Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 5 Evening

After the Gaelic Class sang "Tha Mi Sgith",
the piping and drumming students played a 'piobaireachd' (pibroch) with several parts.

The highland dancers performed a high energy,
 contemporary piece that had lots of drive to it.

Band class led the crowd in the song "The Last Trip Home" about the Clydesdale horses whose era as plow horses has drawn nigh. 

The 'Thistle Sisters' had a whacky Christmas theme going on this year, so just before handing out scholarships for next year, they sang their rendition of "12 Days of Christmas" with references to special OSAS occurrences from this year.

Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 5 Afternoon

Every afternoon the pipers and drummers converge upon Tappan Square in the center of Oberlin...

... and try to scare away all of the white squirrels.
It doesn't work though...

... for the white squirrels love the bagpipes
almost as much as they love harps and nuts.

Later, the harpers make their pilgrimage
to the Giant Weeping Beech Tree.

We sit beneath the trellis formed by the flowing branches
and sing songs--
new songs and old songs,
songs that help us remember past years,
songs that affirm just how lucky we are to be here,
songs that connect to those things very deep inside us
that we may not even have a name for...

and often, the tears flow.

This year Kurt joined us. He is a fiddler
who has attended OSAS for several years.

Charlie led us in singing "Happy Are We All Together".
We fell in love with this song when he taught it to us last year.

We improvised verses to "Here's a Health to the Company" which we learned from Corrina Hewat a few years ago.

Seumas led us in  singing "Bheir mi o".
We learned this song from him last year, and we love it!

This year, Sarah made up a song called "Sing Anyway" which is destined to be sung again next year.

In this place we celebrate one of the most special traditions
of the harpers (and now a fiddler) at OSAS.

Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 5 Morning

"Waulking Songs" are work songs. The ends of newly woven cloth were stitched together to form a ring. This fabric was drenched in a special liquid and dredged forward, backward, and then passed clockwise in time to music.  

Waulking the newly woven cloth tightened the weave, removed any remaining lanolin, and helped soften the cloth. Today, we reviewed all of the "waulking songs" and took turns sitting around the table as we "waulked" the mock cloth.

Gail is the daughter of Andrew and Edna Turner. Dr. Andrew Turner was a member of Clan Lamont. Clan Lamont has strong historical ties to the "clarsach" or wire-strung harp in Scotland. Upon the death of her husband, Edna Turner founded the
Dr. Andrew Turner Memorial Scholarship for Harp. This year, Gail applied for the scholarship to attend OSAS and worked with Ann and Charlie Heymann to assemble and finish this harp.

This newly strung harp had a great sound.
Gail's father would be very proud. 

Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 4

Each morning, Seumas led us in vocal warm-ups and talked about developments in the understanding of vocal pedagogy in the past 20 years. Then, he taught us Gaelic songs!

After morning singing, we went to our different classes. Being in a room this tight meant moving carefully and playing more softly.

Jen, our instructor on this day, demonstrates her unique tuning posture. Her garrishly ribboned tuning key seldom goes missing.

I always enjoy time with Marcia. She is as adept in making you laugh as she is engaging in philosophical life discussions. As a person who took up harping in her 60's, she provides a unique perspective and is inspirational.

In the evening, we attended the instructor concert. Jen has also been the MC for many years at OSAS, and her program notes are clamped in her jaw so she doesn't misplace them while tuning.

Jen sits down and takes a deep breath. Despite her exhortations, the crowd is still too subdued.

Subdued Crowd

Ann Heymann plays her wire strung harp
with her husband Charlie.

Ann and Charlie Heymann

Pipe and Drum Instructors

Seumas starts the Harp Instructor set.

His unique gut-strung harp was made by Jack Yule.

Each harp instructor played individual tunes followed by some tunes they all played together.

John Turner is a 10 time National Scottish Fiddle Champion of America and the fiddle instructor at OSAS. He is joined by Sue Richards as he plays, "Graceful Young Woman" which he composed upon the death of his wife. Tears flowed from my eyes as he played this heartfelt tune.

Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 3

This day in the middle of our week is different for the harp students. Historically this can be the day when harpers feel "overload" after trying to learn so many new tunes. To prevent melt-downs, this day is scheduled as a day for harpers to have a private lesson with an instructor of their choice, practice their new tunes privately or with classmates, attend various workshops, and rest. Wendy, Karen, and I put our lesson times together to capitalize upon Seumas Gagne's expertise in Gaelic and focused on the sounds each letter makes. In Gaelic, consonants can make up to 4 different sounds depending upon the adjacent vowel and whether the consonant has been "lenited" or changed due to the addition of an 'h' following a consonant.

Several workshops were given through the day. Here, Carol is presenting her Robert Burns program.

When Carol sings, the magic happens!

Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 2 Evening Session

I arrived a little late and missed the spontaneous Ceilidh dancing which erupted at this session. The music continued, however, even after the dancers exhausted themselves...
 or were curfewed off to bed.

Sue Richards and three musicians from the fiddle class were playing along with the pipers who formed the hub of this session.

Mark added his flute to the mix.

And I listened and admired the harp design on Karen's flask.

Evening at the Ohio Scottish Arts School Day 2

I had a great day learning a pipe tune and an air from Sue Richards. After dinner, I went to my Gaelic class taught by Frances Acar. This is a new opportunity at OSAS this year. As I sat in my room completing some Gaelic homework, I enjoyed all of the sounds of bagpipes, practice chanters, fiddles, and harps. Outside my window, this young dancer on the wall, Justin, and the young woman below were reviewing some dance choreography and discussing this with someone on an upper floor. Simply an amazing environment!