2021 - Monica Schley

Harp Escape Project Make-Over

Posted on November 30, 2021November 30, 2021

Harp Escape, the therapeutic harp series of meditative audio and video, will be having a make-over this winter. For the past 20 months, I have made recordings and sheet music for patrons (available on Patreon). During this time, I’ve recorded nearly 200 audio tracks and done over 60 posts of writing, video and sheet music arrangements! That is a lot for me to feel good about, as far as general productivity goes. Now, I feel that a cycle of creation has been completed.

The project will be shifting to a broader audience with a simpler format. New format for Harp Escape will first be editing down audio recordings, and then choosing just ONE tune per month to focus on. That one tune will be either re-recorded, mastered or enhanced somehow. In 2022, I will be releasing these focused songs as singles on the various streaming platforms (iTunes, Spotify, et al).

Seattle Harpist — Looking Ahead to the next phase of Harp Escape

It was a lot of work to make these monthly audio recordings at 20-50 minutes each time. The call to change started this fall when I felt like I was just going through the motions of setting up the recording equipment, picking the tunes, etc. I know the Harp Escape collection has some good pieces in there (but I also know they aren’t all great!), so the plan is to select a few gems and make them sound even better. Also, I don’t necessarily want to stick to instrumentals only, or even to one style of Therapeutic Music at 60-80 bpm. Since the pandemic, I’ve been missing out on in person Therapeutic Music visits for my clients in the clinical health setting. When I started Harp Escape, the intention was to replace that calming, healing modality that TM can bring, and bring it online. I did. It has.

10 Tips on How to Improvise on Harp

Posted on October 28, 2021November 1, 2021

You might be asking yourself, “How can I improvise? How do I start?” These are questions students ask me, and honestly, I have been working on finding answers to these same questions for decades!

As a harpist, most of us learn how to read all of the little black dots on the page with accuracy. We often have practiced with such scrutiny that to play something off the page feels strange or wrong. I have met many classically-trained musicians who would agree.

Before I give you a couple of tips on how to improvise, let’s look back to our beginnings of playing music, to a time before we “knew” how to “play.” I am willing to bet that the first time you touched your instrument, you were as curious as a child. Have you ever watched a group of pre-schoolers play? They naturally grab objects and play pretend, never second-guessing themselves. With this “beginner’s mind,” let’s start improvisation.

Tip #1
Own it. Act like every sound you make is intentional, even if it surprises you.

#2
Use chord symbols in the music notation to give you clues on what notes might sound good, in addition to the notes written.

#3
Know the scale you are playing and don’t leave it.

#4
Know the scale you are playing and leave it. (I know! What I said above also applies, but if you want to stretch your boundaries, you should.) Brazilian writer Paulo Coehlo said “A boat is safe in the harbor. But this is not the purpose of a boat.” What I mean is: Explore. You can always come back to dock in your comfort zone original key. But you are not anchored down.

Only the Shadows Know

Posted on September 23, 2021September 23, 2021

Umbra means shadow. In particular, it is the darkest part of a shadow. It also means a shadow cast by something that is opaque, not a solid state. I think about how even things we don’t see as being solid can take shape, like our thoughts becoming real. You know that phrase by Emerson, “You become what you think about all day long?” – I think that is true. Those shadows are thoughts, and those thoughts become beliefs.

We are all made up of light and dark, just like the equinox, a fine balance of sun and moon within. I find shadows so evocative. Perhaps that is why I have written more than one song about them.

The song Umbra comes on the return of a trip to see my family home for the first time in two years. This song had a dark feeling to it, it starts off minor but then ascends into a Major place. When I ask my students if they can hear the difference between minor and Major, we often describe feeling of minor as Halloween, sad, spooky, or lonely. Being in the shadows of not knowing can feel similar.

Living “La Vie En Rose”

Posted on August 5, 2021September 13, 2021

One of my favorite wedding songs to play is Edith Piaf’s 1940’s opus to love, “La Vie en Rose.”

I don’t speak French, but I can tell by the way she sings, that it is a love song of the most high devotion. She is smitten and lovestruck to the core. As she sings, she idolizes her lover, seeing him through rose-colored glasses. This is why I love playing that tune at weddings and recommending it to people even if they say they don’t know the song. Once I start playing for them, they soon realize they’ve heard it in some movie or commercial. The thing is, “La Vie En Rose” is sort of timeless.

The song plays to our highest ideals, not just about love, but about life in general. “La Vie en Rose” is looking at life optimistically. It is living rosie dreams and seeing the beauty in every day life. It is stopping to smell the roses. It is embracing imperfections and loving despite them. La vie en rose is “live and let live.” It is having ideals. Dreaming big. Finding joy in one’s life and being in the present moment. In literal translation, la vie en rose means the “pink life.”

Some say the meaning of the song is that of naïveté, that everything will be fine without paying attention to details. Assuming that situations will unfold in your favor doesn’t inherently mean that you are not paying attention, or working towards a positive outcome. In fact, I have found that the more I am invested in my situations, the better I feel through involvement.

Harp Escape vol. 6 (Slowly, Falls the Snow)

Posted on June 30, 2021July 1, 2021

Harp Escape vol. 6 video is a song I composed called, “Slowly, Falls the Snow.” This song is about difficult good-byes. About seasons changing, and seasons of life changing.

I wrote this song while working as a Certified Clinical Musician. One morning when I was playing therapy harp at the bedside for a client, this song came to me. I had visited this person a few days earlier. They were on hospice, and after two weeks, they were still holding onto life, even though they were very near death. I wasn’t even sure my patient would be alive when I arrived. Loved ones and caregivers of this person said they appeared to be struggling with letting go.

It was the end of winter, and the very last cold days were hanging on. We had a rare snow that reached the lowlands, and it would certainly be the last snow before spring. Outside the window were evergreen hedges with bright, white snow glistening on them. Under the sun, slowly, the snow fell melting.