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.
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 Sam & MeHarp ChartIn-Studio Selfie at Macklemore & Ryan Lewis'
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!
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.
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.”
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)
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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
… 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.
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.
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.
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…
