Inspired by the recent host of the AWP in Seattle, I’m revisiting some poems. These two poems were published last summer in RASP Anthology
A Blessing (Sunflower)
May you continue to give graces
And bloom again next year.
The bride will want to see you
Growing tall in the golden field
May your head be high
And small creatures
Lift you up with their sweetness
Though they may crawl through life
We are all born with wings
Brown County, 1909
Trouble in the kitchen
With the skillet
Paul dug the outhouse
Too shallow this time
Got a full coop of
Chickens and children
Sure could use a whiskey
But I’m pregnant again
This poem I found while going through some writing circa 2006. It sort of resonates with the narrative brevity of the other two:
(Untitled)
A Hopi woman’s life is now a radio story, her people belong to the air like her loom shaft, that she presses down to even out the wool she hopes the truth will be straight.
This time of year, brides and grooms are planning their special day for the summertime and asking me for harp music. What songs are good at the wedding? Traditional? Classical songs that don’t sound like the “greatest hits”? Pop songs? Jazz standards? I can play all of these, either solo or with violin or flute.
These are some of the songs I play at weddings based upon popular requests, what sounds good on harp and my own favorites. If I’m able to do so, I will play requests.
Broadway, Disney & Movie Songs
All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera Can You Feel the Love Tonight from Lion King Edelweiss from Sound of Music Kiss the Girl from Little Mermaid Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet Love Theme from Spartacus One Hand, One Heart from West Side Story Theme from Forrest Gump Theme from Somewhere In Time Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera When You Wish Upon A Star
Pop / Rock
Anchor Song, Bjork
The Carnival is Over, Dead Can Dance
Come Away With Me, Norah Jones
Eleanor Rigby and many other Beatles songs
En Gallop, Joanna Newsom
Killing Me Softly, Roberta Flack
Kissing You, Des’ree
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins
No Surprises, Radiohead
Pagan Poetry, Bjork
Spanish Caravan, The Doors
Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin
Sweet Child O’Mine, Guns N’Roses
Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
Classical
Ave Maria, Bach Air from Water Music, Handel Automates, Andres Bridal March, Wagner Canon in D, Pachelbel Claire de Lune, Debussy First Gymnopedie, Satie Gavotte, Salzedo Gnossienne No. 2, Satie Gnossienne No. 3, Satie Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Bach Muzetta’s Waltz from La Boheme, Puccinni O Perfect Love, Barnby Sonatina, Dussek Sheep May Safely Graze, Bach Pavane, Faure Reverie, Debussy The Swan, Saint-Saens Sleepers Wake, Bach Tango, Salzedo Trumpet Voluntary, Purcell Wedding March, Mendelssohn 18th Century March, anon.
Folk and Irish/Celitc
All Through the Night – English Besame Mucho / Kiss Me Much – Italian The Boatman –Scottish Carrickfergus –Irish Chanter – Irish Charles O’Conor – O’Carolan Foggey Dew – Irish Greensleves – English Haste to the Wedding –Irish jig Inis Siar –Welch Irish Country Dance –Irish Last Rose of Summer –Irish Lo How a Rose – German Moonrise –Robertson Of She Goes –Irish Richard the Lion Heart – 12th Century Shenandoah – American Searching for Lambs – Welch Star of the County Down – Irish Water Music – Robertson
Jazz Standards
Chances Are, Allen Embraceable You, Gershwin Fascination, Marchetti Fly Me To the Moon, Howard I Get A Kick Out of You, Porter Exit Music from a Movie, Radiohead Georgia on My Mind, Carmichael Moon River, Mercer My Funny Valentine, Rogers & Hart Norweigien Wood, Beatles La Vie En Rose, Piaf Like Someone in Love, Van Heusen Over the Rainbow, Arlen & Harburg September Song, Weill Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise, Romberg Summertime, Gershwin Moonglow, Milles What A Wonderful World, Thiele
Jewish
Anniversary Waltz
Kadosh
Rock of Ages / Mo’oz Tsur
Sh’ma Ysroeyl
Let Peace be With You / Oseh Shalom
Do-Di Li- – Nira Chen
Sometimes, I write fan mail. Yes, I do! Who doesn’t like positive vibrations? Last year I wrote to Regina Specktor. No response. Of course, I don’t really expect to hear back from these busy full-time artists that don’t know me. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised this week when I heard back from someone I reached out to!
I wrote to Claudia Schmidt, seasoned singer/songwriter and prolific folk and jazz recording artist from the Midwest. Here’s my email to her below and her thoughtful response:
January 6, 2014
Dear Claudia,
I came upon your music by pleasant surprise. To me, it was magic really. If you don’t mind indulging me here, I’d like to share the story with you.
It was this last October. I was in the car in the middle of the night. I had just dropped my husband off at Sea-Tac airport so he could fly to New England and move his mother into assisted living. It was an emotionally heavy departure and a surreal feeling to be awake and functioning at 4:30 in the morning. Our 2 ½ year old daughter was in the back seat, barely awake, piecing together the family tree aloud with her little baby voice. It was still pitch black as we drove north to our Seattle home. Then, around the curve of 1-5 the lights of the city appeared. I was listening to KEXP and your song “Persephone’s Song” came on. That song was exactly the journey of that drive for me. Persephone and Demeter, the mother and daughter. The black departure into the unknown underworld.
As a harpist, hearing the harp played always catches my ear. I turned up the music. I wasn’t sure if you were singing and playing? Who is this harpist? What is this song? I was hypnotized. We girls were quiet in the darkness as we listened to you sing “I need my rainy days.” We were on the edge of our own rainy days, the ones that make Seattle iconic, as the onset of another Pacific Northwest winter would soon begin.
Since that wee morning, your album “Bend in the River” gets plenty of play in my house. My daughter fondly, and simply, calls you Claudia, as if she knows you personally. Your voice is a familiar friend, kid friendly, and inspiring to this mama. Thank you. I love how my little child runs around the house singing “there’s a racer inside me, I can’t slow her down!”
If I may ask, I would be very pleased to purchase any arrangement you have of “Persephone’s Song” – it would be a great gift in fact.
Blessings this new year,
Monica Schley
Seattle, Washington
mother & daughter
… and the response…
January 7, 2014
Dear Monica,
Thank you so much for the lovely letter. You really took me into the scenario! My friend Andrea Stern, a Mpls. musician, played on that. I will ask if she has a chart that I could make a copy of and send you. I’m glad you found the song. I still sing it often.
As it happens, I will be in Seattle on Sunday April 6 at the Royal Room. It’s a bit later show than usual, they had an event already. So I won’t start till 8:30pm, a late start for my peeps these days! …. And I hope you can come (I promise I will do Persephone for you). I am also celebrating the release of a new Red House CD on that trip. Lots going on! Be well, and I hope to see you soon.
I am so excited to announce that my first full-length album “Harp Carols” is now complete for this year’s Christmas season. This is an album dedicated to my mother Nancy, who has been asking for something like this from me for over a decade. You can download it for $7 or purchase the disc for $10.
“Harp Carols” is a collection of ancient noels and features clarinetist Rosalyn DeRoos on the last song. All songs are traditional Christmas carols except track 7, an improvisation on Gabriel Faure’s “Pavane,” and track 10, “Journey to the Magi,” an original tune a la Alice Coltrane with influence by the T.S. Eliot poem.
I am so happy to announce that I’ve got a new CD coming out! December 1st is the estimated arrival date for the physical CD to go on sale, digital downloads will be made available the week before.
“Harp Carols” is a collection of ancient noels on solo harp, ten in all. Related to that, there will be a CD release concert, December 21st. Please join me for a special twilight concert on the darkest day of the year.
You are invited: HARP CAROLS CD RELEASE, 4:30pm (winter solstice twilight) Harpist, Monica Schley, has recorded a Christmas album of ancient noels on harp including “Greensleeves”, “Carol of the Bells”, “Venite Adoramus” and “O Tannenbaum.” An intimate twilight concert will be held on Saturday, December 21st, the Winter Solstice, at Muse Coffee Co. in Seattle (Queen Anne). 4:30pm. Clarinetist RosalynnDeRoos will special guest. The album will be available for sale at $10, with digital download for $7.
a harp at the wedding, Lord Hill Farms (Snohomish, WA)
Summer’s almost gone. And I was busy! It comes as no surprise that harpists find a fair amount of private gigs during the summer months, particularly weddings. Even though it’ll be quite a few months before most of us have to play outdoors again, I thought I’d share some of my experiences before they get forgotten.
After a decade or so of doing this sort of work, here are the top 10 things to bring to an outdoor wedding gig. You’ll want to make sure you have the obvious – your harp! (or other instrument). I have 5 core things I always need at any gig: harp, bench, stand, amp and cords.
Outdoors, you’ll also need these 10 things:
1. Water and Heathy Snacks. Its summer. You will get thirsty. If its a long drive, you will be parched before you even arrive. Don’t buy a Coke while you wait for the ferry. Bring snacks like an apple and trail mix, which travel well and give you natural sugar and protein. Stay away from too much caffeine (like coffee, which will make your palms sweat anyway) because it will make you crash, something you don’t want while you’re in the middle of playing.
2. Smile and Help Out. Be friendly. Its someone else’s special day. You’ve been hired not just to play music, but spread positive vibes all around. It hardly needs mentioning that if you’re a sourpuss other vendors won’t like to work with you either – and word spreads. If someone needs help and you’ve finished your work for the time being, think creatively for solutions. I once played a wedding gig where the officient’s clip on mic didn’t have any amplification! The venue or the event planner or the DJ with the rest of the equipment all thought the other person had an amplifier. They didn’t. But I did! My little battery powered amp that I can’t stop raving about has two lines in so we plugged in the minister, and voila! No one else but us performers knew there was a potential disaster in the wings.
3. Irish songs. You’re a harpist. Everyone associates Celtic music with the harp – its the national symbol of Ireland for heaven’s sake! Even if its not your forte, even if you prefer anything but Irish songs, people will want to hear you play Celtic songs. It never fails that every year I have an entire wedding of Irish songs. Have a solid set of jigs, ballads, reels, hornpipes and airs.
4. Extra tuning key and tuner. I leave an extra tuning key in my car. “Its more important to sound good than start on time,” my friend Evan told me once when I had to run home after sound check and get a tuning key. He’s right. But rather than be in that position again, I just keep an extra tuning key in my car (as well as two packed in two different gig bags).
5. Get cover. This is tricky. Playing outdoors can be very dicey, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where precipitation is expected daily in some form 10 months of the year. Ask questions ahead of time. Do they have a plan B? Plan C? Through experience I’ve come up with a personal policy that works for me: I don’t play outside between October 1st – April 30th (unless there is heated covering, which in that case, the event might as well be indoors). Figure out a comfort zone that works for you. This might mean educating your clients of the dangers of extreme heat on the harp, or the dangers of cold temperatures for you as a musician (cold muscles = injury). It might mean asking the venue if there is a tent. Over the years, I’ve learned to stay away from unsympathetic clients who book in venues like city/county parks that have no on-site resources, no shade, exposure to elements, etc.
6. Extra music! Memorize it or bring more music than you think you need. I have binders for three genres: classical; Celtic; jazz standards. Brides and grooms get stuck in traffic. Limos break down. Someone forgets the rings. These have all happened to me, and rather than keeping up that 10 minute vamp to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, I modulate to something memorized or in my books. Its a skill worth learning.
7. Extra strings! Know of any handy near-by music stores that carry your preferred string brand – or any harp strings at all? Neither do I! It is rare that even the best stocked music stores will carry decent harp strings. And even if there is a store nearby, it may not be open. Enough said.
8. Rug or Board. I use a heavy rug or a board with a rug over it to place under my harp. Uneven, damp ground is unpredictable and can be rough on the harp, not to mention unbalanced, thus making playing with pedal changes real tricky. I have a square thin piece of plywood to do the trick under a carpet remanent. Both are very cheap. In a jam, a car floor mat can suffice in a forgetful emergency.
9. Clothes pins or Music Clips. You must have something to pin back your music. Even with sheet protectors, the wind will blow your music. Clothes pins are cheap, sturdy and let you turn pages.
10. A Contract. Have a contract or some other written agreement. Live and learn. Go without one and one day you will get burned – either lack of pay, less than negotiated (“oh, I only have $150 cash on me, is that ok?”), bounced check, double-booked with another musician, you name it. Even well minding clients will forget money or a checkbook, but you’ll still have your phone bill due on Tuesday. I believe in the law of attraction (the energy you send out is the energy you receive), but I’m also not naïve. A contract shows your clients you mean professional business and it protects you from lack of payment. Plus, you can negotiate your other conditions like parking, sheet music fees, gas mileage, meals, breaks, outdoor conditions, etc. General contract templates abound online if you don’t know where to start looking.
Now you have plenty to prepare and get organized with until next year. But for now…
The other day my house shook and vibrated for a few seconds. “That was an explosion!” my husband said. We later found out someone had dropped off a not-quite-empty propane tank to the garbage transfer station we live near. I don’t think anyone was hurt. Days earlier, a boat in the nearby marina caught on fire (from 4th of July celebrations) and melted black smoke into the night. In my garden, I planted some crocosmia because I love their red hot shoots during mid-summer.
red firecrackers
Sometimes all of this July fire energy gets me crazy! But this year I seem to have a good balance down of work and pleasure and mixing the equations of the two together. I’m thrilled that this year we seem to be having one of the best Pacific Northwest summers in recent years. (i.e. We didn’t have to wait until July for some over 70 temps.) Its been warm (not overcast). Hot (but not too hot). And I’m busy (but not totally strung out).
Last week I had a wedding for friends in Leavenworth and it WAS hot though! We experienced gorgeous mountains for camping and a night sky that took my breath away. A few days later I was back at another wedding, this time at a golf course playing Pachelbel’s Canon for the new Mr. and Mrs. Rossman.
This week, I play at Substrata Music Festival, an ambient set for string quartet composed by Christina Vanztou. I’m looking very forward to this! I get to play with some of my favorite musicians, all fabulous women on the music scene. That’s Saturday night. Then Sunday morning will be a low-key breakfast/brunch couple sets of duets with cellist Jackie Robbins. We’ll be at the Ship Canal Grill from noon – 2pm.
This here’s a picture of another little firecracker, my daughter.
Well, it seems like I’m on monthly update track. Let’s see if the new home page on my website inspires me to do some posts a little more frequently.
To summarize: this month has made me happy. June gave me four new harp students (all of them eagerly awesome). A seven year old student said, “you have a happy house!”
Of course, I knew that it also had something to do with the 10 feet of sidewalk chalk art leading up the walk that my daughter drew.
On Mother’s Day I played duets with my good friend, pianist Josh Rawlings at Overlake Country Club. Josh is so talented and the gig was so much fun. He’s schooling me on how to read jazz charts. Now he’s touring this summer with the funky, soulful Allen Stone – awesome!
At the end of May, I played new music a la Debussy and Stravinsky, written by Hanna Benn and Evan Flory-Barnes at Century Ballroom for the 100th year anniversary of the Rite of Spring. It was another fabulous show with some of my favorite musicians in town to play with. And to think… life is this good and its only the beginning of summer!
I’m doing some Spring organizing – it feels pretty good! Last winter I performed Led Zeppelin songs with the Seattle Rock Orchestra. Growing up, I listened to a lot of classic rock, so this was such a treat to dig in to pieces I’ve loved for so long with some amazing Seattle talent. Victoria Wimer Contreras rips it up!
