Jenius Creations

Tag: Summertime

Now go outside and play – No excuses
OSAS is finished – but boy oh boy was it a blast! We had a great group of harpers who were wonderful. They learned so much, including loads of harp music and how to zoom for hours on end. And we met new people and saw old friends. We had students from all over including Ohio and Maine and Oregon and Virginia and Maryland and Washington and Michigan and Italy!! We expended loads of energy together and I can’t wait until the next time! We have to wait a whole year.

And after a week of sitting on my bench, in an artificially lighted, air conditioned studio (to make our zoom meetings work), I almost forgot that it’s summer.

But it is definitely summer. So why not go outside and play?

While we all continue to limit going out and we all keep working on our social distancing, we could have an opportunity to bring a little of the enjoyment of being with other people into our lives.

Go outside and play!

Play for your neighbors and just connect in that way music does. But also – remember that you play the harp and you will make more than music – you’ll be making HARP music. And your neighbors will come out to be connected and to hear your beautiful music.

I hear some of you – you already have excuses. Just stop.
- You don’t have a huge repertoire yet? That’s ok, you don’t have to play long sets.
- You don’t have time? That’s ok, you don’t have to play every day.
- You don’t have any neighbors? That’s ok, you can go to a park or your local library or your grocery store.
- You’re not good enough? That’s ok, please be convinced that people will be grateful for your gift, no matter how polished or rough. (And I really wish you’d believe me that most audience members are in awe of you! They can’t do what you’re doing…and they know it).
I have been playing for my neighbors once a week (almost every week – I’ve missed a couple) since the lockdown began. I made it easy for everyone – I only play for about 30 minutes, so it’s not a long commitment for them (as listeners) or me (as a performer). I mostly play what I know – whatever comes to mind. Sometimes I add in something I’m working on (bonus – I get a low stress environment to find if it’s ready).

And I’ve been delighted by a couple of things. First – they came! I really wondered if anyone would be bothered to come out at all (remember there’s a plague upon the earth?). Second – they’ve kept coming! Not all of them every time, but there has been a consistent audience and I’m happy to have them. Third – I have gotten some incredible and gracious emails from my neighbors which is flattering, but more importantly, it’s gratifying.

So, go outside and play. Lift your bushel basket and stop hiding under it. Share your gift. Be like the summer flowers – out there where everyone can enjoy. But don’t delay – summer doesn’t last that long! What will you do with your summer? Let me know in the chat!
July 6, 2020
OSAS is here! OSAS is here!

This has been a year of upheaval and I know many of us are feeling it keenly! But we’ve all mustered on, doing what we can – for ourselves and for others – trying to live in what is laughingly called the “new normal” rather than being dragged down by “what might have been”.

I LOVE the Ohio Scottish Arts School! It has been pivotal in my life as a musician and as a person – some of my dearest friendships have grown from this one week in the summer. In addition, I probably wouldn’t be playing the harp at all if I hadn’t found OSAS. I am not exaggerating – as much as I love orchestral music (and the harp for that matter), I am confident I would not have endured playing solely from that repertoire. OSAS helped point me in the right direction and I haven’t looked back!

And I LOVE teaching at OSAS, so I was excited to be doing so again this summer! But when the pall spread across the earth, I was sad that we would all miss out on it. The fun. The friends. The great students. The great tunes. Sigh.

Enter the Virtual Ohio Scottish Arts School! When the decision was made to go virtual, I was delighted and excited! (but you knew that from my earlier post). Virtual OSAS – a new twist for slightly twisted times!

We had meetings to figure out how we were going to do this.

And we kept saying, “It’ll be great. It’ll be easy. It’ll be fine”, and Debbie Doty – our beloved director, leader, Mom would agree, while making this face:

But we kept planning and we kept preparing and we worried (a little) that people wouldn’t come. But we pushed on, learning how to Zoom, polishing up our tunes to share, working together to figure out how everything would work together. You know, being the OSAS family!

OSAS Alumnae who are known for their hi-jinks and wicked senses of humor made thoughtful, heartfelt testimonials to encourage previous students to return and potential students to come along. And come along they did. Being virtual means that people who previously couldn’t get to Ohio can be a part of the week! And many students from previous years are also coming! So exciting! Even more exciting? The Harp Class filled before the registration deadline hit!

HARPHARPHARPHARP!

This week, OSAS will go on. We’ll be TogetherApart – playing our harps, sharing great tunes, learning, and laughing – social distancing by entire continents or oceans!

And looking forward to having a whole set of new tunes to play together when we can be together.

We’ll still be having our Tea –

And enjoying many of the traditions that help make OSAS the event we love!

I am confident that, as usual, I’ll be busy being there and won’t take nearly enough pictures (screenshots?) to share here – but we’ll see what comes of it. If you’re going to be there – yea! Can’t wait to see you and catch up. And if you’ve missed out, it’s not too early to start planning for 2021… OSAS is always the last week of June running up to the 4^th July holiday (in 2021, that will be 26 June – 2 July….go put it on your calendar now, because you don’t want to miss out twice in a row, do you?).

* All photos ripped from the OSAS website

June 29, 2020
OSAS 2020 is coming!!

If you’ve read my blog for more than about 15 minutes, you know that one of my most favoritest harp events each year is the Ohio Scottish Arts School. I have participated as a student and as a teacher – and I can tell you the view from either window is just marvelous! The instructors, the students, the Thistle Sisters and Thistle Brothers – all outstanding!

And you also know that this spring has led to a lot of cancellations. A lot of cancellations.

BUT NOT OSAS!!! OSAS is going ON LINE.

It’s taking some planning – and creative thinking (I’d say “out of the box thinking” but clearly, as you can see in the picture below, we’re each in a box!)

OSAS planning – things you learn in a COVID world.

If you’ve always wanted to come to OSAS but haven’t been able to – this is your chance! Live too far away? Live so many timezones away, we’re upside down? All no problem this year! OSAS CAN STILL BE A PART OF YOUR HARP LIFE!

You will have the opportunity to study with the inestimable Sue Richards, the incredible Rachel Hair, the wonderful Rachel Clemente, and the incalculable me.

The fun of working together to learn a tune and play it! PS, do not sit like this when you’re playing your harp (like I am – sidesaddle) or you’ll be calling me for an Ergonomics Lesson to fix all your injuries and pains!

From Monday, June 29 to Friday, July 3, 2020, we will have 3 – 4 sessions per day. In the morning, we’ll learn tunes. After lunch, we’ll gather to review the morning, learn more, and participate in group lectures and/or one-on-one sessions. More specific details will be coming (as we firm up and finalize everything).

Tuition for this special week is $250 (includes $200 non-refundable deposit). Please note that class sizes are limited. Registration deadline extended to June 8, 2020. Here is the link to the online registration form.

I am very passionate about this event (as you can tell by the plethora of exclamation marks throughout this post) – because I know how much you have the potential to learn, from incredible tutors that you won’t find all together in one place in any other workshop. In addition, over time, OSAS has lead to many lifelong friendships, collaborations, and happy memories.

You should join us this summer at OSAS ONLINE. No, we won’t be all in one room, but we will be all in one space – we’ll be TogetherApart! If you have any questions you can go to the OSAS website or you can leave them for me in the comments below. Hope to see you there!

June 1, 2020
Summer? Maybe not…instead –
It’s that time on the calendar when I usually take some space to mention some of my favorite summer programs and activities so you can save your pennies and dates and plan to go to as many interesting, educational, and cool adventures as you can swing.

This year – not so much.

We’re still watching from the windows, waiting for the shadow to pass. Hopefully it will leave us alone, but not before many of the summer activities will be cancelled or postponed.

But we are the lucky ones – we have our beautiful instruments and our soul-touching music – our companions in times good and bad. We have a port in the storm that feels like it will never recede.

It will recede, as storms (and diseases) do. And after a while we will timidly leave our homes and venture out. Slowly, as we do, things will return to normal. Normal – and all that it entails – too much going on, too much to do, too much to accomplish.

Don’t be one of the people who, at the end of this confinement, looks back and wonders where the time went! If you are home and you are not sick – what a gift – you have time!

You can use this time chained to the constant blather of news that isn’t – or you can go to your harp! But what will you do there? Well, what would you like to do? While the answer to that depends on you, here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Basics. Get our your favorite love to hate source – Grossi? Friou? Salzedo? Sylvia? Doesn’t matter (they are all useful). Pull it out and turn to page 1. YUP – Page 1! Then do the things we know we are supposed to do, but somehow there’s rarely time for. Go slowly. Read carefully. Be your own terrifying maestro – accept nothing short of excellence from yourself. Close! Watch your posture! Breathe! Do it right! Then do it again! Don’t speed through just to get to the next one. Savor each exercise. Ask yourself – what am I meant to learn here? What tunes that I currently play can I apply this to? There is no race – compare yourself to you yesterday and identify where you’d like to be tomorrow and find how will this help get you there. And through it all – enjoy it. Dig in and feel your growth.
2. Read. Reading is a skill you develop and a tool you can use. Reading will help you broaden your perspective and possibly open you to new ideas. Don’t use the excuse that you play traditional music to put off bettering your reading. You don’t always have the luxury of hearing everything either. Reading will make all sorts of things accessible – collections, other genres, stuff you read just to practice reading. But you’ll only get more facile at reading by doing it (just like when you were in first grade!).
3. Listen. You learn so much by listening. You’ll learn new music of course. But, like reading, you’ll get better at listening if you practice. What do you hear first? What do you struggle to hear when you listen (I’m talking about what you process, not how well your ears work). How do you transfer what you hear to the harp? Listen to everything you can lay your hands on – other harpers but also fiddlers, pipers, drummers, classical music, modern music, traditional music outside your usual sphere – everything. I’m listening to Depeche Mode as I write this and I’m keying in on the base line and wondering how I could adapt the idea to a tune I’m arranging just now. Yes it’s a stretch, but it only takes the kernel of an idea to get started, if you work it (usually over time).
4. Learn. You’re never going to get this kind of opportunity again (I hope!) so pull out all those tunes you half learned, never really got up to speed, used to play all the time but have sort of forgotten – and set out to learn them. Really learn them. Don’t forget all the new stuff you haven’t even started on! Like all the other stuff, don’t accept half way. If you’re having trouble with something – go back to 1 (above) and find an exercise that will help you (or make the tricky bit into an exercise), find a source to look at (and write on!), find recordings (if possible), and work with your tunes until they can worm their way into your head.
5. Enjoy. Have fun – never forget why you play!
Summer may be cancelled, but we still have our harps!

Next week – ways to get yourself sorted, organized and keep from spinning around not actually learning anything! How are you spending your harp time while staying at home? Let me know if the comments!
April 6, 2020
Scotland is calling! Be an Early Bird

I am already excited about our next trip to Scotland…and it’s still eight months away!! I know that you’re so excited about the prospect of going too since I have talked to you and some have already taken advantage of the Early Bird pricing and booked your spot.

I know that some of you are still thinking about it. So, I wanted to encourage you to get in on the Early Bird pricing.

I talked with David this week and I have a new urgency to share with you – lots of other people want to go then too. All those other interested people translate to accommodations booking up.

Since so many of you said you’d love to go to Skye (or as some said, go to Skye “again and again and again!”), David’s been planning an itinerary around that. Even those of you who have come with us before have only seen a small fraction of all the breathtaking beauty of Skye. But if there are no accommodations available, we’ll have to reroute (after all – we need to have a place to sleep!).

Now, that’s not a problem…unless you want to see Skye.

If we were a big bus tour, it wouldn’t be an issue – we’d just take the reservation…and at the last minute, let go of the rooms we don’t need. But we’re not, and that’s not how we roll. Besides, we need to get the right room for each of you – and to do that we need to know how many singles, doubles, or twins!

Our trip will be 9 – 16 September 2020. The Early Bird booking closes 1 October. While we cannot take more than six people and we do need at least four. We are getting there – but we’re missing you.

So, I’d like to encourage you to make your final decisions and book soon. Get the Early Bird price! We’ll take reservations first come/first served and your deposit holds your place.

The early bird price is $3200 per person. Concerned you might have to pay the $350 single supplement? Sometimes others are willing to share – so don’t let that stop you!

As always – if you have questions, ask away. I’m always happy to talk about our trip and how you can get the most from it. You can email me or leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Looking forward to sharing some of my favorite tunes – and seeing new things with you in just eight months!

September 16, 2019
Meet me in Parsippany!

I hope you’re planning on participating in the Somerset Folk Harp Festival July 18-21 2019 in Parsippany, NJ. I am so very much looking forward to being there!

The Somerset Folk Harp Festival is (to quote the website), “an amazing 4-day conference celebrating the diversity of music, talent and experience of the folk harp world. Whether you want to focus on one style or type of music, solidify some specific skills, or try out something new, the breadth of this year’s workshop offerings is sure to expand your musical horizon. Our Exhibit Hall is the best harp and music shopping under one roof you’ll find anywhere on the East Coast. Daily concerts will inspire you…”

That’s pretty succinct – and true. I am looking forward to seeing you there! There’s so much on – it’s hard to get to everything, but I’ll also be at the Scottish Harp Society of America booth in the Exhibit Hall. Stop by and say hello…or even better, introduce yourself!

I’ll be teaching two workshops on Friday and they should both be fun and interesting.

Donna Bennett and I will teach Creativity Tools to Improve Practice & Performance at 3:30 in Room 2. This is a hands on, any level, companions welcome workshop. We’ll be sharing skills, tools, and techniques to help bring creativity to your music or teaching. We’ll show you how to actively apply creativity tools and techniques that will improve your personal work processes and your overall approach to harping. With these tools you can prepare projects and gigs and we’ll also give you techniques to help generate better ideas to expand your arrangements and repertoire without adding to your learning load. We are planning some fun learning activities as well as packing in tons of useful content – you will leave with your head full of how to generate new ideas!

Before that, I will be teaching Sounding Scottish at 1:30 in Room 1. This any level workshop is designed to help you take your love of Scottish music and apply it to your own playing. Scotland has captivated people for hundreds of years and inspired composers, artists, and authors. I’ll share specific elements and techniques to help your tunes sound Scottish. I’ll also be sharing tunes to apply and practice those techniques and I’ll use images, video, language, sounds, geography, myths and legends of Scotland as muses to provide inspiration for your own take on the music.

But that’s not all! On Friday night, Donna and I are closing out the day by hosting the Scottish Seisean! We’ll kick off about 10pm in Room 11 and go ’til we’re done. Here’s your chance to trot out all that great music that gets you stared at blankly when you’re in an Irish session. We’ll start slowly so everyone can join in and ramp it up as the evening goes. Come out to play!

And – on Saturday, Scottish Harp Society of America is proud to present a lunchtime concert at 11:30. Members Donna Bennett, Rachel Clemente and I will be performing – so come see us. Bring a lunch!

Can’t wait!

If you haven’t already signed up, you’re too late – the Festival has sold out and you should start planning for next year. However, you can still register for the Sunday add-ons. And you can always come to the Exhibit Hall. If you’re in the market for a harp or if you need more harp kitsch (because you can never have enough of that!) this is the place to be!

Are you coming? If so, let me know in the comments so I can be sure to look for you –

July 3, 2019
Summer’s a comin’
There are so many things to do in the summer! And so many of them occur at the same time that you probably need to do a little calendar management, just so you can get to as many events as possible.

I’m excited to be thinking about all the fun things on offer this summer – especially the ones I’ll be participating in. I hope you’ll look this over and consider joining me for at least one of them!
1. Harpa!
If you’re not already signed up, you don’t have much time – we start next week, 7 – 15 May. (OK, if you seriously want to go to this, please email me immediately, because, we’re already leaving!). If you can’t turn on that thin a dime (which would be almost everyone on the earth), you might want to start planning to come on the 2020 Harp the Highlands and Islands trip (more on that soon).

PS – watch my Facebook page and the Harpa FB page – I know we’ll post lots of fun photos while we’re in Scotland!
1. Ohio Scottish Games
Stolen directly from the Games website: OSG will be held June 22, 2019 and there will be loads to see and do…but why would you when you’ll want to get there early and be at the Harp Competition all day long!?!?!

This games was established in 1977, and is presented by members of The Ohio Scottish American Cultural Society of Ohio, an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of their proud Scottish Heritage and ancestry. OSG highlights traditional dance, music and athletics of the ancient highland games.

And this year, Ohio is hosting the US National Scottish Harp Championship ^TM and I’m so excited to be one of the judges. If you’ve never been, it’s worth coming out – hear the train, meet new (to you) harpers. It’s a tradition! They also have all the other cool festival stuff like food, athletics, pipe bands, classic cars, and loads of vendors. But you won’t care if you miss that – because you’ll be at the Harp Competition! Go to https://www.ohioscottishgames.com/competitions for more details.
1. Ohio Scottish Arts School
Once you’ve been dazzled by the competition (or delighted by your performance in the competition), you can head right over to OSAS. I’m so looking forward to teaching this summer. OSAS is celebrating 41 years of educating artists in the traditional music and dance of Scotland.

Again, shamelessly stolen from the website: The Scottish Harp 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. We will study Scottish dance music, airs, and songs, focusing on ornamentation, Scottish style, accompaniment, and learning by ear. Afternoons will include lectures, practice time, and playing in sessions. Classes will be available for beginners who have played for a few months, intermediates, and advanced players. And we’ll have a delightful Tea presented by Ringgold Harp Ensemble, a highlight!

I’m so excited to be teaching with the incomparable Sue Richards as well as the stunning and delightful Rachels – Rachel Hair and Rachel Clemente (an OSAS alum!). There is probably no other place you can go to learn so much so quickly and s-t-i-l-l have a great time.
1. Somerset Harp Festival
Somewhere on the Somerset website it says, “Play the Harp better” – and boy oh boy, will you! I am so pleased to have been invited to teach here and will be even more thrilled to teach with Donna Bennett.

Together Donna and I will deliver the Creativity Tools to Improve Practice & Performance workshop – and we’re building on some previous work teaching skills, tools, and techniques that bring the creativity secret to your music. We’ll show you how to use creativity tools and techniques to practice and play better, arrange more, compose, perform – however you let your creativity out! More Info

And I’ll be teaching a workshop we’ve entitled Sounding Scottish in which you will learn how to make your tunes sound more Scottish. I’m going to leverage all the stuff I’ve learned to date (especially while in Scotland!) to each specific elements and techniques to ensure your tunes sound Scottish. I’ll teach a tune (or two!) to learn and practice all the good juicy stuff that will highlight the tune’s authentic self. More Info
1. Harp Quest
Harp Quest is a great opportunity to teach with my friend Kris Snyder in idyllic southern Pennsylvania.

We have moved from summer camp to pursuing our Harp Quest. And we are looking forward to this year’s journey! We have so much fun putting it together! As with any Quest, we each have a different journey as we seek to learn what our harp is there to teach us. Plan to join us for our 24th year and a new Journey with our harps – becoming what we’re meant to be.

This year’s Quest will be focused on Planning Ahead. As always, our Quest will remain easily accessible to harpers from anywhere and at any level. Our focus will be a short and intense experience that we will each take with us into the coming months and years – perhaps not fully appreciating what we have learned until much later. But secure in knowing that we will get there – each of us. And we’ll get there together!

The Quest will be August 16, 17, and 18, 2019 and we are looking forward to a very personalized time of sharing and learning. We will have fun, support one another, and work together to get as much from our lever harps as we can get! Because a quest is pretty intense, we will fill up fast, so be sure to get your reservation in.

So you can see that it’s going to be a busy summer – hope you’ll come spend some of it with me! Let me know what you’re planning to do this summer – in the comments below.
May 1, 2019
Summer Plans 4

Cromarty Harp Village

So this week, we’re stretching to include summer all the way to the equinox!

And to include a slightly broader view of workshops.

I cannot recommend Cromarty Harp Village* highly enough!

Cromarty is in the Black Isle – yup, you read that right – it’s in Scotland (and where better to learn Scottish music?). It is a village on the Moray Firth and while the village is captivating and interesting, the Harp Village is even more compelling.

The Cromarty Harp Village will be held 22 & 23 September at The Old Brewery. This is a two-day workshop (and if you’re going to go all the way there, you might want to spend a little more time – you could organize to learn more or just sightsee!)

There is such a broad trove of talent – the instructors include innovative harpers Rachel Newton (www.rachelnewtonmusic.com) and Cheyenne Brown (www.cheyenneharp.com) along with the irrepressible Corrina Hewat (www.corrinahewat.com) all leading a special weekend of harp workshops and sessions. It will be a magical weekend of tunes, songs, accompaniment ideas and tips to recognize the distinctive gifts you bring to your instrument. And – there is a workshop for beginners taught by the wonderful Issie Pendlebury (www.isbelpendlebury.com). The workshops are very reasonably priced and out of towners can also organize accommodation (book early to be sure you get in – the Brewery is a lovely venue and that includes the accommodations!).

I think the best thing about Harp Village – beyond the great venue and the amazing instructors – has to be meeting and making friends with harp players I would never have met otherwise. I am so fortunate to have remained in contact with a few of my classmates which is not only fun but also so encouraging to know harp players from other countries but with shared experiences.

For more information and to register go to: http://www.cromartyartstrust.org.uk/the-harp-village.asp

* as before –this content (less commentary) has been unceremoniously lifted directly from the Cromarty Arts Trust Harp Village website.

April 25, 2018