It is Veteran’s Day and I miss my friend Crysta Casey, who was a military journalist, poet, and painter. We met in 2002 at Red Sky Poetry Theatre (Seattle’s longest running open mic series). We were quite different people – she was 25 years my senior, a military veteran, and sufferer of extreme mental health issues – yet we had a very casual and organic friendship that came together quite effortlessly. It was only after her death, did I realize she was also my mentor and artistic advisor.
After the reading that night, Crysta and I talked on the street for a long time. She smoked cigarettes as we realized we shared similar poetic influences (Anne Sexton, Sharon Olds, the Surrealists, and others). We exchanged contacts to meet up and share poems. What started as frequent cafe meet-ups to read/critique each other’s work, eventually turned into a weekly date in Crysta’s Belltown apartment with wine and food and an exchange of books and literary magazines.
Therapeutic music is an art based on the science of sound. It is typically live acoustic music, played or sung, specifically tailored for a person’s immediate needs. During this pandemic, though my work as a musician has been severely limited in-person, Harp Escape online has blossomed.
Harp Escape
I have created Harp Escape videos (on YouTube) and audio (made available to Patreon supporters) with the major goal of decreasing stress for my listeners in mind. Benefits of soothing music are many, like allowing the body to relax, unwinding tension, and anxiety relief. Music can also and aid in the healing process. Perhaps one of the most fascinating things I have found in studying music for therapeutic purposes, is that it encourages a listener’s breath to deepen and slow. This relaxation has a domino effect and does several things to benefit our body like:
The world is full of static and noise, subliminal, and actual. Online. Offline. In our minds and in our streets. Garbage trucks and jackhammers. Nagging conversations and bills. Deadlines and confrontations.
Harp Escape is a respite from the chaos. It is an online aural get-away.
Twice a month, I will bring you new music videos from my harp studio. This music will be played with intention for a relaxing moment, for you to take a break from the demands of your life and breath deeply, while listening to the healing sounds of the harp’s vibrations.
As a Certified Clinical Musician, I have studied how certain intervals, musical modes, and tempos can have a particularly soothing effect. I will merge this ancient healing knowledge with my skills as a life-long musician and harpist of 25 years. I am a songwriter, an improviser, and I will be arranging particular songs for the intent of a healing Harp Escape.
Sound is vibration. Sound vibrates water. Humans are composed of 75% water. Therefore, we too vibrate from the sounds in and around us. Because there is so much stress and noise in our modern world, I feel it is imperative right now to pay attention to the sounds around us.
A New Journey
Harp Escape is an online place to relax. A virtual experience of the harp cannot take the place of a live session, but in this way, I will be able to reach more people.
Our eyes have lids, but our ears do not. We have no way to say “no” to displeasing sounds; therefore, it is essential that we become aware of when our world is too noisy and too stressful. It is important for our good health that we contrast the harmful sounds with pleasing ones, because they will relax us. Through relaxation we can unwind our nerves and return to a healthy homeostatis.
As I begin this journey of bringing you new calming arrangements of harp music, my goals are:
Upload videos twice per month
Share themes, chosen either by me or by you
Offer sheet music arrangements of particular songs
Did you see the full moon lunar eclipse last week? From my porch, I watched the moon fade to grey, then a bruised blue, disappearing entirely into the night sky. It became swallowed by a mystery, only to have a reddish, orange overtake its full shape in an hour. The blood moon.
The moon and I have a connection. Monica. Moni. Moonie. Moonbeam. These are some of the playful nicknames I have had.
Swallowed by mystery
I go back to the moon often in my lyrics: “moon I see you shining down on me by its you I see slither underneath Persephone”
This verse comes from my song, Mood Indigo, which is featured in Braids of Kabuya, book of lyrics. Made as a companion piece to The Daphnes album, Braids of Kabuya, this book of lyrics is a way to follow along with the music, and also enjoy as stand alone reading.
Three years ago I had an unusual encounter at my local coffee shop. I had been in such an awful funk in November 2015. So, one weekday, when I normally worked from home, I resolved to get out of the house and went to my local cafe with my laptop. It was pretty packed with people, so I sat down directly across from someone. She was an older woman reading a new hardback, still wrapped in Elliot Bay Books brown paper. I asked her, “New book?”
As simple as that, we began talking. The book she was reading was by Patti Smith and it opened a small doorway between the two of us. We talked about the book and Patti’s music. This woman had gone to hear Patti read downtown the night before. Music meant so much to this woman. She told me her name was Pam.
Pam had worked for the postal service. She retired early she said, “But for what? I got early retirement and worked hard all my life. Now I don’t know what to do with myself.”
She started off working in Spokane, and was a sort of punk herself. She had dominating male associates, whom she rebelled against in the small ways she could while still keeping her job. There was a lot of misogyny in the 80’s at the postal service she told me. She needed this job because she was on her own. She had wanted to be doing something meaningful and creative in the world but felt trapped and couldn’t find a means to go to school, so she just stayed at the post office because it paid well.
I listened to her, but all the while I was emotionally fragile. I was feeling worried about how I’d pay all of my bills this month. I told Pam what I did for work, that I am a musician and poet, a writer of words and songs. I had made a well-thought out plan over three years that was five-fold. My focuses are: recording;public performances;private events;teaching; and the new addition: healing music.When one source of income didn’t come in, another would. Or so I thought.
https://monicaschley.com
I had recently quit a secure office job in arts administration to pursue my career as a full-time musician. But, at the time, things weren’t manifesting well as a Certified Clinical Musician. I thought I would have had five clients a month by now, but I only had one. It was making a real monetary dig into my small savings and was disheartening. I was starting to get worried. Scared. I also had a young child, and began to think that I had made a dreadful, self-indulgent choice to pursue my art as my career and she would suffer for it.
People have said sometimes its easier talking to a stranger than a friend, and I suddenly found myself speaking candidly to Pam. She was listening closely, in the same way I had listened to her, sitting across from me, with her long hair and thin face. She looked a bit like Patti Smith herself, a grande dame punk.
Because I had my laptop right there, I shared my website with her and some of my writing and recordings. I don’t know how it happened exactly, but suddenly, I found myself weeping. I tried to reign it in, but I had opened the gate. Pam listened so kindly and told me not to give up. That I was on the path to a uniquely rich life and most people didn’t have the bravery to take that kind of leap. She didn’t. She had wanted to, but was too afraid. To my great shock, she reached out her hand and gave me $50!
I couldn’t believe it. I certainly was not expecting anything to come out of our conversion other than that, a simple exchange of words. Instead, I had made a friend and a patron. She wanted to hear more about my shows and my work and asked to be on my mailing list of events that I send out monthly. That simple act of listening would have been enough, but the encouragement she gave me was lovely and fuels my spirits still today. Three years later at Thanksgiving, I still think of this encounter at the cafe with a wonderful stranger.
My daughter was five when this happened. When I would pack up for a gig, she would wave good-bye at the window and say, “Don’t give up!”
I am still not sure why she said that, but I sure needed to hear it. When I shared this story originally on my event mailer, many people wrote back with their own struggles and stories of endurance.
Now, I am in a new place, a better one I think. My work as a therapeutic bedside harpist did pan out, though there have been downs, I notice the ups too and realize that is part of the process. To my surprise, I’ve also become a mom for a second time. The fact that I can continue on with my five-fold plan with another person to nurture is a miracle in itself. My kids are both healthy and they help me to really prioritize my time – the balance of time I spend on my work; the time I spend with them; and how the two can overlap sometimes.
In Patti Smith’s book Just Kids, she describes leaving her home in New Jersey to make a new life as an artist in New York City. When she got to the bus terminal, she realized she didn’t have enough money for fare. She went to a phone booth to call her mother, and when she closed the door, she saw that someone had left her purse in there. Patti took that as a sign. She took just enough money from that purse to pay the rest of her fare and turned in the purse in to lost and found.
I might have given up on my dream had it not been for meeting Pam that day. I don’t know for sure, but I’m glad I kept going. The road isn’t always smooth, but the journey is real and sometimes there is magic.
… And we are launched! Braids of Kabuya came out on Oct 1st. I am so proud of how this album sounds and all of the work we put into it: the songwriting, the musicianship of all the players, the mixing, and the beautiful artwork by Stephen Schildbach.
I have so many thank you’s. The list is long and the gratitude so great. THANKS to these people and places who are a part of these songs, who heard them in fresh form, and helped me to polish them into a shape that has become real: the amazing musicians on this recording; Christina Honeycutt; Luara Moore; Jeppa K. Hall; Naomi Siegel; Marchette Dubois; Anne Matthews; Lori Goldston; Lori Andrews & Burt Samolis; Claudia Schmidt; Doug Haire; Jon, Betsy & Sam; Roseann Barnhill & Krukenberg Garden; Colleen Zickler; Sarah Kavage & Adria Garcia; Bobland; The Sorrento Hotel; The Cascade Mountains; Zephyr; and above all Stephen.
GRATUTUDE: to all of our Kickstarter donors! I feel blessed to have such a supportive community.
You can hear The Daphnes play the album live: on Thurs, Oct 25, 2018 The Good Shepherd Center in Seattle (Wallingford) at The Chapel Performance Space 7pm – $10 General Admission – All Ages
Last week, we finalized the CD production of Braids of Kabuya! With over 50 backers, we reached our Kickstarter goal. This is amazing. I have never done an art project like this in my life. The list of thank you’s is long and the gratitude I have for everyone who helped out is HUGE!
At the end of the week, we took care of last tweaks of the mastering, boosting bass here, adding reverb there… the final edits took longer than expected by a few days, but we are still right on target!
The Daphnes – Braids of Kabuya
Oct. 1st a digital version of the album will be made available to you. Right now, I’m just waiting on some codes to be assigned to the songs for digital streaming and downloads, and then I will be posting the album up on CD Baby and Bandcamp (The Daphnes EP is up here for now). I will post the links here, at my Kickstarter page and on my website when they are available.
I will also be publishing a book of Braids of Kabuya lyrics with digital download of the album. I expect to receive the books mid-October. First, I publish the CD for duplication (check). Second, I send in the album for digital distribution (pending). Third, I publish the book (in current edit mode).
My self-imposed deadline is to have all this new material for Harp Seattle, Dusty Strings’ three day harp fest I’ll be presenting at Oct 5-7.
I like learning new songs. Many brides request special songs for their ceremony and I’m always happy to accommodate.
That said, I have a pretty large repertoire already, with songs that are tested and true. You can read my most popularly played wedding songs here: Music Songlist. Its a good place to start from if you’re not sure what kind of music you’d like to have at your wedding.
In general, I would say that a wedding ceremony has three main songs, in addition to prelude and postlude music. There are some variations:
…and for the very simple event:
#3
– Processional
– Recessional
If a couple has special requests, I do my best to make that happen. Here’s an example of some songs I’ve learned particular situations, like themed weddings and holiday parties:
A Thousand Years – Christina Perri
Falling Slowly – from the movie, Once (Glen Hansard)
Flower Duet – Leo Delibes
Hotel California – The Eagles
In My Life – The Beatles
Lovesong – The Cure
No Surprises – Radiohead
Skinny Love – Bon Iver
Sweet Child O’Mine – Guns N’Roses
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – Annie Lennox
Take On Me – Aha
Witchy Woman – The Eagles
When You Wish Upon A Star – Disney
Nocturne #17, the poem that appeared in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Crab Creek Review, is part of a series called Black Eden: Nocturnes. All of the pieces are in prose, and were composed during evening hours, either just before sleep or after waking. They are heavily influenced by the surrealness of dreams, subterranean urban scenes and music. Writing Black Eden was a bit like working in a subconscious mine where I went down and chipped away every night.
Something new happened at the time I was writing this: I didn’t edit. It was as if no filter was the filter, so I there was no judgement on myself. Because of that, the train was able to keep moving. Though I didn’t know what I was doing while I was doing it, the writing felt honest, so I just kept it up with encouragement from a close poet friend. Very importantly, I trusted that there were no accidents in this process, expecting nothing and improvising all along. Stephen Nakmonovich has a great book about these ideas called Free Play: Improvising in Life & Art. After a year had past and I had 70 pieces. Then, I started to edit.
The music part of these poems (nocturne means melancholic evening piece for piano) encouraged me to play while simultaneously reading. Though a musician for most of my life, I’m a shy songwriter, but I used some of the poetry as a springboard for lyrics, which worked better than attempts in the past. Eventually, I called upon a dancer friend and other musicians to turn the piece into a performance.
Black Eden 1
As a shared performance, the poems were given aural space just as much as written space, which is something I feel pretty strongly about. I don’t think every poem has to become a performance piece, but I do believe a good poem has to both sound pleasing and look pleasing. This is not to say good poems are spoken versus written or vice versa – I don’t live in a black and white world. There just needs to be a balance of both expressions, and a writer should be conscious of this in order for the poem to live after she isn’t there to present it.
Donald Hall wrote that “poetry out loud is never quite so beautiful as poetry read in silence”. I don’t agree with this much, but I do think that for a poem to last longer than the poet, it must be read privately. However, I do take his notions to into great consideration (even though in this specific case – because the nocturnes are prose – it was stylistically easier for me to do then say, write a sestina, or even free verse). Hall also wrote that “Keats exists without being spoken. Performance poetry flames out like a match.” Personally, I prefer to have my poetry live somewhere between those two places.
Two Worlds
The narrativity that came out of these Nocturnes are loose and surreal, stemming from a first person perspective in a psychological underworld. In Nocturne #17, the use of woman’s make-up is a way to disguise the real from the unreal. Waking and dreaming are blurred concepts. In truth, the entirety of Black Eden is an exploration of those deep subconscious things we all know but don’t want to, or dismiss in passing moments. It is only when those thoughts ride up to our ears and whisper a little random joke that we might see a connection to something else more conscious and wonder – what!? Where did that come from? I didn’t want to forget all of the randomness in life, because for the most part, I don’t believe its all that random.
Black Eden 2
One last thing that inspired these poems for me was Seattle. I love the city in which I live, even in its worst. And for all of our urban banalities, inconveniences, and stereotypes, I wanted to capture that too. I think that’s something that all artists have the opportunity to do, which is perhaps the greatest challenge: to make sense of the garbage and take beauty from the wreckage – create a new message with your own voice.
That’s how you make diamonds.
Reference:
Hall, Donald. Knock Knock II. American Poetry Review March/April 2005.
On St. Patrick’s Day this year, I played a harp and violin duo gig for an Irish-themed party. My client hosted his 10th annual potato party and hired us to play for a couple hours. As a thank you, I wanted to write him a planxty, an ode in his name, since he was my patron.
In the 18th Century of Ireland, Turlough O’Carolan was one of the most sought after harpists. He was blind and much of the music we have of his today was recorded through the oral tradition. O’Carolan spent most of his career traveling, or wandering, around Ireland staying for a few days at the houses of the well-to-do and playing music. At the time, harps were as popular in a household as guitars, pianos and keyboards are today. So, it was also with these concerts that a touring harper would also stay to instruct members of the family on how to play. At the end of the visit, O’Carolan would sometimes present the head of the household or a family member, with a musical gift (or tribute). This piece of music for the patron composed specially for the occasion was called a “planxty”.
The word planxty means “harp tune of a sportive and animated character” according to the OED. However, the word itself does not sound very Celtic or Gaelic in origin to me, which is why it first caught my ear. There is speculation that it may have Greek origins, and it also has connotations to be specifically for the harp.
Merriam Webster says, its an Irish melody for the harp written in triplets and slower than the jig. There is also inquisition into if planxties are of a particular style. Most of the O’Carolan planxties are in 6-8 time, but there are many in 2-4, 4-4 and 3-4, so it’s not necessarily a specific dance form or meter. No matter its definition, I find it to be an intriguingly antiquated word.
In essence, a planxty is a praise tune for a particular person. It is a tribute to one who is a sponsor, a patron, an inspiration, or in the day of the life of a modern American harpist – a man in Renton, WA of Irish descent who likes to party on St. Patrick’s Day and hire live traditional music. I have finished writing the song and will share it here in a future post.
photo: Malcolm Smith
Footnotes:
Some favorite O’Carolan planxties: Planxty Lord George Brabazon; Planxty Irwin aka Colonel John Irwin; Fanny Power; Bridget Cruise
