Andrew Bird

Well... Here's a short video of me playing the intro to Andrew Bird's "Sovay". This is the first song I picked out by ear on my first day with the Dusty Strings harp I rented last January. I still play it all the time as a warm up. This video is actually from a while ago... I've since cut all my hair off. I'm still working on the Fauré Pavane and Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte, but I'm taking a couple of months off from harp lessons. Work has been so busy and we've been traveling a lot. I'm starting to miss my routine. And I also miss strings not breaking! Curse you, summer!!

Misty Mountain Harp

Spent a long weekend in the mountains of Western North Carolina with some great old friends who live in DC. Matthew bought himself a new banjo and I took some time to bond with my beloved Hummingbird. I'm bummed I couldn't bring my harp. Loving such a giant, cumbersome instrument can be heartbreaking when you drive a 4 door sedan.

Ben Sollee

Mmmh! Pretty harpness.



Thanks for sharing this song with me, Matthew!

Ma Vie

This is my life now. Come home from work around 1-2am... glass of wine... snack... harp... cat... vine/instagram cat cuteness. Not such a bad set up! I'm overdue for a new harp practice video. Currently learning Pavane by Gabriel Fauré. This is not a vine of that song.

Musicophilia

My wonderful husband bought me Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia for Valentine's Day and I am loving it. I'm not terribly far along, but it's super interesting so far. The bits I've read have had a lot to do with hearing music (when none is actually playing) just before seizures, or seizures being prompted by specific types of music or tones... Craaazy. There have also been some peculiar accounts of people, later in life, often after a near death experience or medical event, developing sudden strong desires to listen to or play music... And this passage, although not at all like my path to harping, made me pretty giddy and struck a familiar chord with me for obvious reasons:



Here's Dr. Sacks chatting a tiny bit about synesthesia... So cooooool! I don't think I've ever seen colors when I hear music. Kinda jealous.

A Musical House

Our living room has been the scene of many an unconventional music recital. My super sweet 6 year old piano student occasionally puts on a tiny concert when her parents come to pick her up after lessons. When my friend who plays bass comes over I like to ignore him until he gets un-shy and cranks out some crazy ass Jaco Pastoruis solo, or silly RHCP riff. I love playing harp with the windows open when the weather is nice and imagining some passer-by is TOTALLY impressed with my mad skillz.

The other day, my friend Fitsum came over and played accordion for us. Like, that's his main instrument. I was surprised/delighted to learn that it's not an uncommon instrument in Eritrea! Anyway, until that day, I had never seen anyone play the accordion and appear to have a clue what the hell they were actually doing. It was so cool! In return, I played Pavane for a Dead Princess and Clair de Lune for him on harp, and my husband played a couple of songs for us on his banjo. We should probably invite people over to serenade us more frequently... maybe even stop being so craaazy shy and actually try playing music with other people! It's been so long since I've done that...

These pictures are of me at this place in Loachapoka, Alabama (seriously) called Fred's Feed & Seed. I used to go there on Thursdays my senior year of college and jam with these old men (always on different instruments - guitar, accordion, mandolin, hammer dulcimer). The guy who owns the place (Fred, go figure) is a super kind, enthusiastic music-lover and apparently suffers from my same instrument addiction. Any time I expressed an interest in an instrument he'd totally HAVE ONE and then promptly bust one out for me to try playing. I wish I could roll up in there this Thursday with my harp and just be like, "SUP Y'ALL"... but it's pretty unlikely I'll ever go back. In fact, if I went anywhere near my college town on purpose it'd probably just be to visit Fred's Pickin' Parlour and make sure Fred and the guys are doing alright. I miss that place so much, but my house is really starting to resemble it, which makes me feel even more at home here.

Give Me Your Harpmobile, Julia Child...

Matthew and I re-watched Julie & Julia last night. Ooof! Y'all think I could fit my harp in that amazing car?! The summer before my senior year of Chemical Engineering I studied abroad in Paris for a month... It was so magical (as you might imagine). Julia & her husband's apartment in that movie was a place I walked by so regularly while living there. I remember FLIPPING OUT when I saw it in theaters. I quickly grabbed my phone & pulled up a picture of it on my flickr stream to prove it to my friends (who were probably rolling their eyes and actively shushing me... I don't remember, I was too giddy to notice). Anyway... Now my husband and I both have Paris-itis. Like, can we please board a plane and go live in France immediately?! I wonder if Camac is hiring???? Although not my style, I get quite a kick out of their harpes bleues.

Harpwear

I intermittently find myself daydreaming about what amazing dresses I'll wear SOMEDAY when I have gigs as a harpist! A closet full of elegant, flowy gowns for formal occasions... Neon+glittery nail varnish?... Decorative headpieces?... Retro gowns with giant poofy chiffon skirts?... My beat up, old, way too big for me Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt with jeans and Dr. Martens?... It all sounds perfect.

Sara Tyler Harp.. Technician? / Getting to Know You!

Ever since my short trip to Richmond last year to fix my harp's buzzing I haven't been able to stop thinking how awesome it would be to be a harp technician. I felt so tempted to twist and push and pull everything to isolate the problem, but I also felt like I might mess something up so I resisted. Then I found out someone gets to do this, like, as their job?! Hang out with harps all day and take things apart and make harpists' days by repairing their beloved instruments? What could be better?! Apparently that means moving to Chicago and working for Lyon & Healy or something. I wish it were easy for me to do that... I don't want to rule it out, but I don't know if I can go for it anytime in the very near future.



I think something changed in me after seeing Amy get my harp in the back of the giant SUV I rented when we were all done... She's tinier than I am but she just wheeled it out and shoved it up in the SUV all by herself. No fussing or worrying about whether the right parts were supported after putting it in (like I had after loading it at home). I felt less scared of my harp. I think when I first got my harp, it barely felt like it was really mine. I'd been swooning over pictures of it online for months, but it seemed a little impossible that I'd be able to buy one. At first, I was a little scared to move it from room to room, and I was very shy about the pedals. Like, oOoOoOohh, it's this giant, heavy, wooden, stringy, complicated mechanical thing! Beware!



It seems less fragile to me now. I guess that just comes with time. This is still a new instrument to me. A broken string doesn't make me panic anymore. I have no problem wheeling the harp around without assistance. I'm probably still pretty gentle on the strings when I play... but I'm still such a beginner. It's becoming more like a friend than a stranger, if instruments can be friends. It audibly resonates sometimes when we're sitting around talking. I've come to think of it like an animate part of our house. Maybe I'm just crazy and instrument obsessed.

Harp Practice Episode 4 - Bb, F# & pedaling E and C while playing!

Behold! The three songs most frequently heard in our living room lately: Le Bon Petit Roi d'Yvetot, The Keel Row, and Largo! I'm slowly getting better at each one........ I promise, someday I will play well enough to deserve to play this beautiful harp! ^_^ At this point I'm just glad if I remember a song has pedal changes in it before I start plucking... they tend to catch me completely off guard if I don't stay focused. I'm taking October off from lessons and focusing on exercises when I have time to play. We're traveling every weekend and there's simply too much going on for me to devote enough attention to my practicing until things settle down in November. I wish I had a tiny harp I could travel with, ah well! Probably someday!

Le Sigh!

The past few days my harp has been sitting in our guest bedroom with the dust cover on to prevent it from getting gross from our kitchen cabinet sanding and to keep it safe from our cats who are going a bit nuts from being quarantined from half the house while we paint the cabinets. I woke up this morning to find that my darling husband rolled it back to the living room this morning for me while I was sleeping. I also found my 3rd octave C had bitten the dust. Kinda saw this one coming since we took that string off and put it back on, like, twice, trying to isolate/diagnose the buzz. Thank goodness I bought all those replacement strings in Virginia! This'll be another chance for me to practice restringing! The first time this happened it took me maybe 40 minutes because I was trying to follow some knot tying guide and I got all confused... Today I'm shooting for 30!

Bye Bye, Buzz!

Well folks! I'm back from the VA Harp Center! Le buzz a disparu! Grâce à dieu...and also the very kind and knowledgeable Amy and Ivan! Apparently I had some string anchors contacting the back of my soundboard or something that just needed a little twisting. So! I learned something about diagnosing buzzes on the harp! I also scored some replacement string loot (first 3 octaves) as well as my own copy of a fun warm-up book I've been borrowing from my teacher. I'm back home with a harp that doesn't have a mysterious buzz, ready to get back to practicing. I feel like I've seriously slowed down on my progress lately. Work has been so stressful and I haven't been making enough time to practice. I'm promising myself not to get discouraged, just to make a change in my habits and make more time to play! Speaking of making time to play... I better get to it! :)

Totally Buzzed

You guys... There is a buzzing sound coming from my fancy new pedal harp. It's so annoying. I've tried a few things to figure out where the buzz might be coming from. Alas! No luck. It started in my third octave C a couple of weeks ago, and over a week or so it seemed to travel down to the neighboring B and A... but now I only hear it from C. (Whoa, cool story bro -- I know!) Yesterday at my harp lesson, my teacher, her husband and I attempted a few things including loosening, removing, and replacing the string... we tried putting a small piece of fabric between the string and the soundboard... we looked under the base and pressed firmly on everything we could think might be causing it, but the buzz persisted. I'm going to have to rent an SUV (because I don't have a harpmobile - or much need for one - yet) and drive the harp up to Virginia for someone to look at it next week. My engineering mind has me so ready to take this thing apart and figure it all out myself, but I know better than to do anything that might jeopardize my warranty! I would love to learn to be a harp technician, though. What fun it must be to know all the technical ins and outs and be able to perform maintenance yourself! This kind of thinking must be how people get into fixing cars...

Harp Dreams

We Netflix'd Harp Dreams the other night... Can I just say, WOW! Competitive, super focused and extremely goal-oriented people blow my mind. Maybe my apathy towards the idea of being THE. ABSOLUTE. BEST. at something, or my overwhelming love of all things and my need to figure out a fair amount about everything and not dedicate my whole life to just one thing baffles others. I got so excited when Yolanda Kondonassis came on the screen. I have her book, On Playing the Harp, which I affectionately refer to as 'The Yolanda Book' and often reference when I can't quite get my harp claw oriented properly during practice. Anyway, I admire those people for competing and following their dreams, and I really admire their dedication. The documentary made me wish, for a fleeting moment, that I had moved off to Paris or something to seriously study music or art (see how I can't even narrow that field of study down?). These kids are amazingly brave and talented! And Indiana is a big harpist hub?! WHO KNEW!

Mad World (Cat Version)

My friend Fred has shown some interest in learning to play the piano and asked me to teach him a few things... some of them ridiculously difficult (ok, Fred, I cannot rock out to Led Zeppelin by ear, sorry), but I did learn to play Mad World (Gary Jules version) for him - and why not also learn it on the harp? It's extra fun because I get to take my harp out of C and into E♭! Woohoo. And what a joy it is to change keys with pedals!! I'm so smitten with my new harp it's borderline creepy. This isn't the best I can play the song, but I think you'll know why I chose this clip to publish. Enjoy!

My First Broken String!

YOUGUYS. It happened! Either while I was out or while I was sleeping... which is how everyone said it would happen. I always imagined my first broken string would smack me in the eye while I was playing and render me blind... Fortunately it's a pretty high note I don't use too often, so I can live with the harp like this while I wait for a replacement. (Again, really wishing there were harp stores everywhere so I wouldn't have to wait, it can't be good for the harp to sit like this!) It's about time for another video! I have a few new songs I've been working on, and from the photo you can see that I have a new friend to introduce ^_~ !

Harp Shopping!

I took a day trip to the magnificent Virginia Harp Center today, mainly to make googly eyes at all the pretty harps and hopefully get closer to making a decision about what to do with my rent-to-own Troubadour VI when the 6mo is over. (My mind is made up now!) I have a really inexplicable emotional reaction when I'm around a lot of instruments at once. I get overwhelmed. Am I alone? (Almost afraid to ask - Is this diagnosable? Ha...) There's just something so awesome and comforting about it... Anyway! I spent a great deal of time gazing at and playing a new Style 100 (oh em gee, I think it's *the one* you guys!) and also playing a used Style 30 circa 1967... Both harps blew me away in person in a way you can't really read about or hear in recordings. I gave a few other harps a chance, but nothing compared to the Style 100. For me, it's the total package. I got some excellent advice from the forum at harpcolumn.com ~ A kind soul suggested that I have the person working at the harp center play the harps for me so I could hear how they fill a room rather than just what they sound like as you play them. The woman at VHC was more than accommodating, and hearing the harps from a distance really helped me get a feel for the volume, character, and tone of the individual instruments. Again, I wish that harp stores were everywhere so I could do this every week. However, I am fortunate that the VHC isn't too terribly far from where I live. I've got some big decisions to make soon!

Shit Harpists Say

The girl walking in on the broken string is the best part. :)

First Recital: Check!

I played in my first recital last night! Of course, I made my nails super fancy to mark the occasion. It was my first time transporting my harp, first time playing in front of people I don't know (live), first time with my name written on any sort of music program in at least 7 years... it was so fun! My Troubadour VI fit beautifully in the folded down back seat of my husband's Honda Civic... Now I only need to gain more confidence and learn to drive a stick shift and I'll be all set for playing more in public! Everyone at the recital was very warm and encouraging! I played a small song from my rinkydink beginner harp lesson book and then my Clair de Lune/Pavane combo... It wasn't perfect, but I got through it fine - shaking hands and all! My teacher, Kelsey, played a neat Celtic medley with a recorder player and violinist (pretty awesome!). Kelsey's teacher, Amy, played Impromptu Caprice by Gabriel Pierne, which is the most insanely awesome thing I've witnessed on harp to date. The harmonics! BOOM! I was so impressed. After the recital, we mingled a bit and I mustered up the courage to ask to play Amy's pedal harp -- it's a Lyon & Healy semi grand, I don't remember the model but it's over 10 years old and has a really beautiful sound. The sound quality and general feel are so extremely different than my Troubadour. It was a dream come true for me, just to play a few arpeggios and push a couple of pedals down and see the mechanisms in action and hear the result. I left the recital feeling giddy and accomplished! I'm so grateful to have been included last night! I'm also very excited that the recital is over, because now I can start focusing on NEW THINGS!!

Unwillingly Anxious & Shy

We had some friends over recently for small a dinner party and I was so thrilled at the thought of playing my harp for more than just our cats or whoever happened to be walking by our house on nice days when I'm practicing with the windows open... but I clammed up. I froze. I saw faces of people I admire and adore and for some reason instead of it comforting and empowering me, I was terrified. I wanted them to be impressed by my progress but I could barely handle the silence and their focus as they all patiently waited for me to play a note. None of these people play harp, they have no idea how it should sound, they won't recognize the tiny songs I've been learning, but I was petrified. I eventually managed to convince them to look away & carry on a conversation and I played a few songs somewhat smoothly. I don't know how I'll overcome it, ultimately, or if many of the performers I admire so much are even over it after multiple albums released and concerts played. Actually, I've heard Chan Marshall has stage fright. If that's true, I know I'm in good company. Shy, reclusive musicians unite!