sinking to 60% in the night, and they don't like it if you go below 90!  So- strict instructions to drink NO alcohol and try not to sleep on my back!  Yikes- now I was really nervous!  60% oxygen is really NOT GOOD and on a nightly basis!!  Yikes!!

Cut to the chase- had the sleep test with the cpap machine.  My nights without it averaged 87 sleep apnea episodes AN HOUR!  MOST of my O2 levels registered in the 80- 60 percent range most of the night.  I have been using the cpap for two weeks now, and I am averaging less than 4 episodes an hour now, and I feel like Lazarus emerging from the tomb!   It is nothing short of a miracle.  My body and brain are healing on a daily basis, and I cannot believe I survived as long as I did in the condition I was in.  Honestly, it has hit me that every time I was going to bed, I was playing Russian Roulette with my life.  Any one of those longer apnea episodes could have been my last.  And all because I was being stubborn and thought I could fix it myself. 

The fun side is, I was able to play the Coffee House that Pam and her hubby run the first Saturday of the month, doing extra songs as we had more time than usual, so relaxed and feeling sharp, while channeling all the good stuff I have recently discovered about performing- have fun, breathe, focus on the melody, etc.  It went really, really well!    Sharon on Oxygen!!  Look out!!

So- just celebrated birthday number 63 yesterday, and looking forward to family Thanksgiving next week.  I have MUCH to be thankful for!!  And you folks are part of my Blessings list!  Thank you for the insight, communication, encouragement and sharing.  Harp On!!!

Where Have I Been????

I hardly know how to explain my absence.  The guilt of a philanderer?  I've been working so hard on the concertina . . .  playing the harp a little bit here and there, but only just enough to keep things alive.  Is it because, um, it is just so much easier to pick up a little lunchbox-sized instrument that never needs tuning?  Shame on me!

Seriously, I started this blog for just this reason, this feeling that I had hit the wall and didn't know where to go next with the harp.   I can't seem to keep more than a few tunes alive at one time on the harp whereas on the concertina, it feels as though I have plenty of tunes tucked away now that I can bring out and revive in very short order.  Maybe I don't play them with any particular grace, but I can play them at a session and not make a fool of myself and have fun.  I am enjoying that part of the concertina so much.  Also the blending in--when you bring a harp into the room you raise a certain expectation.  I'm finding again and again that it is almost easier to play South Wind or Fanny Power or whatever, people love that as much (or even more) than if I play some more challenging tune . . .   

I promise I will keep coming back to write some more about this, Andee.  I just want to get something here so you know you haven't been abandoned! 

And I haven't given up playing the harp,  not at all, I still love it, it's just I am having trouble working out what my "goals" are,  whereas with the concertina it is so easy to set goals for having a couple of sets ready for this or that session.  It does help some that I have an (erstwhile) student.  Just one, a beginner but with real ability, but who hasn't quite committed herself to the whole thing even though she likes it, I think.  Not sure what will happen with that.  

November 2015

Amhran Na Leabhar

J

Jaysus!!!  Where the heck is everybody?  Am I alone in this blog now?

October: One Year in Ireland

I have been in Ireland one year now!  So much has happened, I have grown and learned so much!  I have made so many new friends!

The above photo is from the open mic night (poetry, song, and music) at The Guru Tea House in Ennistymon.  The lady with the silver hair all in black is Anne, Luka Bloom's sister and she put the evening together.  The man on my right, is my friend Alan who is a very beautiful poet (both his poetry and him!) and we collaborated (on the fly!), with me improvising while he read one of his poems.  Anne was in tears when he finished and announced that the true bards of Ireland still live.  I did pretty well, too!  Everyone thought we had worked on it and rehearsed, when in truth we hadn't.  We plan on doing more and in fact have given it a second go and the results were even better.  The improvising actually gave me a breakthrough idea and I applied it to one of my slow airs and love the results!  It needs polishing but has great potential.

See you in September......

My newest tune, Galway Bay.  I didn't quite manage the lever flip every time and I played the A part three times on the second time around, but other than that I think it's OK.  Simple bass, too.

Since I posted my video I've gotten even better at playing the tune.  I've been obsessed with it and play it over and over and over again, working out all the bumps.  I've played along with The Kane Sisters, Martin Hayes and Michelle Mulcahy.  I've been hearing it wherever I go now, too!  (Well not in the supermarket ha ha!)

Anyway, where is everyone this month?  You all must be very busy!

Brought my fiddle down to the Roadside session last night (first time in ages for the fiddle) where my friend Adam was leading the session.  He turned me on to a new tune, The Battle of Aughrim.  It's easy, a 4/4 March in Aminor.  So that's my new tune to learn on the harp (and fiddle).  There's a good youtube video of The Chieftains doing it.  Just have to figure out what sounds good to play it with in a set.

Cassidy's Pub in Carron out in the Burren last night.  It was a very intimate session with only two customers in the pub!  Winter is definitely coming.....

Where Have I Been? What Have I Been Doing?

Hello harp friends.  As the admin. and instigator of this blog it is shameful that I have been so unpresent of late.  I have no excuses either although I have not spent that much time on the computer this August.

Practice-time has been more focussed on the concertina and working on the tunes--mainly reels--that I have been learning from Benedict and Hilarie, it just seems nuts to half-learn these tunes!

In Scottish news, the other day at the session I go to sometimes in Montpelier (run by B&H and Sarah Blair) who should turn up but Alasdair Fraser.  It was really something!  He played with us for about a half-hour.  He and Benedict played a Scottish air, name has fallen right out of my head, to die for.   If it comes back I'll come back and add it.

I've worked very hard on the two Vincent Broderick tunes, The Whistler at the Wake and ....uh... the other one.  Also on Bonnie Jean, a Conellan tune that I learned from Kathleen Loughnane.  Maeve taught several marvelous tunes as did Edel Fox - one or two of those are suitable for harp too.  So I have been practicing!

It's been quiet this year playing gigs.  Last year we had several over the summer, but everyone was too busy this year to organize anything, myself included.  I miss the practicing that goes on for those events, however, and hope we get back into it soon.

That's pretty much all my news for now.  xx's to all.  

Where oh where has my summertime gone??.....

Greetings from what seems to be a perpetually soggy state of affairs.  Ugh!  I just got back from SummerKeys in Lubec, Maine, and another great week of group playing and lessons with Sue Richards.  I started the weekend before driving up playing at the Living History event in Hillsboro, in costume, in the heat, at the Franklin Pierce Homestead.  That is always a fun gig, and even though it was sweltering, and my fingers were slippery on the strings, it is very relaxed, and people enjoy it.  I only play things I have well memorized and played for years.  Definitely helps the tone, not watching the page!

Playing with a group of harps, pretty much sightreading and editing as we go, with different skill levels, is a great experience for me.  The performance at the end of the week is never perfection, but 6 harps playing together is a wonderful sound, regardless!  The audience really appreciates the instrument, and are very complimentary!  Then, private lessons with Sue are wonderful.  She pretty much covers what you are interested in, or having questions on, and will happily teach you a new tune by ear, followed up with the written notes.  Very much a traditional player, not quite so formal in her arrangements.  She threw me a curve the last day by suggesting we "jam"!  Well, i realized I have never really done that!  So, she said, pick something you already know, and all i could think of was slow airs!  So we settled on Var Det Du, and while I played my part, she jammed all around me.  WOW!  So, my slow moving brain was saying, "THIS is what it must be like at a ceilidh!  I am TOTALLY at SEA!  YIKES!!"    My first harp teacher said she would rather jam with a concertina, as the harp is often lost in the noise.  Andee, I am assuming this is what you are getting better at when you play with other musicians at the pub?  Does anyone have some hints?  Clues?  A place to start and wrap my head around?

So, the summer is wrapping up, and I have not done half of what I had planned.  Weather has been hot and humid much more so than usual.  June was crazy with family issues, July and August have just tumbled on by.  It will be fun to settle in with the new tunes from Lubec, and really learn them now!  Hope you are all staying cool and doing well!  Love, Sharon

August....and roll on September!

I didn't want all of August to go by without me posting anything.  I have had my ups and downs this month for sure.  The video is Caislean An Oir re-learned in G minor the more common key that it is played in....

Last night I went to an incredible party, all by myself.  I took the bus to Ballyvaughan and from the bus stop I followed the directions to the house that my friend gave me.  As I turned into the little housing development I could hear the clock in the village striking the hour.  Bong....Bong....Bong (seven times--7:00 pm).  In that moment it was like a wake up call, a call to an adventure already underway.  "This is it!"  It seemed to be saying to me, "This is *your* life now.  You are living a great adventure, here in County Clare on your own, The old life is gone, Mike is gone."  It was bittersweet, exciting, I could taste the anticipation of what could happen, the possibilities......

The house was something from a movie set, like a rock star's house, located on the bay, with a balcony of rooms on the second floor overlooking the water and the massive kitchen below.  There was a gigantic long table spread out with food and drinks.  There was a small session going on at the one end.  Yvonne Casey (whom I adore) and a silver haired portly gentleman and a young lady I assumed to be his daughter were all playing tunes.  Gorgeous and in perfect synchrony.  I poured myself a cocktail of coke and spring water and pulled up a chair close by and listened and breathed it in like the most delicious healing balm.  Yvonne asked me where my harp was, alas I *must* get driving!

Later the bands went on in the next room.  I danced away all night long!  First to my friend's band and then to the second band I had never heard before.  Good old school rock-n-roll.  Sounded punky to me but I was informed that the band's influences were more Lou Reed than Sex Pistols.  What do I know?  It's all good and very danceable.

What's this to do with harps?  At the end of the night the singer from the second band said he'd been thinking a lot lately of including harp in one of his other musical projects which is a folk group that includes my friends from the first band and the lovely lady who hosted the party.  I said "I'M IN!!"

Roll on September........... !!

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

Why I Haven't Been Harping Much

This is the completed paper copy (basically just to HAVE it and GLOAT over it--the mss proper will be submitted electronically sometime tomorrow) of the novel I have been writing for the last four years.  Hiero's Answer which completes the trilogy begun by Sterling E. Lanier, Hiero's Journey.

Alas, no harps in it, and barely any music at all.

BUT from the moment I push that GO button tomorrow until the end of summer it will be MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC!  I'm getting very excited about it!

This Saturday I will go to the Carolan Festival where, for the first time ever my fiddling sister Emily is going to make it, coming down from Montreal.  And lots of other folks too, finally!  I have been sneaking in some practicing here and there.  Working especially hard on All Alive - which I learned form Laoise Kelley to play at the open mike.

June, spoon, tune....

Well, I just read Andee's amazing roller coaster of a post, and she takes my breath away!  WOW!  I had a bit of an interesting coffee house gig last Saturday night.  I have been much more confident lately, and relaxed, and focused on the tune, and the tone...and smiling and breathing and giving myself permission to slow down, etc.... and when I walked in and saw a group of folks in the audience that I had known for eons as really good musicians, only now formed into a jazzy, rather than a Celtic, band that was there to perform as well, I almost lost it!  Shaking in my boots as I climbed the steps to the stage.  Played a new tune (for me) Bonny At Morn  after I gave some background on it, then played Eleanor Plunkett, and then Banish Misfortune (NOT super fast...not sure how traditional players play that jig).
But, I cannot remember most of what I said or played!  It was like I was having an out of body experience!  Honestly- what was with that?!  I was very annoyed with myself, but apparently did not crash too badly, as the audience liked it and I got compliments.  I would really like to remember playing, though!  Crazy!  I had been practicing those 3 tunes pretty intently, plus had prepared an encore piece if there was time or desire from the audience....so must have mostly been going on muscle memory.   Better than nothing!
The next evening I played 8 tunes from memory for the Celtic Evensong service, and not one jitter or spasm did I have.  I know I wasn't perfect, but i incorporated the glitches and kept moving forward.  So, I guess performing live will always contain surprises!

I love the tip from Andee about keeping 10 tunes on the burner, more or less simultaneously.  Will give that a try!  I am sort of doing that, but I like the method described.

Play on, friends!  There is something magic about the Celtic Harp!  Love to you all- Sharon

End of May and on into June (and things are looking brighter....)

Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothin' Left to Lose

I am quoting Janis Joplin (from 'Me and Bobby Magee').  That song is rattling around my head lately and when I listen to it, I cry.  I understand what the 'freedom' line means, it rings true with me since I left my old life behind.

Janis sang with such guts and passion, if I could play with half of what she sang with (plus good technique), I'd be very much sought after as a harpist in these parts.  I am trying.  But alas, sometimes I fall down.  I fell down on Monday last week in front of God and everybody.  Everybody means the punters and the guys to whom I look up to in the session.  As a result I spent a week battling the blues and indulging in feeling sorry for myself.  My confidence took a dive not only as a musician but in other ways too.  Someone I was really having feelings for revealed he has someone already and I made it worse by digging up memories of my ex and ruminating on them like old photographs.

I did continue to practice, but only half-heartedly and I got angry with  myself for every fumble and mistake.  I was not in a good place.

However, tonight, after I had a good cry, I got back up on that horse and practiced properly and with as much compassion for myself as I could muster.  Sometimes I think I am the bravest girl I know right now, 'cause I'm gonna go back to that session with my head held high and give 'em socks (my friend Angela's expression for giving it all you've got) this time.

New video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okbHavP3leA

Cut and paste the above into browser to see and hear a bit of me playing at a local pub in a little documentary that my film-maker friend has made.  My harp music was also used in bits throughout.  It is only a rough cut for now so I am not allowed to share it on facebook or anything like that yet.

New tunes:

The Castle Jig / Dancing Eyes  I'm almost there with both of them, got them on the fiddle, too now.

Many pots on the stove!

Last night at the session at the Roadside I got some good advice from harper and fiddle player Paul Dooley.   I was commenting on the fact that I did indeed have several more tunes on the fiddle but that they were all still 'cooking'.  I likened it to many pots on the stove, some closer to being cooked than others, but none of them quite session ready yet.

He said that was actually the best way to learn rather than just one tune at a time.  We were talking about fiddle, but I imagine the same would apply to harp or any instrument.  His advice was have ten tunes you are working on, then once a week (or a month?  I forget!) drop one.  Drop the one you are really comfy with and add a new one.  Some of the ten tunes will be brand new, some could be ones you used to play and need to re-learn, some are in different stages of being learned (cooked!).  This uses different parts of the brain and the learning process.  Also, with every new tune you learn, it makes it easier to learn the next tune.  It may not feel like it, but it is true because there are only so many shapes and patterns that just get repeated on different strings etc.

Last night I took my harp to Gus O'Connors Pub in Doolin at the request / invitation of one of the Monday session guys (See boring picture above of my harp before anyone else arrived).  I did alright this time.  Yay me.  I was thrilled to be playing alongside some of my favorite guys again (plus two terrific gals) and do you know what was said to me after I finished my big solo set?  (It wasn't supposed to be a solo set, but they ended up listening and not playing along.) My friend turned to me and said, "We were just discussing you, and we like you!  You have such a lovely energy coming off of you as a person.  And it's so nice that you actually get nervous!"  I was floored.  Sometimes, it just pays to be yourself and try your hardest.  People will decide whether they accept you or not, so may as well just be you.

I had another fantastic night last night at Fitz's Pub in Doolin.  I was hardly nervous at all, did a solo air (Lament For Limerick) that quieted a noisy crowd and got some very nice compliments from the guys and the punters alike, including Luka Bloom (sorry, name dropping!) who said not only can he tell that I love playing my harp, he notices that I am getting better and more confident!  He also gave me this piece of advice:  "What anyone else thinks of you is none of your business.  Let it go and get in your zone and just play.  It's very freeing."

I also did a solo hornpipe "Nellie Your Favour" and even played along (melody) on a couple of tunes the guys started up including Cooley's Hornpipe which was the one I had messed up so badly a couple weeks ago.  One of the guys remembered that I had played it before.  He gave me a big smile and a thumbs up when the set was over.  Also I am now able to figure out (most of the time) what key stuff is in.

I had a bit of a panic when 5 taxi drivers did not answer their phones and a sixth one said yeah he'd come get me (at double the cost of the normal rate) at 3:00 am when he was done his Ennis run!  It was too late to ask any of the musicians for a lift as they had all left by the this time.  I ended up getting a ride from a hippie guy and his friend who loved the session and the harp.  Yeah don't take rides from strangers, I know!  But I had a body guard with me, John a young backpacker who is staying at Boghill for a while, he is over 6 foot and strong, so it was safe enough, I gather.  We squished into the backseat with my harp across our laps.  We got home safely.

Adventures in harping!!

Caislean An Oir 
Have you ever decided to re-learn a tune in a different key?  I never wanted to do that, ever as it seemed an awful lot of time spent when I could be learning a new tune.  I learned Caislean An Oir in Am (I think?!), anyway the first note is an A.  But I am now re-learning it in Gm because that is the key that most folks around here play it in.  It does sound really nice in Gm,  (On the fiddle it is a bit tricky because of the F and C naturals and B flats)

I am going to play it in a set with Planxty Burke (also F and C nat's and B flats), they sound really good together.  I like to go from an O'Carolan piece or an air or even a song (I don't sing!) into a dance tune, it's really nice to do that sometimes.

Another good night in Doolin  A couple good (great!) nights actually!,  On Sunday I went to the Doolin Folk Festival and had a whopping fantastic time!  So many great acts, including harpist Florianne Blacke who is so good!  I went on my own but found loads of people to hang out with, some were people I already was friends with and then there were new friends made as well.

On Monday it was back to Fitz's Pub and I played my barndances with my friend Adam who learned them from me, and I got loads of compliments and such after.

Paddy Fahey's  Yes there are a load of tunes by Paddy Fahey that have no name other than 'Paddy Fahey's' but I just learned one of the reels in G.  It's the first track on Martin Hayes' 'The Lonesome Touch'.  Now what tune to put it with......?

Gus O'Connors Again