Funerals

 Two relatives died this week. One of them was the father of a distant cousin who has led the guitar mass musicians since I left for Columbus over 25 years ago. The other was my uncle.

When the lead musician is unable to perform, I wondered who would provide the music? I occasionally join the musicians when I return home, so I decided join the musicians playing at the funeral masses. I ended up playing flute and singing one day. The next day, I also played harp before and after the service.

While I was in my old bedroom at home, I noticed some of my handiwork from when I was very, very young. Now visible in the midday brightness of the sun were the crosses I etched into several door frames with a pen knife. I remember being so proud of my work; after all, the cross symbolized something very special. I still remember my confusion over my mom being horrified at what I'd done. Hmmm...I'd forgotten all about that.

Easter Egg Metronome

I’m going to have my students color eggs this week, so I put a dozen and a half eggs on the stove to boil. After the water began to boil, I set the timer and went to do some warm-up exercises on the harp. I started the metronome app on my iPhone and began playing. I was amused when the kitchen timer went off beeping two eighth-notes between every quarter note of my metronome. It was perfectly timed, and didn’t change. Amused, I thought to myself, “Well, I guess the kitchen timer is set for the quarter notes at 60 beats per minute.”

Urban Harper

The weather has been unusually mild, so tonight was the night to tuck screens into the windows. After this chore I retreated to the front porch to play my harp. Eventually neighbors on four nearby porches lit candles, sipped wine and microbrews, and listened as I ran through more of my repertoire than I thought would be possible in the waning light.

As the light dimmed, the white strings disappeared until only the darker C and F strings were visible. Their red and blue colors were indistinguishable, but they were vaguely distinct by the larger or smaller gap between them. The larger gaps were really the unseen G, A, and B strings; the smaller gaps were the D and E strings.

Neighbors strolled by; some walking their dogs, others wearing short skirts and carrying fancy handbags. Cars rumbled down this brick neighborhood street. The police chopper circled nearby, and sirens from fire engines and police cars wailed. I've been playing nearly 90 minutes. My neighbor, Lindsay, thanked me for playing and remarked about the interesting contrast between the harp melodies and the urban soundscape.

Bliss

Cindi and Scott stopped by my house after visiting antique stores to look at the scary baby dolls.
Cindi is finding her new passion in photography. She took this photo.

Burn's Night

The Robert Burn’s Celebration in Cambridge, OH was sponsored by the Celtic Society of Southeastern Ohio. Melanie Pratt filled in at the last minute and recited the Address to the Haggis. After toasts and a delicious dinner, the evening entertainment began. The featured Piper was Stephen Sutherland Holter. Kathleen Currie Hall and Justin Rogers danced several solo and combined Highland Dances. 

I played the harp and began by playing “Lea Rig”. Robert Burns composed a lovely song for this melody. Afterwards, I played a medley which included “Jolly Band of Shearers”, “Greenwoodside”, “A.A.Cameron’s Strathspey”, and “Cuidich ‘n Righ”. I finished by singing “Westlin Winds” by Robert Burns. While the Highland Dancers changed for subsequent dances, Melanie Pratt told two stories for which I provided background music. “The Hunchback and the Swan” was recorded by Duncan Williamson. Since he was a Traveler, I played a love song that has been recorded by Traveler Belle Stewart.  I played bits of “O’er Yon Hill” along with chordal accompaniment patterns I’d created. Afterwards, Melanie told “Sworn on the Odin Stone”. This story comes from the Orkney Islands, so I played Vallafield with minor chords to fit the melancholy tone of the story until the end when I played in major to fit the bouyant ending of the story. 

The evening concluded with a few dances by the Heather and Thistle Royal Scottish Country Dancers. We danced “Knit the Pocky” and “Herself”. The evening concluded with the “Bonnie Knees Contest”. The men hitch up their kilts or roll up pants legs to expose their knees. The two female judges are blindfolded. These judges carefully feel the knees of the contestants and declare the one who has the most bonnie knees of all. We joined hands and sang “Auld Lang Syne” to conclude the evening. 

A few days later, one of the organizers relayed the following snippet from a Thank You letter she recieved. It said: I didn't expect such wonderful entertainment...the harpist was one of my favorites.  During one particular song, I was so tempted to give the older gentleman sitting next to me a big hug.  I think that’s about the biggest compliment I could’ve received. 

New Arrival

The truck driver called to say that he was on his way to my house and that he'd be there in 20 minutes.
I was supposed to have 45 minutes advance notice. I quickly had my elementary students gather their
belongings and scoot to the rooms of my teaching partners.

Shortly after I got home, the truck arrived. The driver asked where the box was going. "Up the steps and through the front door," I replied. Hmm...there were supposed to be two guys delivering this I
thought to myself. "You gonna help me," the driver asked. "Where's your 2-wheel dolly," I responded.
"I don't have one," the driver replied. "Then I guess I'm helping you," I said.

I put on some gloves and used some tin snips to carefully remove the metal bands.  Inside the carton, the harp was sitting on a cushion of styrofoam. It looked like the harp had been put inside the carton, and then foam sprayed into separate bags around the crown and shoulder of the harp. These were custom formed to the harp, and kept the harp suspended in the center of the carton and away from the exterior carton. A final block of styrofoam sat behind the harp at the base near the pedals to keep the harp from rocking back.

After removing the packing, I slid the harp onto the remainder of an army blanket that had been blessed at OSAS when we learned "waulking" songs. This ebony and bronze harp is a beauty. The bow in the column is merely a photographic distortion. 

First Night in Northampton

During First Night festivities, we purchased a button that gained us admittance to one of 17 concurrent performances at the various performance spaces scattered throughout the downtown area. We arrived early at Memorial Hall and were conscripted to help arrange chairs for the "Mother Pluckers". This harp quartet not only played, but also sang 4 part harmony for several songs. It was exciting to hear the changes in the musical textures as voices and harps were added and subtracted during different songs and tunes.

Afterwards, we also heard Banish Misfortune in the Dynamite Space of Thornes Market Place. This group performs their traditional Irish and Old Time music regularly on Sunday evenings at the Northampton Brewery.

Then we grabbed some coffee at Starbuck's on the way to St. John's Episcopal Church where we heard the precise fiddling of Katherine First with Last Night's Fun. They performed many standard Irish tunes. Katherine really shined on the jaunty rhythms
of a strathspey she performed.

At 6:15, everything stopped and everyone looked up at the Fireworks display.

We dipped into the Center for Arts to see the ballroom on the top floor, then zipped into First Churches to see this interior. Then we circled back to St. John's to hear Occidental Gypsy. This 5 member group performed gypsy tunes with a jazz twist. The virtuoso violinist added gypsy flourishes to the jazz standards and original compositions of the groups members.

We changed gears to hear the new "old timey" songs of Rusty Belle at the Unitarian Society worship space. The absolute conviction of each of the 3 members of this group made their performance compelling. Each song, mostly originals, was unique and sung with committed abandon that swept the audience into their musical journey. What a treat to experience the magic and joy of their performance!

We finished our evening back at St. John's to hear Seth Glier. After hearing his performance, one can understand how Seth has recently been nominated for a Grammy Award. For some songs this local boy from Shelbourne Falls sings with a passionately fluid gospel voice, but  then shifts to the honest intimate voice of a folksinger for other songs. Accompanying himself on grand piano with the combined grace of Billy Joel and George Winston and backed by his best friend on guitar and synthesized sounds, Seth filled the sanctuary with his soulful presence. Seth often returns to his elementary music school to collaborate on a songwriting unit with his elementary music teacher, and during the performance he invited his mentor to join him in performing. Seth is a nice guy who remembers his roots and weaves the important stories of his life into songs.