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

May! For Our Eyes Only!

Have You Played Your Harp Today (HYPYPT) Hip Hip Hooray and whoop-TEE-do?

I don't think anything will change, since pretty much everyone here is known to everyone else through me or in other ways.  As we get more comfortable with each other I think the urge to be more open about not only music but music intertwined with other aspects of our lives is natural.  And I know I have hesitated sometimes.  I had a request and I think it's a great idea!  Anyone who is invited and joins is under no obligation to write a thing.

xo all!

Lucy

And PS I actually played the harp briefly at a session last night, wonderful Captain O'Kane.  Thrilled that I can still play.

Oh the Merry Month of May!

The above photo is from the Monday night session in Fitz's Pub in Doolin.  That was the second time I brought my harp.  Here is a tip for backing the tunes:  sit next to a guitarist who keeps his tuner on his guitar!  It was very helpful when I was unsure of the key, and all I had to do was glance over at Barry's tuner.  It even showed me passing chords, etc.

I'm off to play my harp at a benefit for Alzheimer's this afternoon!  Here is the poster for it:

I had another gig on Monday playing during the tasting part of the judging for food excellence awards for Burren area businesses.  It was in the cafe of the Burren School of Art.  Nobody could hear us as it was loud and clangy in the cafe and we played to the backs of people's knees.  Also the judges arrived two hours late.  But it was good practice, paid practice.

Backing the tunes is really not as straightforward as 'the tune's in D so hit the one, four and five' at the appropriate time.  So many tunes are minor, modal, a combination of major and minor, etc.  I think I'm doing it wrong more than I am doing it right so unless I really want to spend loads of time studying it, I will leave off backing for now.

Right so.....April, what I can remember about my post before I deleted it was that I have some new friends and they have been both an inspiration to and extremely supportive of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMOcugH3PUc&list=LLGcuE-153liM4Err5l0sRHA&index=20

That link may not work so just cut and paste.  I am 'in love with' all of those guys in the video, they are all lovely lads and fantastic musicians and have encouraged me to bring my harp and to keep participating in the Monday night 'Wild Atlantic Way' session at Fitz's Pub in Doolin.

I keep pushing past so many fears and am growing in confidence all the time, plus I am practicing like a madwoman, because 'I have to be good enough!'  (meaning, at a level to be able to play with these guys and to keep improving).

The song in the video was written by a local celebrity and it is absolutely gorgeous as done by my friends here.

One of the guys gave me the tune Humours of Tullycrine and a couple others, including Monahan Jig (which is kicking my butt) I have learned the Humours of Tully on both fiddle and harp and I play it with The Hills of Coore.  On Kevin Crehan's CD it is called Straithean An Chat and is played as a hornpipe, but I play it as a reel since that's how it was given to me.

I gave my freind my barndances (All Around the Faery Fort and the New Broom) and when he plays them at a session he gives me a cheeky smile and I secretly fall apart inside--sigh LOL.  Can you guess which of the lads it is?

April is for fooling around

  You never know what you are going to find if you put a harp image search on.   So it's April and I'm still in my musical funk, but the sun is shining, so that is something!

Last day of March....First adult student!

It has been a long, cold, windy month.  Full of teasers and hints of Spring, but then...smackdown into winter mode again!  At least the sugaring started in earnest, and the mud roads sprouted their weight limit signs, and the frost heaves are in heave heaven!

And today, a lady who approached me last Sept. To enquire about harp lessons actually made it here for her first.  Carol is an accomplished musician, so I already feel she will blow by me quickly, but despite her major in church organ, being a daily keyboardist who also plays guitar and trumpet, she was having the same "pat your head and rub your belly" moments I remember from when I first started! But so delighted!  So excited to be learning new stuff, and finally playing this harp she has had for years , just waiting for life to calm down enough to take on something new.  This is what I was hoping for!  So, I hope things continue to be as much fun for us both down the road!  Hooray!  2 other potential students in the wings, also adults...but we shall see.  I just have to cultivate my own musical group to jam with, not having Andee's incredible proximity to so much talent!

Church music prep for Palm Sunday paid off!  I love that service!  My choir pulled out the stops, and we had people in tears in the pews.  Music is such a powerful thing, isn't it?  Magical, mystical, healing.

Well, that is my news. Andee and Lucy sound like things are fabulous and right where they need to be!  Wish we could share a cuppa!!  Stay warm and Happy Eastertide!!

March and this butterfly is emerging from her cocoon and spreading her wings

There is a heck of a lot going on for me right now!  My life is wildly different than it was six months ago, and I am emerging for the long dark winter. I have been practicing both harp and fiddle like crazy and making great strides on the fiddle and slowly (not so slowly as before though) adding new tunes to my repertoire.

I am making friends hand over fist at the moment and have established myself as a regular at the Friday and Saturday night sessions at The Roadside Tavern (fiddle only at the moment).  I get support and encouragement there.  I now go to a Tuesday night session in Ennistymon at Cooley's Pub.  Monday night is listening only in Doolin at Fitz's Pub which is more like a performance and features Luka Bloom, except now I have been invited to bring my harp!

There is a large group of French music students coming over here for a week of Irish music experience.  It will be new for them.  Two of the students are  harpists and I am going to show them how to approach the harp for Irish music.  I am excited about this!

Who am I and what is happening to my life?  It is crazy, intense and wonderful!  Playing music in my leaky caravan on a stormy day, turf and wood fire blazing, with my flute playing friend and neighbor and my friend Severine who works here now on fiddle, and a man I have a bit of a crush on, one of the most amazing fiddlers around.

March has marched on by . . .

This is a little late - but I hope you all had a fun time St. Patrick's WEEK (or two) - because it does go on and on!  Mine started with a  fabulous concert,  Caitlin na Gabhann  (concertina and dance) with Ciaran O'Maonaigh (fiddle) that blew me away totally.  Do not miss these two if they are ever in your vicinity.  Then I played concertina at the ceili that the Burlington Irish Heritage folks organize.  I'm not actually fast enough but it is a very casual event and there were plenty of other players who are fast enough.  I sat in back and did the best I could.  We had a ripping good session on Thursday (again concertina only).  Finally I wanted to go tonight to a concert of the Young Tradition players because a group of kids from Philadelphia's Next Generation group are coming up to play there, but I have to meet a plane.  I've seriously thought of making my husband take a cab to the venue, but .. . . he will have been traveling a good part of the day.  Not sure that is fair!  Still considering it though.

In harp news - well - I am not playing.  I am a mess.  A total wreck.   I've had several conversations with people about the musical hiatus.  It is almost entirely because of my other work, I think, which is a vocation about which I feel even more intensely than music.  Music is meant to be -- you know -- my happy thing, no pressure, all fun.  So.  The end is in view for my writing project, at least, let us hope a temporary end while the agent decides they DO want to try to sell it to a publisher for me.  If that happens there will be another round of serious work, I'm sure.

So that is my life.  If I were younger I think I would have more energy to play more at the end of a day of writing.  But as I am I just want to lay about at the end of the day and watch a BBC mystery and go to bed.

The weather is still disgusting.  So disgusting I am genuinely depressed, as in weepy, when I look out the window or think about getting all those damned winter clothes on to walk the dog.  99% snow cover.  Ice.  Misery.  They aren't even sugaring yet  - the temps rise to the right combination for a day or two and then plunge back down, so the sap  isn't running.

A Cold in the Cold!

Lucy, your last post just read my heart!  How can you not find time or energy for something you love so much to do??  That is a question I ask myself all the time!  I am distracted, unfocussed.  What do I really want to do with my music?  I would love to teach- only dedicated students.  Perform?  Sort of!  Volunteer in a Hospice/ hospital situation?  Yes, but do I really want to spend the time and money involved to get the official okey dokey to do that, when I feel I could just read a really good book or two, and do a really good job, even without the certificate??  Play for my own enjoyment sounds nice, but there are so many wonderful recorded pieces of music by wonderful soloists or ensembles I really enjoy listening to already, and can "do" other things while I listen!  Learn new tunes? Absolutely.  Retain them forever??  Even better!!  I have harp lust, but why buy another harp if the 2 I have are not played nearly enough?  Where has the initial enthusiasm gone- when I started lessons all those 10-15 years ago, I was not distracted, unfocussed, unmotivated.  I was also younger.  But even though there is always an argument to be made that I SHOULD be doing x, y, or z instead of "playing around" with the harp, I have certainly invested enough time and energy in the harp so far that it should merit special time on its own.  Is it the weather?  Could be.  Wasn't a problem at the beginning, but...  definitely harder to keep the harps happy and humidified, while not spoiling them too much to take out to other venues that may be much drier/colder/hotter/wetter... And the bottom line is, I really do love playing and performing on the harp.  So what is the real problem here?

I think I get most excited when collaborating with other musicians- harpists or otherwise.  Different abilities, insights, sounds.  Kind of like belonging to my book club encourages me to read things I may never have chosen myself.  The ensuing discussions may make the book even more valuable, with different perspectives voiced.  I think Andee is living the musical life I would really love to get involved in- but perhaps, not if it entails mucking thru all this snow and ice!  Back to the weather!

I know that learning by ear, a new tune gets under my fingers faster, stays with me longer, and is easier to pick back up again.  So I have been scrounging around on Youtube, etc to find tunes that I really love and want to play.  But for some reason, doing basically the same thing with Sue Richards in Lubec in August is so much easier!  Is it the teacher part that makes the biggest difference?  I know that when I was teaching harp, it helped me to focus myself on better tone and hand position, etc.  and when I take lessons, or attend workshops, the extra motivation to soak it all up and be accountable to the teacher is an energizer in itself.

So, I have friends in Maine who have managed to find other harpists to join and become a harp circle.  I wish I could get the few harpists in the (relatively) local area interested in even just playing duets with me! So far, no takers.  Everybody is too busy.  On overload.  Distracted.  Exhausted.  I am so envious of Pamela's collaboration with her very talented husband.  They have a magical sound when they play together, and a very fun stage presence!  And don't even need to leave the house!!

So- is it the weather, or just the state of things in general at this time of our lives?  I do have lots of other competing interests, as well as responsibilities.  Are we just all on overload?  Too many choices??  AARRGGH!!  I wish we all lived closer together- I would love to meet you all in person!
Drink some tea, play some tunes, knit and/or spin a few rounds, sigh...and really chat!

Well, I am going to end with comments I received from Pam after I played at the last coffee house- that I just seem so much more relaxed and like I am enjoying being up there.  I have been continuing to work on the mind set I talked about in my last post (I think) and am happy the results are this good.  So there is hope!!

Stay warm, safe, well, and musical!  Love you all- Sharon

February in Vermont = SNOW & more SNOW

No signs of spring creeping back here anytime soon - although there is a bit more sunshine at either end of the day and sometimes in between as well.

This leads me to think about a phenomenon that happens around this time of year:  Keeping the harp humidified.   Our house has both radiant floor and woodstove and you can imagine this is not a great thing.  I keep the harp covered and since the floor is cement, there is also a wet sponge on the floor right underneath it.  If I forget to keep the sponge good and soggy when I go to play I REALLY notice how dry the harp sounds.... not to mention that it goes way out of tune in about a minute and a half.

I have pans of water, water on the stove and I spray (and water) my plants frequently.  We should get a gauge to see just how dry the house really is, also one to put in my harp.  We should.  Ahem.

I also feel, perhaps due to age?, that my fingers are more clumsy and that, because the skin is drier they don't feel quite as 'connected' to the strings.  I usually wash them and then put on lotion sometime before I play, not right before, and then make sure I've rubbed the lotion of my finger tips and that seems to help.... but the net result is that I play less when the harp sounds a bit 'distant' (don't know how to describe it) and my fingers like slippery sausages.  What a pain!

That said.  I have been playing the same ten or twelve tunes the last few times at the hospital.  I know I can do better, so this week my goal is to make a list of ten tunes I play perfectly well, practice them, and then play them.  The only 'repeat' will be my three warm-up Carolan's (F. P./Kean O'H 3/ and Captain O'K).  That is my pledge.  Let's see how I do with it!

It's only February 3rd but I am reporting that I have done NOTHING about my promise to myself to play some new tunes.  I keep thinking about my harp playing and what is happening with it.  In a word:  Plateau.

Am I bored?  Maybe a little.  Have I reached the limits of what I am capable of?  No, probably not.  But what do I want from the harp?  I don't really want to teach unless I have the perfect students (harp mad, practice all the time, fun to teach), I don't really want to perform per se.  Maybe I would like to do some weddings and things, but only if I had the perfect chum to do the gigs with.  The hospital gig is about right since I am a volunteer and no once cares, really, whether I am there or not.  So I can fink in the frequent bad weather we have up here in winter.

Do I want to play every Carolan tune there is like Catriona Rowsome did?  Kind of.  But, seriously, some aren't worth the bother.
Do I want to figure out how to play accompaniment the way Eileen McIntyre does?  Who wouldn't!!!!
Do I want to learn more tunes? Yes, but I don't want to forget so many of the old ones!

I think this latter problem is one of my discouragements, in fact, from doing anything new.  I hate working so hard on a tune to find if I don't play it for a few months I practically have to start over!  To get a tune deeply embedded just takes so so so long!   But the pleasure of a new tune is exciting and invigorating.

Music is important in my life, but it is not the central focus.  As I get older, my writing, which has been my vocation, maddening and frustrating and sometimes rewarding, has taken on an urgency that I cannot ignore and I admit is making it hard to practice as much as I was able to ten years ago when I was not writing much (child, mother ill, etcetera) due to RL issues.  So how to fit the music in?

Anyway these are some of the things on my mind.  Back when I was a 'harp virgin' - just so wild to play morning noon and night, things were so much simpler.  The learning curve was so steep and stimulating.  Obviously you can't go back to that feeling, but I would love to find my way back to something steadier.

I'm not looking for any answers or advice really, just putting it out there.

And in the meantime too, here are some of the knitted harp wristlets, harp gauntlets, pulse warmers, or whatever you want to call them! The top piles are the small ones.  I'm experimenting with different yarns and trying different types of knitting patterns.  The lower group has the thumb hole.   Most of the wools I've bought are not full wool, but partly silk or flax or cotton or acrylic because of the scratchy factor.  I'm figuring that out too, what people can tolerate.  If any of you are interested in being guinea pigs, lets me know!  I want to make a 'lace' one too for summer, but I haven't gotten there yet.   And, of course, shouldn't I be playing the harp?  Well, yes, but I listen to books and music while knitting, and with the simpler stitches I can even read and knit, which I love to do in the depths of winter.

 

February and Spring is Creeping Back

I have seen daffodil leaves poking up out of the ground and we even had a couple days that felt like spring was in the air.  We have also had snow and ice covered windows in the morning, too.  But here in Ireland, St. Brigid's Day (Feb 1st) marks the first day of spring, so I'm going with it!

Last night I brought my fiddle to the session at The Roadside (because Paul Dooley and Terry Bingham were getting fed up with me *not* bringing it) and I did the best I could.  It's hard work as you all know and can imagine, but I played on several tunes and Paul got a kick out of my piece of paper with the 'confident' sets written down on.  "What's on the menu?" he joked.  The guys are very kind to me.  And more harp related, Paul started messing around with a piece that turned out to be O'Carolan's Mr. O'Connor which I'd not heard before.  He asked if I played it and you can bet it'll now be on my 'to learn' list!

I also have a 'date' to play in the session on Friday next week as the man who runs that one knew I played from the way I was intently listening every time.  So thanks to Colin the box player I'll be playing on Friday next week.  He said the only way to really get the tunes up to speed is to just jump in, it's the best way.  He suggested I talk to Paul about fiddle lessons which has occurred to me....

So I am realizing my new year's resolutions but I've got to keep pushing.  I am out of my comfort zone for sure, but Abiola Abrams (look her up on youtube ladies!) says the only way to realize your dreams and goals is to get comfortable with being UNcomfortable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB8Wonny5fs

That's a youtube of  Paul Dooley on harp, the link doesn't work so you'll have to cut and paste it into browser.

Pilgrimage to Janet Harbison's Irish Harp Cente! 
My friend Fiana, who studied under Janet and teaches at the harp centre picked me up at the bus station in Limerick and we spent the day and evening together.  I re-connected with Janet and met another harp friend, Patti who is from Texas but now lives in Cork.

In the evening Fiana and I went to a session in Castleconnell and she brought her harp.  I attempted a set but had some issues as her harp is so different to mine and the chairs were far to high for the harp.  That didn't cause Fiana any trouble at all of course as she is an absolutely brilliant harpist.  The next time I go down there I am going to have a proper lesson with Fiana and maybe Janet as well!

Harp night at the Roadside Tavern
It was a night of harp coincidences at the Roadside on Saturday!  First of all I brought my fiddle and felt really confident, played on loads of tunes.  The really fun thing though was that two young guys from County Derry showed up.  One a fantastic banjo player, the other a harpist!  Now this is the first time I have seen a harp at the Roadside!  The harp he had was the Janet by Camac in Walnut which is what I would love to have!  I practically jumped on the guy I was so excited!  There was also a young woman there who was a classical harpist and we both tried the harp out.  I played Cooley's Hornpipe and Paul Dooley played along with me on fiddle.  At the end of the night he had a go on the harp, too.
It was so much fun, we were all there til past one in the morning!

Two upcoming gigs 
One is definite, at the beginning of March with two of the owners of Boghill, Sonja (fiddle) and John (guitar).  The other is a strong possibility!  It's a little festival down in a tiny village on the coast in West Cork.  Now, I just need somebody to do it with and that somebody has to have a car.  I am making friends here all of the time so it could happen....