I just wanna bang on de drum all day!

Here's a trick I learned:  if you want to learn to do something really well, find something that's even harder and teach yourself to do that instead.  Then when you come back to that first thing, you'll rule at it...as if by magic.

The music I make involves isolating different parts of your body - your hands and fingers are not moving together.  Adding vocals into that can be like asking someone to rub their belly and pat their heads on a pogo stick.  And then there's my new favorite thing - drumming on the soundbox while I'm singing and/or playing with the other hand (probably the least period thing I do, I'll admit, but hell it's fun).  You have to be able to isolate parts of your body in order for them to do their thing independently.

So rather than just practice this over and over again until I got really good at it, I've decided to learn to play the drums!  My husband's a drummer and is teaching me on his drum kit in the basement.  We've started really simple, but it's still a bit of a mind-trip. I'll have my rhythm going, and then my mind will wander for a second and suddenly my foot and right hand have switched places...or have synched up...or my left hand goes "Whut???" and starts flailing randomly.

The really interesting thing is, I have to really clear my mind in order to get into a groove.  Now, I've always found this to be true with harp as well - as soon as I start thinking about how my day was, or this section coming up that I always mess up, or how amazingly I'm rocking this section I always mess up on...I mess up.  My mind has to be blank, filled with nothing but music and sensation in my fingers, in order to do really well.  The same is true with the drums, only it's WAY harder!  You get into a groove, it gets repetitive, your mind starts to wander and BAM - suddenly you're playing unison quarter notes in each limb, which is not what you were going for.  You basically have to meditate in order to play well.  No wonder my husband does it for stress relief (and here I thought bangin' real hard on stuff was enough).

Anyway, it's fun and I think in the long run learning to play the drums will make me a better harper.  I love it when life works like that!

ATTENTION: This guy is awesome.

My harp-making husband and I have spent the last day or so drooling over this site:  http://crab.rutgers.edu/~pbutler/instrum.html

Paul Butler, aka Master Arden of Icombe, is a laurel in the East Kingdom who's dabbled quite successfully in medieval lutherie.  He's made a number of stringed instruments, chiefly from the medieval period although he's got one super-ancient lyre and one ren/baroque pochette.  He has detailed descriptions and pictures of the process he went through to make the instruments, which is obviously awesome.  Perhaps even more awesome - most of his pages include recordings of the instruments being played, and he's achieved some really nice sounds.  No recording of the Anglo Saxon lyre, though, which makes me sad, but it's pretty enough and in good enough company that I'm still overall quite happy. :-D  (Mostly I just want one.  Hearing one is the next best thing.  Seeing how one was made is a close third).

No harps, but that's ok because he plays them!  Check out the second mp3 - that's his gothic harp with the brays on.  Neat, huh?  Waaaaaaaaaant.

So nooooooooooow I want a rebec and a citole and an Anglo Saxon lyre (ok, I already wanted an Anglo Saxon lyre, but his site didn't exactly dissuade me).  Harps first.  Harps.  Harpsharpsharps.  Actually bookshelves first.  :-P  Then new folk harps, then a gothic harp and that's all if I'm reeeeeeeeally nice to my super-sexy-talented husband.  :-D  LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!  (harps)

Frog Galliard

I've mentioned before that I'm arranging the Folger Dowland MS for small harp.  Well, here's a taste of what's in the manuscript!  I entered this in an A&S competition  this past weekend (and took home a sumptuous prize that included a LUSCIOUS beaver pelt....must think of something likewise luscious to do with it).  So here, for your geeking pleasure, is Frog Galliard.


The documentation, with the sheet music for harp.

A rough (really) recording of the piece, to give you an idea of what it sounds like.

This is the first of about 50 pieces yet to come.  I have a few more done than this, but this is the only one I have documented and recorded - and many of them (including the duets) are much easier than this.  Some are also way harder, but hey - that's fun too.

That's really one of the reasons I'm so excited about this project.  Not only does it flesh out our sadly spare collection of early harp music, but it really ups the ante for small harp technique-wise.  A perception exists that folk harps just aren't up to serious, technically challenging music.  That's largely because there's not a whole lot of technically challenging music out there for small harp.  This manuscript offers both - really fun, difficult stuff, with easier, more manageable stuff as well.  Gives you something to work through.  I can't wait until I have more of these done!

Beer is for Girls is for Baroness Lucia!

At the request of my dread and illustrious baroness, who's had this song stuck in her head all day and needs help with that, here's a quick-and-dirty recording of "Beer is for Girls."  Enjoy!

Beer is for Girls

And for those of you who like geeking out over documentation, here's a link to the nerdy bits!

Why I'll play harp music from period if I damned well want to.

When last we met, I lamented the extreme paucity of harp music that survives in written form from period.  There's the Mudarra piece I mentioned for double-harp and, for the wire-strung harpists in the audience (ie - not me), there's the Robert ap Huw MS (recorded after 1600, though not by too terribly much, and certainly including much older songs).

BUT THAT WON'T STOP ME!!!  I have found, in my couple of years as a harping bard, that what I love the most is the sort of musical anthropology that goes along with early music.  Troubadour or early German music is more fun for me than later period stuff because we don't entirely know what it sounded like.  We have to use what little we do know in creative ways, like using the tuning of a lyre to tell us what a German harp c. 800 might have played or lists of who paid what to whom in X's court to figure out what instrumental accompaniment troubadours used.

And in the same vein, I get a kick out of recreating what we lack when it comes to period harp music.  Finding parallels between early harp and lute music and then creating new harp pieces based on that is even more fun than learning a pre-existing piece.  Just because we don't have the music doesn't mean we can't play something awfully close to what period harpers would have played.

And I find that to be terribly exciting.  ^_^

Why I can't play harp music from period.

Single-row harp c.1520

We all know what a harp looks like here.  It involves a single row of strings.  Modern concert harps have pedals that change the length of the strings, producing sharps and flats.  Modern folk harps have levers that do the same thing but require a hand to leave the strings to engage.  Harps in period had none of these - you played how your harp was tuned, or if you were really good you could fret a string to produce a sharp (this is impossible on modern folk harps given the string tension).

Lookit!  Two rows of strings!

Toward the end of period you also find harps with 2 or 3 rows of strings.  These harps had the same range as their single-row counterparts, but double or triple the strings meant strings for sharps and flats!  I have absolutely no interest in playing a double or triple harp.  The technique is wonky, the repretoire is overwhelmingly baroque (post-period and not really what I'm most into anyway) and my harp-making husband isn't a fan of their tone (I haven't really played around on one enough to hear for myself, but I tend to trust his judgment in these matters).

Now.  I've told you before that I'm arranging some lute music (Dowland right now) for harp to fill the gaping void that is period harp music.  There is exactly ONE piece designated for harp that survives from before 1600.  One.  And I have it on my computer.

This is the piece.  I promise this is music.

AND IT'S FOR EFFING DOUBLE HARP!!!!!  EFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!  I SO want to learn this piece.  It's our ONLY genuine piece of period harp music, and there are no transcriptions or recordings of it out there.  But I am NOT going to acquire and learn to play a double harp just so I can play ONE freaking piece!  I'm not!

Eff.  Effity eff-eff-eff!  I will transcribe it, though.  I'll transcribe it and see if it'll work on a pedal harp.  And if it will, I'll try to get a decent recording using one of my parents' pedal harps.  It won't be period, but at least it'll be OUT there!

And I'll keep going on Dowland and other lute music.  That's going really well, actually.  I'll post some of those pieces soon.

Raggin-fraggin double harp...

OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW.....

Got Gertrude back.  Am very happy about this.  Have been playing nonstop after a month of no harping.  Anyone know what that means?  That means blisters.  Yow.

I'll be going to a local bardic night that's getting started here in the barony of Storvik tomorrow night, so I'm doing this sort of awkward tight-rope dance.  Want to practice, so I remember things tomorrow.  Want to not practice to much so the blister can heal a bit and not be distracting tomorrow.  As a result, I'm practicing veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwy quiiiiiiiiiiet!

This blog seems to have become all about pain lately!  Seems in recent posts I've got 2 references to blisters, 1 reference to phantom wrist-pain and 1 reference to mooshing my thumb down on a hot stove.  I swear I'm not constantly injuring myself on my harp, really!  It's just....pain is interesting!  Ask any fighter, they'll back me up.

Anyway, here's a promise:  tomorrow I will post about bardic night, and not about pain.  Less pain, more poetry, how's that sound?

God, I'm stupid!

D-Day - 10/23, scheduled move to Atlantia for a few months.
Prior to 10/22 - Isolde hatches brilliant schemes to safely check her dear, beloved Gertrude on the plane to Atlantia such that she will not be destroyed.  Said schemes involve pillows, duct tape and a huge, mucking rubbermaid bin.
10/22, evening - Isolde realizes that her largest rubbermaid bin is not suitably huge and mucking.  But whatever, it's only for a while, and she'll be too busy to do much harp anyway.
10/23 - Isolde flies to Atlantia.  Gertrude does not.
11/7 - Isolde vows never again to go anywhere for more than a week without her harp.

Kids - it's like my fingers itch!  I'm going stir-crazy here without a musical outlet!  I really should look into getting some kind of bardic thing going here in Storvik (not that I have any idea where that would happen, given the lack of parking at my place).  One can do bardicness without  a harp.  But it's NOT THE SAME!!!  I WANT MY HARP!!!  GARGH!!!

While it's true that I miss my husband and my kitties more, that's all somehow less irritating.  Since, y'know, I COULD HAVE BROUGHT GERTRUDE WITH ME AND DIDN'T CUZ I WAS DUMB!!!  Anyway, said sorely missed husband will restore her to my restless fingers over Thanksgiving.  *twitch*  And in the meantime, I seriously will figure out some kind of SCA music outlet or I really will go nuts.

What's Isolde working on?

I'm too uninspired/buried in unpacking (just moved!  w00t!) to dredge up a focused or, like, y'know, interesting post, but I'm going to post sort of a generic "no really, I'm not just slacking" update mostly to keep myself feeling like I'm getting somewhere.  Right.

So what's Isolde working on?

Three Words:  This is a song by Mistress Eliane Halevey from Northshield.  It's gorgeous, it reminds me of Northshield, and I wanted to have it under my belt.  So I wrote a harp part for it, and I almost have it performance-ready.  When Eliane sings this, she has a drummer or the audience accompany her with a simple beat and sings it acapella - it works really well.  So I've incorporated that beat into the harp part, which is hella fun.  The harp part itself is meant to build in intensity as the song moves forward, and I really hope I achieved that.  Performance will tell.

Goliard:  Doña Antonia Santiago da Lagos, of Ansteorra, wrote a poem for the occasion of Master Thomas of Tenby's baronial investiture.  It stuck with me, I wanted it under my belt as an "Ansteorra" song, and so I'm setting it to music.  It's metrically similar to "Frog Goliard," so I'm making it a sort of goliard/coranto...thing.  I'm hoping to have it done by Ealdormere's coronation at the end of the month, but who knows.

Clarseach:   I have one.  It needs new strings.  I have new strings.  I need to put the strings on the harp.  And then....then, my friends, there will be hella posting, cuz I have ideas!  MBWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

I guess it's something about music and melodies - given the right words, they eventually just jump into my head.  It takes practice to get them right, but they'll happen whether I'm distracted or not.  Not so with poetry.  So when I have a lot of upheaval, like planning to move back to Atlantia while moving to a new house in Ealdormere, it seems that poetry takes a back seat.  I miss it, though.  I'll try to set aside some time to get something written before I head back South.

How to be a Harpy - an introduction to folk harp in the SCA

This past weekend, at Atlantia's Summer University, I taught a new class on beginning harp.  It included information on harps through history, the differences between period and modern harps and basic beginning technique.  You can see the handout for the course by downloading this here PDF.  Check out the resource section in the back for more information, and if anything's unclear feel free to email me!

GERTRUDE LIVES!!!

She's fixed. She's strung. She's...almost staying in tune. And after playing the loaner gothic harp for months, she sounds like a music box!

But she's so much easier to play, she's louder, she's clearer. The gothic harp tended to be muddy much lower than Gertrude's range. Her extremely loose strings made it impossible not to buzz on some sections (though the string spacing is the same as on Gertrude), and she was fiendishly difficult to tune precisely. I was afraid I'd miss the lower notes when I switched back to Gertrude, but my songs were composed on Gertrude, and they still sound a lot better on her (some, like "Beer is for Girls," just didn't work on the gothic harp at all).

Here are some quick and dirty clips of the same bit of music ("Rose Round") played on the same set of strings on each harp, so you can hear the profound difference (and isn't she pretty down there?).

Click to hear the gothic harp.

Click to hear Gertrude.

Oh, it's good to have my harp back!  That said, Aeron's working on a gothic harp of his own, and I can't wait to see how she turns out!  If her sound is as warm and complex as this gothic harp's sweet spot, without the structural problems that make her difficult to tune and play, that will indeed be a yummy harp!  But I and my songs are very happy to have Gertrude back.

*shudder*

Hello, everyone!  This is just a quick note to say that I've discovered the most disconcerting thing in the entire world!  When you're stringing a harp for the first time, and bringing her slowly and painstakingly up to tune, to hear her groan...and then POP....and visibly twitch as the neck and pillar settle into their joints under the new tension.  It's like......guh.  It's like when your knee pops unexpectedly in a really unnerving way when you kneel down, only it's a harp.  A harp that you've heard explode before.

*shudder*

New Videos!

Mistress Elashava bas Riva has put a couple of new videos up on her YouTube channel, including one of me reciting "Oh how I love the springtime gay..." (this was before I'd learned the melody).  Follow the link to her channel, and you'll also find a performance by another harper, Breddelwyn ap Taliesin, as well as the Jararvellir Music Guild performing Claude Gervais' "Pavane de la Guerre."  And that's just the latest batch!  Good stuff.

Awesome Harpers Part 2: Harper Tasche

Harper Tashce is a harper and composer based in the Seattle area who specializes in small and cross-strung harps.  He's helped to promote the North American resurgence of cross-strung harps by expanding the limited repertoire and helping to establish a sound technique.  And he's contributed much-needed original compositions for small harp (I swear to God, if I have to hear "Star of the County Down" one more time...).



This is "Skua," one of his original compositions for 26-string lever harp (music begins at 3:10).  Note how the initial rhythmic freedom builds into a driving, syncopated beat over a steady left hand - it takes strength and good technique to be that even with your left hand!  I think "builds" is really the best way to characterize this song - it's got a wonderful feeling of inertia.  This is a far cry from the "plinky little chords and arpeggios" that I'm sick of hearing from folk harps.  Neither is it "pseudo-celtic muzak."  It's bright, it's interesting, it's evocative, it's original and it's what I, as a composer and arranger, aspire to.

He also plays the rennasaince bray harp, and it absolutely kills me that I can't find a clip of this anywhere!  Though primarily based in Washington State, Tasche gigs and teaches around the country.  Look for him at the Somerset Folk Harp Festival and at Harpcon late this summer.  He's recorded numerous albums and published several books of music and technique, all of which are available through his website.

Awesome Harpers Part 1: Patrick Ball

Patrick Ball is a Celtic harper and storyteller from California.  Inspired by the harpers and storytellers of Ireland and the oral tradition of the Appalachian region, Ball tours and records instrumental and spoken-word performances that highlight in particular the music and oral history of Ireland.



I consider him an excellent example of what one can do with a folk harp - specifically a wire strung Celtic harp, which differs significantly from gut or nylon strung harps in a number of ways.  Wire strung harps, or "clarsachs," are and have historically been played with sharpened fingernails, rather than the pads of the fingers (this feels like nails on a chalkboard to me, which is why I prefer to play on gut or nylon, though I admire the music and skill of wire-harpers).  Related to this, the strings are closer together than on a gut/nylon harp.  Because wire strings ring much longer than gut or nylon strings, the technique involves dampening the strings with the fingers as you play.  Otherwise, the sound is muddy and the notes hard to discern - like playing the piano with the sustain pedal on the whole time.  Ball has really mastered this, and plays delightfully intricate music on his harp.

His website includes sound links to previews of the music on each of his nine CDs.  His work is inspired by the Celtic bards, who also inspire many in the SCA, and about whose music we know sadly little.  His music focuses on post-period figures such as Turlough O'Carolan and skillfully performed "traditional" Irish music.

From an SCA standpoint, Patrick Ball's material, and indeed his instrument, are decidedly post-period.  Although clarsachs were consistently larger than their gut-strung, continental counterparts, they did not reach the size of Ball's instrument until well after period and were played against the left shoulder, rather than the right (we can tell from the wear patterns on extant harps - how cool is that?).  The techniques of dampening and playing with fingernails is, as far as we can tell, accurate as far back as wire strung harps go - which is to say at least as far back as 1185 CE.*  But regardless of period focus, any harper should be inspired by the skill and dexterity with which Ball plays his instrument.  He is an example of the level of skill I'd like to achieve on my harps, and anyone interested in mingling music with storytelling will find a good example in his spoken word repertoire.  

*The Norman ecclesiastic Gerald de Barri describes "bronze strings" on harps in Scotland and Wales after a visit in 1185, which means they were around long enough before then for harpers to develop a thriving tradition and a good deal of technical skill.  Kinnarid, Alison and Sanger, Keith.  Tree of Strings.  Kinmore Music:  Shillinghill, Scotland, 1992.  p 85.

Pedal Harps and Folk Harps, Harpists and Harpers

Aeron sent me this article by Wm. Rees, and I thought it was worth sharing.  I'm down with almost everything he says, except for one thing: the pedal harp is a spectacular solo instrument!  Some of the most impressive instrumental solos I've ever heard are pedal harp solos.  I challenge anyone to listen to Carlos Salzedo's "Whirlwind" or "Variations on a theme in ancient style" and say otherwise.

Although I disagree with that conclusion of his, what he says about the acoustical differences between the two instruments is spot on.  The smaller folk harps have a different, often more subtle tone that makes them the better choice for solos in which harmony and counterpoint, as opposed to sheer technical range and prowess, is the focus.  They're obviously better suited for intimate settings, and they're preferable to pedal harps for accompaniment of voice and duets with certain instruments, such as guitar, lute or recorders.  They are different instruments that are made for different music.

I learned to play pedal harps as a teenager, and before I started playing Gertrude, I absolutely fell into the ignorant mindset that folk harps were dinky little wanna-be versions of "real harps."  I now know that could not be further from the truth.  Although I still miss wrapping my body around a harp that's bigger than me and ripping the hell out of it, I'm having a great time exploring the capabilities of folk harps!

But I think part of the reason I was so ripe for that misconcpetion was that I hadn't been exposed to much really excellent folk harp, whereas I took lessons from a former student of Salzedo's.  Now granted, I still am not really a part of any folk harp "scene," and most of my very limited exposure to folk harps has been through the SCA.  But so many players of folk harps never break out of plinky little chords and arpeggios, never really explore their dynamic range.  Folk harps are cheaper, so the ratio of "beginners" to "advanced players" can be quite a bit larger than with their more expensive and commitment-demanding counterparts.

I think this is why I have a hard time calling myself a "harper" (although I do).  I realize the distinction is this:  harpers play folk harp, harpists play pedal harp.  I have no pedal harp right now, so I'm unambiguously a harper.  But somewhere deep in my prejudiced little psyche, I also associate pedal harps with big, difficult, macho technique, whereas I associate folk harps with pretty, tinkly, simple technique (in fairness, folk harp technique can be very difficult, but big and macho it aint).  Guess which association I like best?

So in an effort to break down this bias, both in my own head and in the bit of the world I can touch, I'm going to continue to try to improve my technique and to write blisteringly hard accompaniment to my songs (I've slacked on that lately, I can do better).  I'll also look into local folk harp "scenes" - there's one here in Madison, but I'll probably have to wait until I move to DC to really have time to dive in.  I'm also going to try to feature examples of really excellent and impressive harpers on my website.  This'll require some research on my part, but I think we'll start with Patrick Ball.  Stay tuned.

The Best of All Possible Loaner-Harps

Looooooooooook...

This is a gothic harp.  Harps like this were the standard in Europe during the late middle ages - around the 14th through 16th centuries.  She has 24 gut strings starting an octave below Gertrude's lowest note, and she has a gorgeously complex tone!  She's quieter than my nylon-strung Gertrude, of course, but not by nearly as much as I'd expected.  Her strings are also, of course, looser than Gertrude's (gut tends to be), which is taking a bit of adjusting to - I can't rip the hell out of her in the loud bits like I did Gertrude.  She has brays, but they're so stiff and difficult to turn on and off, I'm just leaving them all off.

I was offered this by contacts through the school of music - the professor in charge of the Early Music Ensemble set it up for me, and I'm sooooooo glad he did!  Aeron should have a new neck and pillar done for Gertrude in a couple of weeks, but I think I'll keep playing this harp with the Early Music Ensemble for the rest of the semester, and bring Gertrude to events.  She's just that cool, and that period.  And so gorgeous!

D's been working on one much like this in our living room for a while now.  His will be shorter (a good thing - this one is just too large to hold in my lap the way I like to), but the same range (don't ask me how that works - I do languages, not physics).  The joinery will be better, and the brays more usable, thanks in part to having this one to look at.

I'll be at Bardic Madness next weekend, able to play all of my songs on this harp.  Even "Beer is for Girls."  I am pleased and excited!

Harp Autopsy

We were sitting there eating dinner in our dining room when from the living room, we hear a sudden "KA-POW," like all of the strings on my harp had broken at once, or like she had fallen off a table onto a tile floor.  This was somewhat bewildering, as she had been resting on her back on the carpet floor.  The picture I posted earlier is what happened - she spontaneously snapped along the neck and pillar and flew apart.

Harps are at their strongest when the grain runs long down a piece, and at their weakest when it runs out across it.  You can see that where the split happened in the pillar was where the pillar starts to curve against the grain of the maple.  In order to counteract this, Aeron builds his necks and pillars out of three layers of wood with the grains crossed, so that a weakness in the grain of one wood is strengthened by another piece - essentially building his own plywood.  Unfortunately, 14 years ago this was only the second harp Aeron had built with this particular design, and he hadn't yet settled on the grain alignment he now uses.

The bad news is this happened two weeks before Bardic Madness.  I am as much an instrumentalist as I am a singer, and I feel very strongly that musical bardic performance is many times better with instrumental accompaniment, when possible - it's more of a complete musical experience.  And I wrote my songs for Gertrude.  I don't think I can bring myself to perform my songs a cappella

The good news is Aeron thinks he can build her a new neck and pillar in time for the event.  And, if that doesn't happen, I've already had one offer from a wonderful woman in my barony to let me use her harp at the event.  So.  Gertrude will rise again.  Like the mother-effing phoenix.  And phoenix or no phoenix, there will be harping at Bardic Madness.  Oh yes.  There will be harping.

RIP Gertrude

Shit.

Aeron's Song

The jewel of the sky has turned to steel. 
As I watch my lover's form recede, I feel 
The wind cut through my hollow body 
          like an empty, longing ache. 
"Come back!" I cry, too late with my appeal. 

Though he'll return to me, I long have known 
His scars have blinded him to why he is my own. 
Can he yet feel my jealous fingers 
          fight the wind to touch his hair, 
And never see how fair my love has grown? 

My scorching lips he feels against his face 
And never understands his beauty fuels their blaze. 
My lover's arms are strong, hands gentle, 
          body lithe and stature high, 
His soul burns from inside his shadowed gaze. 

He's noble as the oak, and still more strong, 
He'll neither flagrantly, nor lying do me wrong, 
But does he know my love is true 
          like love he's never known before? 
I've told him this and more through our years long. 

My love's not for the scarf I often tie. 
To all his word-fame and his laurel, I reply 
I'd love his soul, his hands, his body 
          were he peasant, don or king. 
He feels the love I bring him, but not why. 

Does he fear my love will blow away, 
          not rooted to the ground? 
Does he fear that I'll awaken 
          from some dream in which I'm bound?  

I'd have him look into my eyes 
          and see his grace reflected there. 
I look on Aeron, for he's where my love is found.


Notes:  Written for my husband.  This was my first attempt at composing a piece in a period style - actually, it was my first attempt at composing a piece period.  This here is Song #1.  :-)  I wrote it in the style of a troubadour canso, or love song, taking sylistic cues in particular from the songs of the trobaritz - the female troubadours.  There are some historical glitches - it's iambic, where troubadour poems were syllabic, there's only one melisma in the entire melody.  But overall, I think I achieved my goal.  And it makes Aeron blush.  Heee!  :-)  As you can see in the image, I displayed it transcribed into the square notation used in the troubadour manuscripts.  For the full documentation, download this here PDF.