It is Ohio Scottish Arts School week!  Always a great week –  playing tunes we have learned before, learning new ones, staying up too late, practice, jamming, and a lot of laughter! 

Each year we look forward to a week of learning from amazing tutors – this year is no exception with Corrina Hewat and Abby Palmer, Sue Richards Ann Heymann and Charlie Heymann bringing their unique perspectives and experiences…and wonderful tunes!  It’s difficult to not be effusive! 

And there is the broader view, sharing and hanging out with other harpers as well as fiddlers, dancers, pipers, and drummers.  What looks like a fun jam session will also be a full rich opportunity to learn skills all musicians need, to practice musicality, adaptability, and flexibility.

Start of last year – photo unceremoniously pinched from Steve Schack, a fellow OSAS alum (http://stevetheharper.blogspot.com/2012/06/ohio-scottish-arts-school-day-1.html)

If you’ve been to OSAS before but weren’t able to come this year, be there in spirit by playing through the tunes from your summer and brush them up and remember the great times you had. 

And if you’ve never been before, I sure hope you figure out a way to work it into your schedule next year.  It is not just a learning experience but also just  FUN!

I’ll trying to remember to take photos to share with you – but sometimes I get too caught up in the fun so no promises!  Thanks for understanding!  See you soon.

If you work from printed music you have many opportunities to make notes.  Use a pencil – you might want to come back to the tune and do something completely different in the future.  Mark all the challenges you meet – fingerings, lever (or pedal) changes, dynamics, expression and phrasing – all of these will help you work through the music and will also serve as documentation of your ability to play it when you were working on it.  Always use a pencil so you can make changes as you become more capable and experienced.   For instance you could start a practice and performance journal.

No matter how you learn your music, make yourself a journal.  Write yourself notes about your practice.  Write down what is going wrong.  Note what have you tried.  Jot down what went right.  Be sure to include notes about what do you want to try as well as writing out how are you going to go about learning these new things. Also note things you still want to learn.

I’m still on a high from the Washington Area Folk Harp Society Getaway that was held at the beginning of the month.  It was well executed and brilliantly taught.  The only negative comment I have is that the instructors were all so good and had so much great stuff to share that I had a really hard time trying to select which workshops to attend!

That can be quite a challenge.  Don’t let these things get in your way:

• Sometimes you’re not ready to learn what is on offer.  Just because you’re not ready doesn’t mean that you won’t learn something useful.
• Sometimes you don’t have the ability to keep up – don’t get focused on being frustrated at what you can’t do yet, but rather focus on the concepts that are being shared.
• Sometimes you just can’t keep up – again, don’t get frustrated.  And believe the instructor who says it’s ok if you don’t get it all right now – you have time later to come back to it.
• Sometimes you don’t understand what was being said.  It is really hard to learn concepts if you don’t have the vocabulary yet.  Of course, the best way to build your musical vocabulary is to learn what things mean be being taught.
• Sometimes, it just isn’t a good time to be learning – if you’re tired, stressed, or focused on other things – just sit in the workshop and absorb.  And enjoy the social aspect – nothing wrong with that!

What I find interesting though, is how much I have learned – even when I thought I wasted my time (and the instructors!).

Harp Camp that is!

This post will be short – I’ve packed and gotten ready and I am leaving for southeastern Pennsylvania for Harp Camp. I am so excited – looking forward to a long weekend of great music, learning, and sharing.

We’ll be focusing on working with fake books as well as our usual collection of interesting, different, unusual activities to ensure a wonderful learning experience.  

I hope you’ll consider joining us next year!

Corrina Hewat has sent me this – I hope you seriously consider participating in this year’s Harp Village in Cromarty.

Application forms are now available from the website: http://www.cromartyartstrust.org.uk/the-harp-village-2010.asp 

What a great opportunity!

I am at OSAS, busy meeting new people, seeing old friends, teaching as well as I can, playing as much as I can muster, trying to learn new tunes, and not sleeping enough! 

This is a week of scintillating learning, sharing, laughing, playing, sessioning, dancing, and hanging out with other harpers as well as cool people who play fiddle, dance, play pipes, drum, and play assorted other instruments.  Fortunately, although I’m running around like crazy, Sara Walthery has very graciously created some photo collages:

If you’ve been to OSAS before but weren’t able to come this year, dig out the tunes from your summer and brush them up and remember the great times you had. 

And if you’ve never been before, I sure hope you figure out a way to work it into your schedule – it is WAY too much:

• Fun
• Learning Tunes
• Playing
• Playing the Harp 🙂
• Learning Tunes
• Making friends
• Learning Dances
• Learning Tunes
• Learning pipe stuff
• Learning fiddle stuff
• Learning Tunes
• Jamming
• Laughing
• Growing

And I’ll be trying to remember to take more photos to share with you – but sometimes I get too caught up in the fun and forget I even have a camera! 

Thanks for understanding!  See you soon.

Swananoa is an event that I have never gotten to – but I am looking forward to the time that I do make the trip.  However, I have heard such great things about it that I invited Mike Conners to write the blog post this week and tell us all about it.  Hopefully he will inspire you to give it a go!


Mike learned a great deal  from Willaim Jackson

Immediately following Grandfather comes Celtic Week at the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College. It is total immersion with some of the most noted vocalists and instrumentalists in the world. I study harp there annually with William Jackson and Grainne Hambly. Although one can register for up to four classes a day, I opt for two so I can have time to practice while I am there.  I prefer that to being overloaded with new material on the spot that I might not to get to learn when I get home. In addition to harp I have in past years enjoyed daily bodhran classes, “pennywhistle for the complete beginner” and Robin Bullock’s bouzouki class. This year I’ll take a DADGAD guitar class. Swannanoa Celtic week is the place for fiddle, flute and tin whistle, harp, fretted instruments, reeds, song and folklore, percussion, and dance. The staff/performers are friendly and accessible.

Grainne Hambly gives a fantastic workshop

There are a variety of afternoon “potluck” classes, afternoon slow sessions directed by the guest artists, evening concerts, and literally dozens of sessions happening simultaneously outdoors all night long across campus with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop; complete with a snack cart, wine and local craft brew beer truck, vendors hall and hundreds of great Celtic musicians to listen to and jam with. Continuing education credits are offered for teachers, the food is great, and the instruction outstanding. Can you tell I’m excited about the upcoming Swannanoa Gathering? Here is a link to a PDF of the Celtic Week catalog. http://www.swangathering.com/catalog/cl/celtic-week.html

Somerset Folk Harp Festival is a loverly way to get immersed in a wide variety of techniques, modes, genres, approaches, types, and kinds of harp music.  Instructors are always incredible and there are so many choices it will literally make your head swim.  While it has a long and appropriate title, you’ll hear it referred to simply as “Somerset”.

There are more than 100 workshops and classes (a record number!) from 33 presenters with the theme Narrow Your Focus or Expand Your Horizon.  Somerset is a 4-day conference celebrating the diversity of music, talent and experience of the folk harp world.  The Exhibit Hall is the best harp and music shopping under one roof you’ll find anywhere on the East Coast – and will leave you drooling!  And over 30% of the workshops qualify for MHTP Continuing Ed units.

Most of the workshops are 90 minutes in the 3 main workshop periods on Friday and Saturday.  In addition, there are mini-workshops scheduled for things like Harp Tastings and Do It Yourself Harp Maintenance.   You can attend any of the other workshops. There are downloadable files tools to help you put your Somerset itinerary together.

This year’s focus areas are:

• Accompaniment & Arranging
• Beginner
• Business & Career
• Body & Harp
• Celtic
• Historical Harp
• Jazz & Blues
• Latin Music
• Rhythm
• Skills & Technique
• Therapeutic Harp
• World Music

and you’ll have tons of fun at:

• The Carolan Marathon
• La Fiesta!
• Jams
• Saturday Banquet

And if you are interested you can look into private lessons with your favorite instructors!

I am sorry that I won’t be able to go to Somerset this year, but I hope you don’t miss it!

See the website: http://www.somersetharpfest.com/

It’s May!  Already!  Wow, 2012 is proceeding apace.  OK, really, it’s flying by.  So, you too may be thinking about what to do this summer.  I have some favorites that I want to remind you about.  So for the next few weeks, I’ll tell you about them in their order of appearance.  I hope you’ll consider joining me in some of my favorites.  Harp events are always a lot of things – informative, energizing, exhausting, and FUN!  You will see old friends, meet new friends, learn about your harp, take in all sorts of new music, and did I mention, you will have FUN!

The first of my favorite summer activities is the Ohio Scottish Arts School or OSAS.  You might also hear it referred to as simply “Oberlin” (after the college that houses all the yummy harpy goodness).   Much of what you will read below is lifted directly from the OSAS website: http://www.ohioscottishartsschool.com/

OSAS provides comprehensive instruction in traditional arts of (a lot of tangentially related stuff and) harp.  At the end of the week, the students will have increased their knowledge of theory, improved their basic skills and technique, and been exposed to new material (and will be delighted and tired!).

Participants must be at least 10 years of age and adult students are encouraged to enroll. Students should have some knowledge of their particular art, but people of all skill levels are encouraged to  enroll.   Classes begin on Sunday morning and are held from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. In the evenings students can enjoy various supervised athletic and social activities as time permits. An informal variety show is held on the last night and all are encouraged to participate.

Harp students are expected to bring their own instrument. Classes will focus on basic harp technique for beginners and intermediates, repertoire at all levels, including tunes for competition sets and Scottish style, including ornaments, lilt, and dance types. There are classes for both nylon/gut harp and wire strung and historical harps (bray harps welcome).  We will also have a “band class” for all instruments.

This year, there is a new incredible option to assemble, finish and string your own 27 string wire harp – see the website for details. And the evening jam sessions offer students the chance to develop accompaniment patterns and learn more tunes.

The instructors are always amazing with Seumas Gagne, Ann Heymann, Charlie Heymann,and Sue Richards teaching this year.  And I am thrilled to have been invited to join this illustrious faculty this year.

I hope you will join us for a fantastic learning opportunity that will make you fall in love with your harp all over again!

I wonder where the birdies is.  So goes the poem I learned as a child…everything according to plan. 

We’re nearly through the first quarter of the year.  The trees are blooming.  The flowers are coming up.  How are you coming along with your grand plan?  I am sure you did a lot of goal setting at the new year.  You might have been goal setting along with me, or you might have generated some resolutions.  Either way, here’s your chance to check in and see how it’s going.

So, if you haven’t gotten moving on your goals for this year and you’ve determined that the goals were sound, and you’ve identified your path or plan, you should be good – as long as it fits you.  If it doesn’t, change it.  Goals are your tools – make them work for you!