Category: Music

December Concert Calendar

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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)
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)
1.
Now I’m Fine
Thurs Dec 3 – Sun Dec 7
tickets and more info at
$25
DEC 4 – 6, 8PM | DEC 7, 5PM
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


Waldorf Winter Spiral
2.
Fri, Dec. 19
7:00PM – 7:30PM
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.
Kruckeberg Botanic Garden
20312 15th Ave NW, Shoreline, WA 98177
Album Cover design by Luara Moore
Album Cover design by Luara Moore
3.
Sat, Dec. 20
7:00PM – 8:00PM
“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.
East West Bookshop

6500 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle, WA

$15

“Harp Carols” CD Available Now

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Album Cover design by Luara Moore
Album Cover design by Luara Moore

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…

You can download “Harp Carols” here for $7 or purchase the disc for $10 on Bandcamp.

“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.

In Studio Summer, A Photo Album

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I’m thrilled about this summer – one of the most gorgeous I recall in Seattle. Now that it’s over, I’m looking back at the studio work I did.

Earlier in the summer, I recorded for Ahamefule Oluo’s “Now I’m Fine” comedic/musical/monologue show (which is coming up in December at On The Boards) over at Sam Anderson’s studio (of Hey Marsailles) as well as a recent exciting invitation to lay down harp tracks for the next Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis album!

I’ve also been in the studio recording for my own album of original songs, practicing with a bunch with lovely women with gorgeous harmonies (with my little girl running around between us). Its been a pretty amazing time.

Here’s a photo album.

He's got some 'splainin' to do
He's got some 'splainin' to do
Sam & Me
Sam & Me
Harp Chart
Harp Chart
In-Studio Selfie at Macklemore & Ryan Lewis'
In-Studio Selfie at Macklemore & Ryan Lewis'

Therapeutic Bedside Harp

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This week I started playing harp at Highline Hospital in Burien. There, I play music at the bedside of patients on the surgery unit, either in pre- or  post- operation.

My official volunteer badge - I jumped through a lot of hoops to get this!
My official volunteer badge - I jumped through a lot of hoops to get this!

Therapeutic beside music is live acoustic music, played or sung, specifically tailored to the patient’s immediate need, based on the science of sound. It is not entertainment, like music found in the lobby of an institution. It’s purpose is to aid in the healing process for the ill, and help relax their visitors, doctors and hospital staff. First and foremost, therapeutic musicians focus on the patient’s responses to the music, and can change tempo, song, musical mode, style, etc. in the moment. Therapeutic musicians have also studied what style or mode of music is appropriate for the condition that the patient is in. All therapeutic music is played between 60-80 beats per minute, which is the same as the human heart rate.

I am a clinical music intern in the Harp for Healing program, just finishing my last internship requirement. Then I’ll be a Certified Clinical Musician, so I’ll get have some credibility and a title! Monica Schley, CCM.

Previously, I’ve interned at Northwest Kidney Center (a long-time client of mine for their memorial services) and a Seattle hospice care unit. I have found that with each visit I make a friend or two who wants me to return to them regularly.

Playing for my regular hospice friend
Playing for my regular hospice friend

What does therapeutic music sound like? This.

Me and my other little girl, ready to leave for my first hospital visit.
Me and my other little girl, ready to leave for my first hospital visit.

“In the Shadows (of Enchantment)” on Ball of Wax Quarterly

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Julie Baldridge and I recorded a handful of song last spring on my birthday this year. She’s a violinist friend I’ve been playing with for a decade, but she recently moved to San Francisco. We hadn’t played together for quite a while, but all in a short span of time, she was in town, we made plans to play, and on that day I said, “Hey, would you like to record this?”

Most of what we came up with was improvised, like this song – “For Elsie”

We also recorded a song I had previously written, “In the Shadows (of Enchantment)”. I was so pleased. Julie followed the harp so well, but of course she would – just moments before I pressed record she said to me, “half of music is listening.”

You can now hear “In the Shadows (of Enchantment)” on Ball of Wax Quarterly. It appears on BoW 36 and it also got a little review here.

I’m also playing on July 19 for the Ball of Wax Children’s Concert at Fremont Abbey at noon. It should be a hoot.

The Enchantments
The Enchantments