Tag Archives: Quotes and thoughts

Welcome June

Posted on by

In the long sad time, when the sky was grey

And the keen blast blew through the city drear

When delight had fled from the night and the day

My chill heart whispered, “June will be here”

A June Tide Echo, Amy Levy

I find that I’m a little mournful just now.  In my original plan, by now I’d be already in Edinburgh, joining friends, seeing sites, sharing tunes (writing on originally scheduled blog post topics!).  I’d be helping students prepare for competitions and performances and recitals.  I’d be trying to decide what, from my “OSAS at Oberlin” stash would be appropriate for “OSAS at the blissfully air conditioned Baldwin-Wallace”.  I’d be organizing my calendar to practice teaching, practice weddings, practice performances, composing, arranging.

[I refuse to think of life before all the sickness of this year-to-date as “normal” because there is no normal.  There is only change we do not see.   And normal = mundane and who wants to be mundane?!]

But as for right here, right now, it is easy to be suckered in by things around us (like social media mostly, although regular media isn’t really helping any either) and its unending stream of “content” (some good, some pathetic).  And for good or bad, I found that I was being sucked in and becoming envious of the people who were posting clever, or at least amusing, videos of their funny children, hilarious pets, perfectly executed, while distributed, performance art, or oops-filled online meetings.  Increasingly, I was feeling particularly peeved that I, a creative and artistic person, was not also generating huge vats of content…like so many artists posting (highly edited) stuff.

But maybe, with a little shift in focus, I can see that this is not the truth of it.  I am doing inventive things (but maybe not subjecting everyone else with the outputs).   And then I remembered one of my favorite quotes. 

Never compare your blooper reel with everyone else’s highlight reel.

This quote should probably be updated to include the words “tightly curated and heavily edited” highlight reels.

I remain excited for this summer and I’m trying to embrace all the changes (yes, I’m mournful and still remain excited…I’m complex like that).  I’m also trying to appreciate that those changes represent potential.  I still look forward to next summer when I might have even more time with friends in Scotland – and the extended absence will definitely make the hearts grow fonder.  I’ll have more tunes to share and a whetted appetite for sites, sounds, smells and tastes.  My students will outgrow the music we started to ready for performance this year and will move on to other pieces to ready for next year’s events and venues.  Pieces we might not have even thought about if “everything was normal”!  I’ll have time to consider the joyful memories of the items in the “OSAS Oberlin” bin while dreaming up what excitement we will find in our new OSAS location in Barea, OH.  And hopefully I’ll be scrambling to get from competition to wedding to workshop – happily busy and working.

Be careful of the perfectness of what you see.  Spend time with your harp – Imperfect time. Try new things.  Play new stuff.  Play old stuff…in new ways.  Share what you feel like sharing.  What are you doing?  What are you planning for next June?  What imperfectly perfect thing are you working on?  Let me know in the comments!

Travel is Broadening

Posted on by

You already know that all of us are back from the Harpa Scotland 2019 Retreat. If the photos, videos, comments, and smiles are any indication – it was another brilliant success. Harpa is so much fun because it has a simple formula:

HARPA = 

amazing musicians + fantastic tour guide + incredible roadie = 

sharing music joy + enjoying each other + adventure!

You’ve heard the maxim that travel is broadening – and not just from delicious cakes and scones! As you travel with your harp, you develop or hone many sterling qualities including forbearance, faith and patience! Whether you like it or not, you must let go, trust the Fates, and be patient (outside the “Oversize Luggage” belt mostly!).

Most of us are control freaks (especially about our harps). Many of us do not know this about ourselves (or if we do, we underestimate).  Few things will test your mettle like traveling with your instrument and entrusting it to the TSA. And while American (airline) may hate guitars, I’m pretty sure it’s the TSA that hates harps. Or at least, hates harp cases. I qualify this, though, to say that although I have gotten my harp back partially latched or completely unlatched, it has always weathered the journey (Forbearance?  Faith?  Probably both).

But more than that, traveling with your harp opens doors you might not even know were there otherwise. We have been places we likely would have gone right by – simply because those places opened themselves up to the possibility of us playing there! We have never played anywhere dull. This openness on their parts helps us to be more open on our part – to see new things or to see familiar things differently (including toilets, refrigerators, and door locks!). And once we are opened, adventures appear around every bend.

Our trips are always small – this time we had seven. This allows us to go places often overlooked or bypassed. It also ensures we don’t travel as a band of tourists – simply observing, never venturing outside our comfort. But it also generates a community and engenders sharing with one another – we gel in ways that big groups never get. We become a traveling family, if ever so briefly. We share our experiences – and our cookies! And that sharing is part of the fun. And the more fun we have together, the more fun we find. And so it grows!

But perhaps the best bit is that we meet other people – in restaurants and cafes, at attractions, in our accommodations. We were invited along to a stramash by someone we met at one of our concerts. See how that works?! At the time we weren’t sure we knew what a stramash is, but we kinda thought we did, and we went along to it. It was a blast! We got to play tunes with local musicians, we heard some new ones, played some shared favs and heard some lovely singing. We got to share the joy of making music – in a fun, organic, very Scottish way! (Just to confirm, a stramash is a seisiun).  We met a delightful couple at a fish and chips restaurant…because they photo bombed one of our group selfies! It is these brief interactions punctuating the trip that not only make great memories, but really define good travels. While chatting with an audience member we learned of a museum that none of our research had unearthed. And later, once there, we met and chatted with more lovely locals and learned more than just looking at some displays would ever have wrought.

All that leads to learning more about yourself. You learn where your unknown assumptions and ignorances lie and have the opportunity to examine them. These assumptions and ignorances are not good or bad, but examining them means you can rethink their utility. I’m not talking about bigotry but rather biases like what we select for our concert program, how we introduce ourselves and our music to the audience, and how we meet them where they are when we perform (and appreciating when they’re not where we thought they’d be!). A small group also learns to accept more – the morning person must be patient while the not-morning person strives to not be cranky at the start of the day (and vice versa at the end of the day).  We help one another – with luggage, and art supplies, and fingering, and leftovers, and making tea (and more tea, and yet more tea!).

And best of all – each trip is different. The harp attracts all kinds – players and appreciators and audiences. We make lifelong friends and brief – but enriching acquaintances. Even if we return to a place, it is new, and we grow in it. And being invited back is a pleasure and a privilege.

So Harpa 2019 is in the books – an unqualified success. We’re all home, laundry cycled (mostly), gifts given, postcards received (mostly). And we look forward to the next time!

Once we sleep off our jetlag, we will start planning the next Harpa outing!

But we’re also finalizing plans for the 2020 Harp the Highlands and Islands trip – details coming soon. Would you like to be broadened (by travel and cakes)?  Want to be part of the action and first to know the details? Leave me a comment to that effect below!

PS: Photo credit for this week and last go to the Harpaniks and especially Donna Bennett, Therese Honey, and Robin Pettit.