There is much to be thankful for, and three things I’ve got gratitude for are these upcoming concerts. The month kicks off with a big 4-day show!
Photo of the year (in my opinion!) for Aham Oluo’s “Now I’m Fine” (L. to R. – Monica Schley, Evan Flory-Barnes, Bryant Moore, Ahamefule J. Oluo, Soulchilde Bluesun)
Comedian/musician/captivating storyteller Ahamefule Oluo leads a team of talented musicians in a grand-scale experimental pop opera about keeping it together. Drawing from darkly funny personal stories about illness, despair, and regeneration, Now I’m Fine ranges from intimate to epic, featuring a 17-piece orchestra and a spectacular cast of performers including Okanomodé Soulchilde, Samantha Boshnack, Josh Rawlings, Evan Flory-Barnes, D’Vonne Lewis, myself on harp and many more. Get your tickets now if you plan to come! All four nights will sell out!
“…a master storyteller who has somehow managed to cram approximately 56 tragic, awkward, hilarious, blistering lifetimes into his 30-odd years.”
– The Stranger
AHAMEFULE OLUO is a composer, comedian, and trumpet player. Oluo was the first Artist-in-Residence at Town Hall in Seattle. A longtime writing partner of comedian Hari Kondabolu, he has performed nationally with bands including Das Racist and Hey Marseilles, and is a fixture in the local and national comedy scenes. His garage-jazz quartet Industrial Revelation won the 2014 Stranger Genius Award in the music category.
$23 | $25 WEEK OF SHOW https://ontheboards.secure.force.com/ticket/#details_a0SF000000AcgZ9MAJ
Take a magical stroll through a botanical garden. Krukenberg Botanical Garden is hosting a Solstice Stroll through their forest wonderland – LED lights strung on trees, sipping hot cider and yours truly playing harp under covering in a meadow. Gnomes live here! Family friendly.
“Harp Carols” is a self-produced CD celebrating Europe’s music of 15th – 19th Century holiday season. Songs like “Lo How a Rose” “Carol of the Bells” and “Greensleeves” will transport you to a place of ancient calm. I’ll be playing from this Christmas album as well as new original songs for harp + voice.
Last year, I released a full-length album “Harp Carols” for the Christmas season. This is an album dedicated to my mother Nancy, who had been asking for something like this from me for over a decade – what a wait!
I’ll be performing the album songs live in December (more on that coming up). CDs will be available at a number of gift shops during the Holiday Season, but if you just can’t wait…
“Harp Carols” is a collection of ancient noels on solo harp 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. “Harp Carols” celebrates Europe’s music of 15th Century – 19th Century holiday season and will transport you to a place of Old World calm during this winter’s busiest month.
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
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…
My mnemonic device for success in music is PRETH. It looks something like this:
P – Performance $
R – Recording $
E – Events $$$
T – Teaching $$
H – Healing $$$
P is for Performances. These are public shows, orchestra concerts, new music, dance performances, art performances. These are typically events that occur in theaters, halls, public centers (such as Seattle Center), festivals (such as Folklife), clubs, restaurants, museums (last February I performed solo at both Bellevue Art Museum and Seattle Art Museum for after hour patron and public events) and in parks (I have played for the City of Seattle Parks and Rec summer buskers program).
Performances for me don’t usually pay a lot. Sometimes they do, but I can’t rely on them to be a predictable amount. Sometimes I know in advance what I’ll get (orchestral work is forthcoming); sometimes I have no guarantee at all (restaurants and particularly club work). Performances for me can range anywhere from from $0 – $500. Regardless of pay, performances are an essential part of a working musician’s career. It is when I play with my musical family – people like Evan Flory-Barnes, Josh Rawlings, Aham Oluo, Jherek Bischoff to name a few. It is also how I get to play with my peers in public, tell friends to come out and hear me play and hopefully get exposure to some new ears. Performances are the “art” part of a musician’s career, when original songs are played and/or audiences are entertained. Admittedly, I don’t do as many concerts as I’d like to do, largely because I’m mother to a person under the age of two and sleep is unpredictable and precious to me. I can’t be going on stage at 11pm anymore. (groan) I know. I’m boring. I could get depressed and think missing out on something, but I usually don’t. I get to be mom to an awesome little girl (who happens to be fond of music already) and parenthood has made me hip to trying other means of making money in the music biz. Which leads me to the next letter.
R is for Recording. I don’t think I’ve tapped into my fill potential here. I’ve almost exclusively recorded other people’s music. Out of 100%, I’d say 85% of the recordings I’ve done have been when other musicians are calling me to work on their albums. I’ve been fortunate to have done recording work with some very inspiring and easy to collaborate with people, like bands Hey Marseilles and Secret Chiefs 3.
Albums I want to do personally are #1 my own songs dammit! Q. You write songs? How come I never hear them? A. I am a lazy, slow, audio ludite. But I’m getting better!
At least I have a Soundcloud page and an audio/video page on my website. In the Spring of 2012, I had the awesome chance to be one of the primary musicians (my musical co-collaborator was Saskia Delores) on a huge installation that well-known fiber artist Mandy Greer got commissioned to do at Seattle Center. We recorded hours of tracks at my house and in the field and then played the pre-recordings during the dance performance (under direction of Jessica Jobaris) while I played and sang live on top of those recordings.
Ok. So, back to the R in PRETH: I am putting my twinkle toes in the recording pool this Christmas and have done a few tracks for you the hear, download and hopefully drop a few dollars and cents on a Bandcamp site – coming very soon!
E is for Events. These are private jobs and they make most musicians who play them a fair amount of bread. For a harpist, its fairly predicable seasonal work. Summers are always taken up for weddings. December is always booked with company holiday parties and holiday concerts. Events are categorized as anything where I am background music and/or I am paid privately by an individual, company, hospital, or business entity. I usually like these jobs because I end up meeting interesting new people. In other words, they are weddings and special occasion events.
Once, I played for a wedding of two men (before WA state passed the historic Ref. 74) and they wanted me to play all Dead Can Dance songs on harp – it was so much fun! I’ve been invited to artist colonies in MN, WA, OR and CA. I’ve played at the Microsoft campus. I’ve got an upcoming school concert that I’m very excited about, and every December I play for at least one Seattle Waldorf School’s winter spiral (when kids toddle through a labrynth of evergreen boughs to the center of a spiral and light a candle, eventually making the room a magically candlelit sanctuary by the end of the ceremony). Its one of the most enjoyable things I do every Christmas.
T is for Teaching. Frankly, I wish I had more students. I’m eager to teach actually. Two years ago I resigned from Holy Names Academy adjunct music faculty for a maternity leave. I’m still trying to get back from it! Honestly, teaching is something I had always put on the back burner – having students from time-to-time, but not really going out of my way to advertise. In that way I’ve had random students come to my home who have lived in my neighborhood, or I’ve gone to their home. I’m flexible. My friend Leslie asked me to teach a couple of classes on improvising at the harp and playing harp in a band at her harp camp. Now, I’m itching to share some knowledge about the harp once more. I’m ready to take on students of all musical backgrounds and ages. I’m excited to say, I’m re-opening my home teaching studio in Seattle and also teaching Saturday mornings at Music Works Northwest in Bellevue.
H is for Healing: Did you know that the harp is one of the oldest instruments used for therapeutic purposes? Did you also know that caves in current day France have paintings of a harp that date back to 15,000 B.C? If that doesn’t blow your mind, then perhaps knowing this will: Soothing music will make a person relax; which causes their breath to deepen; which has a domino effect of increasing oxygen flow to the brain, balancing hormones, neuropeptides, and a number of other regulating systems. What music, specifically soothing sounds, can do is to allow the body to relax, and thus unwind that tense state. In contrast, people who don’t take enough deep breaths never allow themselves to be de-stressed and can remain chronically stuck in a “fight-or-flight” state. Music is a tool for good health and recovery from illness. Harp is a primary musical instrument in fighting off stress!
Dr. Mitchell Gaynor’s book “The Healing Power of Sound” is just one of the many scientific books that medically back up the human response to musical healing. Obviously, not all music heals every person in the same way. But certain instruments, particularly long resonating instruments like the harp, are universally recognized as being therapeutic. For instance, the long fibers of the human body resonate with the long strings of the harp more than any other instrument.
This is why I have undertaken a clinical certificate with the Clinical Musician Certification Program aka Harp for Healing to become a therapeutic musician. After I complete a 45 hour internship in a clinical setting, I will then officially be a Certified Clinical Musician (CCM). I intend to play at the bedside and in clinics where my harp music is needed and welcomed.
Q. What is the difference between a therapeutic musician and a Music Therapist. A. Capital letters of course!
All joking aside, the Music Therapist (MT) has a degree in Music Therapy. MT is the active rehabilitation of a patient’s condition with music as the tool. A MT likely can play therapeutic music, but their job is primarily to work with a patient directly in an active way.
Conversely, a therapeutic musician has a certificate to play at the bedside and do not have a degree specific to this work. They work in a passive environment, playing music for clinical patients as well as their staff and family to alleviate stress, pain and discomfort. This can be in the form of bedside music or music in a lobby, operating room, post-op, or neo-natal unit, to name a few clinical places.
And there you have it – my secret to personal success as a musician! I have posted this message partially for myself alone, just so that my goals become more real and take solid shape. I have also written this for other musicians to hopefully look at their own careers as a legitimate business. This is the model I dreamed up for me. I’ve been half way there for years and just now have thought of this mnemonic device to help me stay focused and complete my plan to success as a professional working musician.
I just added recorded a video at home this afternoon. This standard has long been a favorite of mine, ever since hearing Corky Hale play it with the incomparable Bjork.
I realize times are challenging for everyone out there. I guess that’s why I took so long to increase my pay. That said, I’ve got to pay the bills too and I think my time, unique skill and set of talents are worth something! I hope you do too. I just took on another last minute client this week and he didn’t scoff at all at my new prices. With respect to my musical community, myself and my clients I think I’ve found a new balance.
Sometimes people comment to me about price of hiring a harpist versus a pianist (or some other instrument). I tell them that harp is a challenging instrument to learn, one of the most difficult. My rates reflect my level of professionalism — 20+ years of performing and focused education (college and post graduate).
I take consideration of your pocketbook and give you 100% of my positive energy when you hire me. You can read some more Q & A about the harp on my Thumbtack profile regarding lessons and private engagements.
Wow. December was busy and amazing. It was challenging and it made me happy to be performing so much again. That said, I’m sure glad its done so that I can take a deep breath and enjoy the change in the air.
I spend a lot of last month playing solo corporate holiday gigs, but I also had a few surprise funerals. I actually like playing harp for funerals, even though they are such somber occasions. I consider it an honor to play music at any rite of passage in life.
The Edgewater Hotel has a beautiful atmosphere. The elevators have a beautiful time lapse video of my favorite city on the water with the ferries coming in. It was a surreal morning there though; I played at 7AM for a corporate breakfast. That’s right – AM. I’m pretty sure that some of my friends would have turned a gig like that down, but as mom to a little person, the early time was just fine to me. It was my earliest gig ever! I certainly couldn’t have imagined doing a job like that five years ago when I was playing a lot of late night shows in clubs. Finding some happy medium on those two would be nice.
Speaking of which, I had a great restaurant gig at the Row House cafe, playing harp for the South Lake Union Art walk. I played a solo set of my own songs and another of Christmas tunes. It was wonderful to see some good friends show up, including Queen Shmooquon and my colleague Joyce Rice who is an amazing harp historian and advocate of the harp through the website Harp Spectrum.
I’ve got some performances for 2012 already cooking up on the stove, one of which is at the River Rock and Maple Wood Golf Course in Renton, where I’ll be playing a three hour solo set for Valentines Day.
That same week, I’ll be playing in a chamber group at one of my favorite Wallingford neighborhood venues, the Chapel at the Good Sheppard Center on February 18th, with Taina Karr’s string ensemble, Quatrain. We’ll be playing new compositions by Jherek Bischoff as well as Mark Jurcisin.
The third public gig I’ve got booked so far in the New Year takes me up to beautiful Arlington, WA at the FogDog Gallery. I’m so excited about this one! I’ll be performing a solo set of music and poetry. If you’ve never heard of such a combination, that’s probably because there aren’t too many harpist poets around! Thus, I will make your attendance worthwhile.
I wish all who’ve taken the time to read my rambles here a prosperous 2012. Its going to be a fast paced new year filled with a lot of challenges and growth for the world. My calendar will surely fill up, so if you want to catch some live harp music in the Seattle area, check back to my website.
