A Month In Reverse

What have I been doing this past month? A month in the life of this mama musician looks something like this:

Wednesday – Bought a violin bow. It was a hot day. Zephyr didn’t want to go to the music store, but then I couldn’t get her to leave. Afterward we visited the library.
Tuesday – Biked across the University Bridge and got stuck when it was up. Watched tug boats, sky and water ripple while I waited. Later on, I worked on a new song about polar ice melt.
Monday – Only one student to teach today. She wanted to work on “Jingle Bells” again, even though its the end of the school year.
Sunday – Played the second annual harp/piano duet concert with Josh for Mother’s Day… “Georgia On My Mind” and “Love Theme from Spartacus”… Four hours went quickly by…
Saturday – Afternoon photoshoot at a bar with tons of make-up and big hair. Colors were purple and gold. I wore a gown and the men wore three piece suits, except for Soulchile who looked like an Egyptian pharoah sprayed with gold.

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)

Friday – Visited a friend for astrological assistance with clairvoyant tips: Words are not my strong suit right now. I should focus on non-verbal communication like playing music. Fair enough.
Thursday – Motherhood at the beach. We had a picnic of hummus and bread, berries and juice. Tide was low and we collected stones and shells but threw them all back in the Sound.
Wednesday – Heard an inspiring concert at The Chapel Performance Space. The moon was full of springtime blossoms.
Tuesday – Invoiced clients and did paperwork.
Monday – Learned the difference between a contract and an invoice.
Sunday – Went on a date downtown with my hubby to hear friends play a jazz concert. The Teaching was our wedding band.
Saturday – Happy Anniversary to us! Its the year of iron. We bought a new car!

new car loaded with two harps

Friday – Purchased new sheet music, “Mad World” for an upcoming harp/cello wedding.
Thursday – Recording session on a warm day and stayed remarkably in tune most of the time. Earlier in the day, my family and I attended a school picnic to celebrate May Day.
Wednesday – Edited soundfiles from a live concert last winter and uploaded them to Soundcloud.
listening to music
Tuesday –
Rehearsal in the living room with Anne, learning new songs and harmonies.
Monday – Day job at the office. Taught students. Ate vegetarian meatballs.
Sunday – Told Zephyr a “story from my head” about a lost dragon who gets stuck in a cave at high tide. A boy passing in a boat hears the dragon crying and they make friends. In the morning, they make a passage when the water is low.
Saturday – Played a Catholic funeral mass.
Friday – Played a Chinese Buddhist gravesite funeral, then played a gay wedding in a conservatory with the mayor officiating.
Seattle Funeral Harpist

Thursday – Negotiated contracts and updated my website.
Wednesday – Sent paperwork to hospital for therapeutic bedside music.
Tuesday – Had the landlords over for Mediterannean dinner and guilt-free fruit dessert for our lease renewal.
Monday – Woke early and journaled. Went to an African dance class and rehearsed harp/cello duets with Maria.
Sunday – Took the ferry over to Bainbridge for a healing harps summit and had a glorious time eating and playing music all day. In the evening: rested.

Hothouse Spa Concert, May 20th

What’s going on Tuesdays?

Next month, May 20th, my long time friend and collaborator, Julie Baldridge, and I are playing violin and harp duets.
This is a Private Concert at a Women Only Spa, The Hothouse.
Live music soundtrack to a relaxing soak!

To reserve your place at this concert, send email to deliciousviolin@gmail.com

We offer two shows:
Early show is 7-8:30 pm
Late show is 9-10:30 pm
Space is limited to 14 women for each show due to the size of the space, $20-40 sliding scale donation is requested

It will sound like this.

https://soundcloud.com/harppoet/in-the-shadows-of-enchantment

It will also be melodic & freely improvised.

There’s a Racer Inside Me

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
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.

Peace,
Claudia

Claudia Schmidt
Claudia Schmidt

It’s Here! (digitally)

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

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.

“Harp Carols” CD Coming Soon…

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.

in the Rose Garden, photo: Malcolm Smith
in the Rose Garden, photo: Malcolm Smith