I often get asked about tunes, their provenance, their history – in other words, where do they come from?  Whether you are just generally curious, preparing for a Scottish Harp competition, or you simply want to correctly catalog your tunes, knowing where the tunes come from can tell you a lot.

First the easy answer – tunes come from all over and are held everywhere (and sometimes nowhere).  Many people learn the tunes they pick up in lessons or workshops, enjoy them immensely and go on.  Some learn tunes from popular books (such as Sylvia Woods’ many collections or the copious books available from MelBay, Afghan Press* and others) and play them for their own enjoyment. Some musicians learn tunes, play them, and are there for the tune and nothing more.  Take off your judgment hat – because there is nothing wrong with that!

The second answer is a little more nebulous – tunes are everywhere.  Some are breathtaking, but difficult to find and others are in every book you pick up (or so it seems) – so where do you find new tunes?  Here are seven places to look for your next best loved tune:

• You can go to workshops – some workshop tutors are known for their scholarly approach to the tunes and you can learn a great deal at these events.
• You can listen, listen, listen.  Find tunes you like being played (and remember to look beyond the harp – there are spectacular tunes out there being presented by pipers, fiddlers, whistle player, concertina, guitar, piano – it’s the tune that’s the thing, the instrument is simply the vessel.
• You can hunt up stuff on the internet Part I – there are a lot of interesting nooks and crannies in the web, patience, perseverance, and a good scratch pad are all you need (the scratch pad is to note the search terms you have already tried and to capture ideas for additional search terms as you go.
• You can hunt up stuff on the internet Part 2 – there are also some easy to find caches of tunes including thesession.org or www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/ or abcnotation.com.  these are a bit “wiki-er” so they are a great place to start but if you are searching for authenticity, I’d suggest keeping on looking after you find a tune you like.
•  You can hunt up stuff on the internet Part 3 – YouTube – while this might be a corollary of the first bullet, you can often find a couple of different renditions of a tune (which for me makes it easier to “hear” the melody).  This works best if you look for a specific tune title and then daisy chain yourself through a bunch of links.
• You can chat up a music librarian or the reference librarian at the local university or community college – it’s amazing what is in those libraries.  Of course this is much easier if you live near a music school but, don’t let those plain facades fool you, libraries hold some amazing stuff!
• You can  build your own assemblage of published collections books.  There are loads of collections, printed in various ways (I have hardbound, softcover, pdf). Some are old (like use gloves and turn pages ever so carefully old) and some are new (like smell the ink new).  Some are noted for piano, fiddle, pipes – remember it’s the tune that’s the thing so the notation just gives you an idea where to go.  Many of the collections include other important information that is helpful – the story of the tune, the composer, the times, all of which might be helpful for arranging the melody when you decide to present it.  And you know, the appropriate number of books to own is much like the appropriate number of harps – one more!  You’ll find these collections on line, in (regular) bookshops, and in used book shops.

Do your homework and you will be delighted to find your next favorite tune!

* I don’t have the good sense to do affiliate marketing so this is just my opinion – there’s no kickback from Sylvia or Mel Bay or Afghan Press, this is simply an observation.

I’m not going to try to kid myself that I’ll get a post off this week – I’m at the Ohio Scottish Arts School – learning from amazing tutors including Wendy Stewart, Haley Hewitt, Ann Heymann, Charlie Heymann, Sue Richards, and from my fellow OSASers who are incredible harpers in various stages of development – why aren’t you here?!?

While it’s all well and good to be planning, dreaming and thinking about the upcoming opportunities that summer brings, you’ve got to be ready before it gets here!

I think the “workout to look good in your bikini” stories and catalog layouts are a good point in time to start preparing yourself so you can be ready for all the fun that summer workshops bring. But “what could you possible do to prepare to have fun?” you might ask. The best answer is, “Plenty!”

Here are five things you can do to be sure you’re ready to focus on learning instead of focusing on how you don’t feel well:

1. Start doing legwork – spend an appropriate amount of your practice time working on the things you need to work on – scales, chords, transitions, speed, agility, sight reading – whatever “legwork” you need to have in your head and in your hands so you’re ready to learn and don’t have to be watching the basics.
2. Build your stamina – most of us don’t have the luxury of spending an entire day at our harps – which also means me probably don’t have the stamina to be at our harps all day. Start early from where you are with practicing and SLOWLY build up to a much longer time on the bench. Practice sitting, upright, in good alignment and with your harp.
3. Build your strength – most of us don’t get to spend a long time playing so while building up your stamina, play gently to allow your fingers to build strength (and to toughen up those callouses) so you have the tolerance to spend all that time not just sitting at your harp but also playing it.
4. The best beginning comes out of a good ending – start mindfully stretching after each practice. Build in time in your schedule and in your thinking to actively stretch yourself after sitting and working hard at your harp. Be sure to work all the areas you exercised including your neck, shoulders, legs and glutes – and don’t forget your arms and fingers!
5. Thimk – be sure to spend some of each practice time practicing practicing. Build within yourself good habits that allow you to spend your workshop time actually learning something. Spend this pre-workshop time identifying what you need help with so you can ask questions of the workshop tutors and be aware of your strengths and weaknesses so you can build from what you learn.

Being prepared for the arduous work of having fun will help you have a more enjoyable time and will assure that your time and money were well spent on the workshop you chose!

I can’t possibly get to every harp event and there are a few that are on my, “one of these days, I’m going to get to …..” list.  Swannanoa Gathering is one of those events so I asked Mike Connors to tell you about it –

The Swannanoa Gathering Celtic Week July 12-18, at Warren Wilson College nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville NC is an unsurpassed week long immersion with some of the world’s finest Celtic musicians. It is always the week after the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, also in NC. I attend annually to study Irish harp with Grainne Hambly and Scottish harp with Billy Jackson. In addition to beginning and advanced harp classes, there are courses in fiddle, singing, dance, bodhran, flute, mandolin, guitar, accordion, whistle, uillean pipes, banjo, bouzouki, banjo, and concertina. Students can register for up to four classes which meet every day, although I usually just take two so that I can have time to practice and learn to actually play some of the stuff while I am still there. Over the years in addition to harp classes I’ve had the chance to take a bodhran class, beginning pennywhistle with Billy Jackson, DADGAD guitar with Eamon O’Leary, bouzouki with Robin Bullock, and session guitar with Donal Clancy. Ed Miller teaches Scottish singing classes, and the biggest stars in Celtic instrumental and vocal music are there annually. With the likes of Martin Hayes, Kevin Crawford, and John Whelan and too many other greats to list here (see the roster for yourself https://www.swangathering.com/catalog/cl/celtic-week.html) the faculty concerts, extra “potluck” afternoon seminars, after supper slow sessions led by the staff, and late night sessions create such an incredible experience that you will not experience much sleep-there is just too much music.

Afternoon slow session with Billy Jackson, Robin Bullock, and Brian McNeil

In addition to the quality instruction, the campus is beautiful, the food is outstanding, and the musical friendships that are created and renewed every year truly make this a gathering. The sessions last late into the night. Imagine a hillside dotted with open air tents and dozens of music sessions happening at once-complete with a beer truck supplying local microbrews, wines, and a grill cook serving up food and snacks. There are fast sessions, slow sessions, big sessions, Scottish sessions, Irish sessions, Breton sessions, small sessions, alpha sessions, and song sessions. The faculty gets out and plays, with each other and with the students. I have witnessed Battlefield Band reunions, gotten to sit in a slow session and play the Kesh Jig set with members of the Bothy Band, and played music, shared tunes, and made lifelong friendships with people that share the love for this music.

Afternoon slow session with Billy Jackson, Robin Bullock, and Brian McNeil

The only thing that could keep me away from the Swannanoa Gathering would be a trip to Ireland and Scotland-which is where I will be during this year’s gathering, although I’m going to be back in time to visit Friday night and reconnect with friends and jam into the night. How ‘bout a tune?

If, like me, you have listed learning more tunes as one of your goals this year, you may be casting about for ways to select those tunes you are going to spend your precious time, sweat, and tears on. How do you select new tunes? Here are four ways to chose what to learn to play:

1. Listen, listen, listen – learn those tunes you enjoy listening to. I decided that I had to learn pedal harp simply from hearing a gorgeous piece of music on the radio!
2. Learn what’s on offer in workshops that come to your area. This is especially important if you live in moderate to low harp density areas. Get to every workshop you can, especially if they are few and far between.
3. Comb through books and sight read for gems. This is good both for finding new tunes and to practice your sight reading.
4. Host a tune swap. What could be better than learning new tunes? Learning new tunes inside a party! It is great to learn from a friend.

Unless you are preparing for auditions, learn any tunes you like – especially if you like the sounds of them. And be sure to really get the tunes down – don’t just get a passing familiarity.  Really get in there and wear it! And with all these sources you’ll have plenty of tunes to select!