Music - Monica Schley

On Writing and Shopping at Harp Escape Shop

Posted on April 21, 2023October 23, 2023

We have added more items up in my Harp Escape Shop! If you didn’t see the 30 day Instagram challenge I did in Feb/Mar you might have missed this gorgeous illustration by Stephen Schildbach. Harp Nouveau was inspired by Aubry Beardsley’s art (but I suppose also being married to me)! Now, you too can own a beautiful cotton tote bag with this lovely harp art nouveau design. $20

Art Nouveau Canvas Tote Bag — Harp Nouveau Tote Bag $20

For harpists, I have sheet music for sale. With the song “What the River Says/Aer Enim” you get two for the price of one. Both pieces are arranged for lever and/or pedal harp. This sheet music is for the intermediate harpist in the key of Eb (folk harpers will have to do some extra tuning for this!). This sheet music is for sale for $8.

My tune “What the River Says” is based on the Wm. Stafford poem, Ask Me. The second song, seamlessly merged with the first, was composed by Hildegard von Bingen. If you aren’t familiar with her work, she lived most of her life during the 12^th Century, and is considered by many to be the first female composer of Western music. Born in Germany in 1098, Hildegard von Bingen composed music, wrote poetry, and also wrote several books about religion, art, politics, philosophy, science, medicine, and herbs.

This is just the first of many Hildegard von Bingen songs made available to you. I’m arranging an entire collection of her songs for lever harp, coming out next year by Mel Bay Publishing! Some students and friends may already know this. And chances are if you’ve hired me to play a memorial service or quiet ritual, you have heard me play one of these. As I complete working on the book, I’ll be sharing more with you.

Seattle Harpist — What the River Says / Aer Enim Sheet Music (4pgs) $8

And speaking of writing a book… I’ve recently had a poem published! April is National Poetry Month after all, and it feels like a good time to share this. The lengthy title, Poem for My Unborn Boy at the Ballard Locks One Day Before His Birth, (published by Literary Mama) sums up the theme of the poem quite thoroughly. For anyone who has waited for the birth of their child, my go-to technique to get moving 5years ago with my son, was walking stairs at the Locks, over and over again.

The Harp Escape Shop will be undergoing more transformation in the coming months. Feel free to contact me if you run into any bumps in the process.

How to Pick Out Wedding Ceremony Songs

Posted on December 31, 2022October 23, 2023

I played my first wedding ceremony while I was in high school, for young friends in love who hired me to play Pachelbel’s Canon on harp. It was a traditional church wedding, and since then, I can estimate I’ve played over 500 weddings. It certainly is something I enjoy offering to others and I feel honored to be invited to play music for these ceremonies.

The first thing I always ask my clients when they are choosing wedding music is: what is the general feel of your wedding? A wedding theme can help a bride and groom pick out songs, and it can help me better understand who they are as a couple. Is the ceremony rustic? Is it upscale? Boho? A traditional church ceremony? Is there a cultural theme?

Answers to these questions help narrow in the vibe that the music will create. A rustic farm wedding might call for Americana or Irish folk songs. An upscale downtown hotel might call for classical pieces or jazz. A traditional church wedding will likely involve Bach and pieces you might think of synonymous with weddings (Here Comes the Bride/Bridal March) as well as religious. Finally, a culturally themed wedding will include songs from that nationality or region of the world. For instance, a Chinese wedding might include old world folk songs like Cherry Blossom, with a modern flair like video game songs, or movie theme music. For a traditional Indian wedding, I improvised a lot in Eastern keys.

The next question I ask a couple, and perhaps more obvious, is what kind of music do you like?

Harp Escape vol. 7 (Banish Misfortune)

Posted on October 20, 2022October 20, 2022

Volume 7 of Harp Escape features two traditional Irish songs in a therapeutic harp style: Banish Misfortune and The Parting Glass. Therapeutic music is an art based on the science of sound. It it typically slow and simple, for easy listening. For the past decade, I’ve been focusing much of my time on soothing music of this nature. As a Certified Clinical Musician, I have played music at the bedside for over 500 patients in outpatient dialysis clinics; general hospital; skilled nursing facilities; and for hospice.

Harp Escape is a series of videos and recordings dedicated to relaxing music. Therapeutic music is preferably played in-person (to adjust to in-the-moment responses of patients and caregivers). However, remote harp therapy can still be enjoyable! The Harp Escape series is calming harp music stylized to: relieve pain, release anxiety, diminish nausea, and stabilize heart rate. Healing harp music has also been shown to improve sleep and calm the environment.

In this volume, I’ve slowed down a traditional Irish jig, Banish Misfortune. (Jigs are typically an upbeat dance tune in 6/8.) Here, the song has been slowed down in the therapeutic style and partnered with another Irish tune, The Parting Glass. Fun fact (according to thesession.org): Banish Misfortune has other names: The Horse Under The Stairs, The Little Bag Of Meal, Mammy’s Horse Is Dying, The Mangled Badger, The Stoat That Ate Me Sandals, and my favorite: The Whore Amongst The Nettles Roaring.

I was originally called to play this song because of its well-known name, rather than its melody. Though I had heard it before, I really got into playing Banish Misfortune during lockdown of the pandemic. I thought that by playing a song of this name I could dispel some of the negative things happening in the outer world. It gave me some personal power while playing it, and made me feel hopeful.

I invite you as well to meditate on good fortune as you listen to this version.

For the musician out there, this tune is in D Mixolydian mode. So, it is in the key of D with two sharps; however, the root is not on do (D). Instead, the root is on sol (G). Starting on the fifth of the scale (sol) would be called Mixolydian mode. The result is upbeat and refreshing sounding. I like to play Banish Misfortune syncopated, so it has a sort of Grateful Dead feel.

Goodwill in this recording extends into the second song, The Parting Glass, which has lyrics that reflect a night well-spent with friends. The first stanza is:

Ways of Hearing in Modern Times

Posted on May 26, 2022October 23, 2023

In the summer of 2020, at the beginning of the Pandemic, one of the first things I noticed in the city, was how quiet things suddenly felt. Air traffic decreased greatly. My house, positioned in North Central Seattle, had been a major flight path to Sea-Tac Airport at particular times of day. I always noticed increased activity between 9-11pm, because that is when I liked to record! Many times, I would have to adjust my schedule, because it was too loud. But once the Pandemic hit, the nights became perfectly still, even in the middle of the city. During the mornings, sea planes would land on nearby Lake Union. This sound also decreased for some months. Suddenly, there was a lot less noise coming out of the sky, and subtle sounds stood out more: bird calls, neighbors walking by. A Pandemic way of hearing was appreciating the certain new quietude. However, with the noiseless nights came some discomfort, about what was going on in our world.

Then, as the summer heated up, other sounds took prominence: frequent emergency vehicles and police sirens. I noticed increased helicopter activity and during BLM protests, and more than once I heard SPD fire flash bang grenades as I lay in bed, coming from across the hills from nearby Capitol Hill. There were stories in those sounds. I imagined the Pike/Pine corridor, city streets I knew so well in my old neighborhood, and I imagined the fighting. Later, in the morning, real images on the news joined the sounds I had heard. But as I lay in bed, I felt the whole city, and the whole country, listening to what those sounds meant. I felt many ears listening to the troubles around us, and I had difficultly sleeping.

Looking Ahead and Being Adaptable

Posted on March 30, 2022April 5, 2022

Diversity is the spice of life. My client list is a wide range, from getting hired directly by corporations, to nurses & doctors, couples getting married, playing for hospital patients, in department stores, at transit centers, farm events, before city hall leaders, in historic hotels, for humanitarian non-profits, and GRAMMY winners. Over the last 20 years, I feel fortunate to have met so many people, to have collaborated on events with them, to help create an event where there wasn’t one, or one that needed help planning.

No two days have ever been the same in my work. At various times, I’m a Certified Clinical Musician, a Business Creative, Harp Instructor, Event Producer, Entrepreneur, Marketer, Performer, Poet, Consultant, Speaker, Workshop Leader, Grant Writer, Collaborator, Composer, or Recording Artist.