Nope!  The #1 search term for people find this site was … “funny harp lady.”  Now, I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty scarey thing.

Also scary is the fact that just about everywhere I go on the web these days, I am constantly being asked to “prove I am human.”  Do I have a giant supergirl cape on, or laser eyes, or huge paranormal muscles that enable me to toss cars around like ragdolls?  C’mon, I’m human, all right.  I don’t think “the cloud” has to idolize me so.

So, just to prove that I am in fact a human being, versus a cloudbot or what have you, I want to show you what I’m all about.   You may have guessed that I am a harpist.  (Incidentally, with the demonstration of that kind of percise intellectual acumen and astounding insight, you might consider going into the futures business or Wall Street.  You could make a killing!)

Here is an example of the type of thing I do:

Yup, that’s the old electric cheese slicer (or egg slicer?) at work with yours truly.  Pretty funny, eh?  Well, I hope not.   I actually think it is a half-decent example of the use of the harp in pop/rock songs — what this blog is allegedly all about.   Please, spare me the instrumental versions of Journey or what have you.  Most people who like pop/rock or folk/rock or whatever this is, want to hear singing.

Anyway the reason this post is called “Happy Halloween” is because I hope I have a happy one.  (Forget about you!  *I’m* the one who needs to be happy!  Whoever alwayssunny.org is, thanks for the compliment in linking to me, but I’m actually pretty depressed most of the time.  It’s a tradition around here.)

So I’ve started thinking about Halloween, and what makes me happy, and there are two things I think are especially fun:  superheroine outfits, and zombie costume ideas for women. 

These two websites have a lot of options to consider as you get ready for Halloween, or to show up at your divorce proceedings, or report to work at a job you hate, etc., etc., etc.  The possibilities are endless!

You know I like zombies because of Night of the Living Bread.  Well, here’s another video for  your visual and auditory edification: 

That breadbag escapee, Jake, is scarey enough; but even scarier is those cottage cheese containers in the back of the fridge.  Don’t open ‘em!

And with that, I bid you adieu.  Enjoy the season!

It was the summer of 2005.  I was at home wallowing in my usual remorse and morbid depression when someone I kinda knew, a “friend of a friend,” called me… She had cancer.  She had begun a healing process.  She had gone  to some kind of a temple and prayed.  She had a vision!  and it included me!  (which was odd, since I barely knew her)….  and in the vision, she was told or felt or learned that she needed to ask me to write a song for her on the harp.  And that it would be just as good for her, as it was for me.

I sat down immediately, and wrote “Night Song,” a song about the fear of the unknown.  Basically, a song about death.  Right after, I wrote “Day Song,” a song of hope. 

Then I set about to record them.  This is where the brain-hurting part came in.  I had never sung with the harp before, and it really and truly hurt my head to try to do it.  Now it is a lot easier, but my head hurts for other reasons (I am a PhD student). 

Anyway, I managed to do it, my friend got better, and so did I.   She is a singer in a women’s choir (Calliope Women’s Chorus of Athens, directed by Nancy Pearce), and we performed the songs on several occasions, as well as at the Womyn’s Survivor Art Show.

What is survivor art? you might ask.

Survivor art is “Art that speaks about recovery from challenges to mental, emotional, and physical well being. It is powerful, intimate, and raw. Both medium and subject often separate it from fine art. It is usually created to express an experience in the process of recovery rather than drawing on that experience to inform the art.”  (from the Womyn’s Survivor Art show website).

On to Joanna Newsom.

To me, she is the Bob Dylan of harp, not only because she is an innovator, being one of the very first people I’ve ever heard to sing “art/pop” songs on the harp, but because I had the same initial reaction to her voice as I did to Bob Dylan’s.  Sort of like a needle scratching a record, or a cat clawing a chalkboard.  I couldn’t believe how scratchy and unpleasant Bob Dylan sounded to me at first, and the same with Joanna.  But now I really like each of their voices.  They are unique.  And powerful in the emotional imagery they convey.

Also, Joanna had some kind of surgery or development with her voice, that changed it.  I do like her new voice very much, although the old one had so much character it was hard to deny its odd beauty.

I realy love Joanna’s playing.  She is a bona fide harpist who engages polyrhythmic accompaniments to intricate, lyrical and mystical art songs.  I have no idea what she is talking about in her songs.  I just know they are artful and truly creative, unique works that form a landmark in the harp world.

Recently, I discovered “81.”  Far and above, this is my favorite Joanna song ever.  I listened to it about two weeks in a row, dozens of times a day, and never got sick of the intricacies.  Singing this song is a challenge because it makes me cross from my comfortable alto range, into falsetto.  Even though my version can’t compare to Joanna’s, I do my own little version anyway, since the only other person who can do it is Joanna and she doesn’t happen to be in my room every night. 

“… as naked as a trout…”  hehe

Here’s an interesting find, thanks to a tip from my classmate Amanda B… “JP and Gladys” — I guess Gladys is the harp???

It’s not “pop/rock” but it is moving in that direction and what I guess I’ve learned from this project is that “pop/rock” harp does not yet exist in the way I would define it:  Danceable or at least rhythmic songs (with vocals) with memorable melodies.

Anyway, here are a couple of examples of what I believe are nascent pop-rock harpers in the making.

What I like about “JP’s” work — a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” — is some good lefthand dexterity, nice harmonics, and a fairly decent execution… And the fact that he is a guy.  You don’t see many guys playing harp, especially in the U.S., and I would venture that he is American.

“JP” (whom I assume is the harp player) has other stuff out there at his myspace account. “Time after time” gets off to a rough start, but has some nice chordal work and right-hand melodic framing, although a lot of finger buzzes:

“Time after Time”

Nice job, JP!   I see potential here.  My recommendation to JP would be that he starts adding vocals as soon as possible.  You see, JP, if you play harp for a long time and then try to add singing later, it makes your head feel like it’s going to explode.  It actually physically hurts your brain.  LOL!  Try it, and you’ll see.  But don’t worry, it doesn’t last long.

One nice thing JP does is include his name right on the first frame of the video.  That’s really helpful for people who want to locate other stuff by the artist.  I don’t know the names of the harpers that follow this entry, for example.  Maybe they don’t want people to know.

Another boy harper (ok maybe “boy” is not quite accurate, but I kinda like the way the phrase sounds, and since I am an old lady, anyone under 50 is a boy, lol!) is Ryanisfootdrums.

Ryanisfootdrums sings with his harp and does a pretty nice job.   Here he sings Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah.”

   I like his voice… its kinda rough in places but he’s got a nice, authentic feel, and I love the fact that he is even singing at all.  See folks, to me, the ONE thing that helps to distinguish”neo-classical” harp playing from “pop” music, is singing.  I want to see more people singing with the harp.

(Why does it not occur to people to sing with the harp?  I suppose it is just such a long-standing tradition that harps are just “played.”  Of course, I’m such a hippocrite.  I only started singing pop songs on the harp last summer,  myself.  I think the “boundaries” or “parameters” of harp playing were too ingrained even in my own mind to consider singing with it, and I’m sure it is the same for other people.)

I think that when Joanna Newsom started singing with the harp and gained recognition as an artist, it began to change the world of harp, and it might be one of the greatest contributions anyone ever made to the field.   Oh yes, I have yet to talk about Joanna Newsom.  (Next post!)

Here’s another one, and my fav actually, because of the hat on the crown of the harp and the backwards baseball cap — lol, I love it!!! —  is a rendition of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper.”  OK so it’s kinda rough, but a lot of people have watched it and he’s definately got talent and flair and one day, whammo.

I applaud anyone trying to play pop music on the harp, and these boy harpers even more, since they may face anti-boy-harper stereotypes (“Harp is for girls” kind of crap.)  Real men play harp!  Which brings me to Athy:

The Wonderful Athy

Athy, Harper from Argentina

Athy is a wonderful harper from Argentina who is also doing a good bit to update the image of the harp.  Athy is more instrumental and neo-classical in his approach to music, but I know he is playing with bass and drums sometimes.  I have not found a good recording or video of this though.

Athy and vocalist

I should clarify also that Athy, unlike the first three young men here, is a professional harpist who is building an international career.  In addition, he is a phenomenally nice person.

Anyway, the more guys play harp, and cool pop-rock types of harp music to boot —  the more the “men don’t play harp” stereotype will diminish.  There are other boy harpers out there but these were the most notable I found so far.

So, I say, Harp On.

Graduating with a Harp degree: Look out world! Here comes unemployment!

So, that’s me in my little idealistic world, graduating with a hot little harp degree in hand.  Yes, I majored in Harp for my college education.  How did I ever come up with that? 

Some guitarists refer to their instruments as their “axe.”  I have special license to refer to my HARP as an axe.  Here’s the story.

One day, as a freshman at Earlham College, I went to an orchestra concert.  As the orchestra  began to play, a harpist rushed in at the last minute, flipped back the coat-tails of his tuxedo, sat down, and played his first note — just as the orchestra started to play. 

You couldn’t help but notice him, but even more noticeable was the beautiful sound of the harp.  I was immediately enthralled and decided I had to learn how to play.

I arranged to transfer to another school that offered harp lessons. When applying, I filled out a form that asked what my major was, and I listed “harp.” Apparently, by so doing, I bypassed all the usual red tape of having to apply, pass tests, play for a “jury,” and be formally accepted into the music program.

 So, when I showed up for my first lesson, my teacher assumed that I had studied harp previously. 

 “Show me what you can do,” she said.  Having had lots of experience “noodling” and improvising on the piano, this was not a foreign concept to me and I thought, “wow, this school is pretty progressive.”

I sat down (at the wrong end of the instrument), and after getting properly seated, I began to play a little piece I later called “Dainty Pink Dippers.” 

 My teacher said, “Well, that’s not bad. How long have you been playing?”

 I laughed and said, “Well, about 2 minutes, I guess.”

 Her mouth fell open and she took one of my hands and looked at it.  I realized later that she was looking for the tell-tale sign of callouses, but I had none. 

 She got very excited at that point.    

Well, that pretty much made my day.  I went home and later, wrote to tell my grandmother (“Nanna,” since she was British) the interesting news.  Here’s Nanna, whose nickname was “Bobbie,” because of her haircut:

Elsie Mary Williamson

Nanna wrote back at once.

“Wenda, I know why you have this talent,” she said.  “You inherited it from my father!” 

My English great-grandfather, William Bucket, from whom I inherited my ability to play the harp.

She went on the explain how my great-grandfather, William Bucket, had been a harpist in a village orchestra outside of London. 

William had re-married after my grandmother’s mother died, and his new wife was evidently not very pleasant.  He spent every moment he could down at the town hall, playing harp.  (Does this avoidance strategy sound familiar?)

One day, my great-grand-stepmother became enraged by his escapist behavior.  She marched down to the Town Hall and seized the AXE that hung on the wall for use in case of fires, and CHOPPED UP THE HARP in a fury!

At this point, I’d like to emphasize that I was no blood relation to my great-grand-stepmother, her being a STEP-mother and all.  Just for the record.

This is a pretty interesting story, is it not?  One might speculate that somehow, my great-grandfather’s talent found a home in me.  It is almost as though his spirit found a venue by which he could continue playing the harp after having so tragically and unexpectedly losing his beautiful instrument.  Because the harp gripped me.  It took possession of me.  It owned me.  There was no way that I was NOT going to learn how to play the instrument.  And so, in a massive leap of faith and stupidity, I declared Harp as my major.

So the upshot is:  “It ain’t me, it’s grampa!”

And, God bless my evil great-grand-stepmother.   Without her, I might not be able to even play a harp glissando.

My first harp: A gold leaf Style 23 pedal harp

This might be as good a time as any to tell you the story of my very first acoustic harp — A pedal harp.

I bought it, literally, with my own blood — by living off the money I made by selling my blood plasma, and adding to my savings by banking the social security checks I got as a result of my mother dying from the swine flu shot debacle of 1976.  We never sued, but 300 of the 40,000 people who died or became ill did.   I just did a quick search and was unable to verify that 40,000 number (the government doesn’t like that number floating around), but that is the  number I recall. 

Anyway, obviously, this harp was very important to me.  It was valued at $25,000.

One day, my boyfriend and I were carrying it down four flights of stairs, because the elevator was broken. 

“How much is this thing worth, anyway?” he asked, hefting the harp up by its base and taking a step backwards.

“$25,000,” I answered.

Just then, he lost his footing and the crown of the harp swung over and smacked against the stairwell cornice.

“$23,000,” Peter said.

Well, it was funny.  Not really true, but funny.  The harp was fine.

What wasn’t fine or funny was finding out, many years later, that a tragedy had befallen my harp.  The value of my harp had decreased from $25,000, to something like $2,500, through my own ignorance and carelessness.  I had inadvertently destroyed my harp by not having proper humidity levels in my home, causing irreparable warping.  “Ouch” doesn’t begin to describe the feeling.

At some point in everyone’s life, a devastating loss is experienced.  When you are knocked to the ground, you are put before a great Gate. It’s the great moment of Choice.  Do we grovel around on the ground, looking for the key under the doormat, or do we look up?  There might be an open window up there.  But the purpose of the window isn’t to “escape…”  Rather, it’s a mode of entry into self-examination; and most people would rather give a public speech than engage in inner inquiry.

To avoid self inquiry, we distract ourselves by laughing and smoking cigarettes, or playing the harp, and delaying the inevitable.  Or we can enter into inquiry, and learn the depths of what it is to be human; find out who we really are, how connected we really are to others, and how pain builds compassion; begin a search for our own truth and ultimately, a Truth that we would not otherwise have sought. 

This is the one area of my life where the harp is actually a symbol of “heaven” to me, much as I have protested this idea in the past.  When I play the harp, I “go there” — not to the idealized image of “heaven” with happy clouds and angels, but in being connected to something greater and more powerful than myself alone, partaking of a rich spiritual and emotional realm like no other. 

One doesn’t like to think of losses equaling gains in life, but there does seem to be some validity to the old saying, “when a door closes, a window opens,” and that bats don’t necessarily fly in through the open window as occurred in my house one night.

In this sense, I think of that open window as being on the “other side” of pain.  After you go through it, there’s an opportunity for something new.  I lost my pedal harp, but now I have an electric harp that has enabled me to do more of the kind of music I really love.  New possibilities.  Enormous satisfaction. 

Stated with oversimplification, I believe that although we must mourn our losses and give them their proper due, to get on with this game of faith we call life, it is more important to focus on what we have, instead of what we have lost or don’t have.  They say that “loss” is an illusion anyway, because you always have everything… you are still connected to the “whole” experience of Being, just now you have a different view of it; you are one slice of a Whole that has divided itself up to have many different experiences simultaneously.   It is perhaps ironic that only by truly knowing full, unshakeable connection can one know what “loss” really is; and conversely, only by not having had something can one fully appreciate its presence when it does arrive…  This is that old “duality” game we humans are so fond of… constantly creating “contrast”  lest boredom settle in like an old dog by the fire. 

I’m an odd one, I know, but I’m really not much different than anyone else.  I just want to feel happy and avoid pain.  Sweet harp in the foyer, you beckon me.

Alfredo Rolando Ortiz

I want to say a few words about Alfredo Rolando Ortiz.

I first heard about Alfredo around 1977, and he was famous even at the time in the harp world.  I wonder how much of an impact he made on harpers in South America?  I’m now pretty curious about what seems to be a “South American phenomenon.”  This phenomenon also has another dimension: lots of young South American men seem to be playing the harp; something American men tend to shy away from due to a perception that the harp is too feminine. (However, it might not be just an American idea that “men don’t play harp.  My friend Athy, from Argentina, has a slogan that “Real Men Play Harp.” More about Athy later, a wonderful player!).

I don’t know about you, but when I see masterful harp playing, the last thing I’m thinking is, “Oh, that guy is so girly,” or whatever it is men are thinking people are going to say. Music is music and I hope you have seen by now, if you’ve checked out some of my earlier posts, that the harp can kick butt.

Anyway, maybe Alfredo had a role in popularizing the Paraguayan harp or harp music in general in South America. What do you think? Here’s a taste of Alfredo for you:

An interesting technical detail:  when I met Mr. Ortiz, he had a unique style of fingernail.  Half the nail was cut away so that he could play pedal harps with the fingerpad, and the other half was left long so that he could pluck the strings of the Paraguayan harp with the nail for the more traditional Paraguayan sound.

OK, I’m laughing to myself at how preposterous it is to even put me in the same sentence as one of the most amazing scholars who ever lived:  Kenneth Burke.   But, I decided to make this post, in case it is of interest to Burke scholars, who seem to be an enthusiastically dedicated bunch.

To me, Kenneth Burke is as amazing for the intellectual theories he advanced, as he is for the fact that he seemed to “come out of nowhere.”  Raised in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania, he got into Columbia, only to decide that structured education wasn’t for him.  He persuaded his dad to give him the tuition money he would have spent going to Columbia, to instead start the Dial, a literary criticism journal.

Burke was into all kinds of stuff: literary criticism, poetry, rhetorical analysis, and initiated some pretty grand theories about narrative and human thought.  One of these, logology, is the study of symbolism and meaning in narrative and thought; symbols of symbols and patterns of patterns.

Here he is pictured with Professor Dell Hymes, whose brilliant career and work as a linguistic anthropologist was foundational and remains notable by many scholars.  Dell was my father-in-law for many years, and the way I met Kenneth Burke.

Kenneth Burke and Dell Hymes

My then-husband was named after Burke, and upon my marriage to Ken, Burke honored Ken/us with a poem, which appears below:

Poem by Kenneth Burke

Ken and I were musicians, and wrote and recorded hundreds of songs and pieces of music.  After visiting Burke one day, we gave him a tape of some of our stuff, and he responded with this very charming and self-effacing letter that mentions he enjoyed the harp pieces in particular.  Glow!  I felt so very and truly honored by that, as well as the poem.

Note the way Burke references his town: Andover.

While the word most people associate with Burke is “brilliant,” he was also extremely modest, and funny to beat the band.

Letter from Kenneth Burke, p. 1

Letter from Kenneth Burke, p. 2

So, that is my grand claim to fame of the Burkeian tradition.

Postscript:  I made this post in part, because I had been having some dreams about my former in-laws, the most vivid of which occurred on November 12.  My sad news is that on Friday, November 13, Professor Hymes passed away peacefully.  I will always be grateful for Dell’s kindness and in awe of the contributions he made to the fields of linguistics, anthropology, and folklore.  He will be missed by many.

WWWWWaaaHhhahahahhahhehehehheeeeeeeeeee (Evil laugh)

This is “Night of the Living Bread,” my one claim to fame (at least, the only one I’m willing to publicly claim).

It’s a funny, 8-minute parody of the George Romero classic, “Night of the Living Dead,” except, here’s a clue:  it ain’t zombies that come to life and go around stalking people.  It’s … white bread!!!  how scarey is that!  What,— NO FIBER?  Nope!  None at all!  SCAREY!  And scarier still – This is NOT a low-carb movie.  Nope!  It’s 100% chock-full of carbohydrates, people.  You’ve been warned.

Anyway, this little gem is the brainchild of geniously delicious filmmaker Kevin S. O’Brien, now living comfortably in Australia with a yard full of tiny lizards that hop around when the sun starts to go down, confusing small rabbits at times and imitating rocks the rest of the time.

Me and my ex husband did the music for the film, which Mr. George Romero himself said was “wonderfully and perfectly appropriately cheesey” for the film.  That’d be the first time that I’d take “cheesey” as a compliment.

Columbia Pictures bought Night of the Living Bread, packaged it with the remake of Night of the Living Dead, sold it on DVDs and video, broadcast it on MTV and local TV stations, and showed it around the world in movie theaters.  It also won “Best of Fest” in the Hamburg Film Festival, and every fall for many years, it was featured at the Drexel Theatre in Columbus, where people would show up with lighters, toasters, which were held up in the air at appropriate moments, and garbage bags full of white bread, from which slices were thrown madly around the room at certain junctures.   (I am not sure, but it might be that they stopped showing the movie because they really cleaned up… not by making money, but by cleaning up pieces of bread, hahaha.  They don’t appear to be showing it this weekend.)

That’s the end of my brag fest.  I may never brag again as much in my entire life.  (superblush.)  OK, I’m over it.

And even though there’s no harp music in the film, it was done by a harpist, (me), so there.

Enjoy!  And make sure your toaster is in proper working condition…!

Harp Virtuoso Edmar Castaneda

Once in a while, someone comes along who seems to be born with strings attached to their hands… not because they are a marionnette, but because they have a unique gift for playing the harp.

Edmar Casteneda, born in Bogota, Columbia, started playing the harp at age 13.  Today, he is one hot item in the music scene.  Castaneda has become one of the world’s biggest “jazz assets” and is really putting the harp on the map in the jazz world.  If only I liked jazz! Strange that even though I don’t really care for jazz music, I still enjoy listening to Edmar play. How can I help it? He is astonishing. He plays that thing like nobody’s business.

I commented on him having “strings attached to his hands,” because Edmar has a pronounced damping technique that fascinates me. In the video below you can see some of this extraordinary technique.  I can’t help thinking that his style of playing could lend itself to some really hot pop rock music. If he wanted to “stoop” to that level, he could blow the top off some nice rock band, hehe! Watch the video below and just imagine it for a second!

Another thing that interests me is why all this innovative harp stuff is coming out of South America. Perhaps it has something to do with the Paraguayan harps having more of a tradition of ensemble playing, whereas the pedal harp, which doesn’t lend itself as well to playing with others due to transportation hassles, is more prevalent in the north. Just a theory. Someone can correct me, naturally.

Here’s another thing that gets my goat. Why should a kinda bad version of a rock song played on the harp get 450,000 hits on YouTube, and Edmar only gets 46,000? See, if he played rock music, I think all that would change. I’m only half kidding… I suppose there is more general interest in “pop” music on the part of the masses. But that’s why I’d love to see what Edmar could do in that realm. A little pop connection could bring a whole new world of listeners into his realm of appreciation.

But for now, he is a preeminent, much loved jazz harpist and his musical preferences are not likely to change.

So in the meantime, check out another example of his amazing jazz chops:

And if you like that, see his new album, read his biography, and check out sample recordings here.

Wow.

Paraguayan Harper Mariano Gonzalez

Yes, it’s official.  Mariano Gonzalez jams on the harp!

Be my guest and check out the chops of this very awesome harper from Paraguay.

Mariano Gonzalez

There must be something in the water over in Paraguay.  I once had the pleasure of meeting the extraordinary Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, who still performs and delights audiences the world over.  Actually, Alfredo’s not from Paraguay; he just plays a Paraguayan harp.  But still.  (I’ll feature Alfredo later.)

Mariano interests me because of two reasons.  One, because I found him by googling the phrase, “harp revolution.”  And upon listening to his clip called “Wild Inspiration,” I was quite pleased with his innovative approach to the harp.  He actually modified his own harp with the invention of a pitch bend.  There’s a better picture of the instrument on his website. 

Pitch bending can be done manually, but it isn’t very effective most of the time, so I like this addition to his harp.  The pitch bend apparatus is reliable and notably effective.

I’m also interested in Mariano because he has such a fluid, limber style of playing.  I believe he could play blindfolded in a room full of bats.   His music is poppy, orchestral, a tad indulgent, but obviously the work of a highly developed player, and pleasurable, to be sure.  There is something to be said for a player with this kind of relaxed power and fluidity.  If playing harp was like playing pool, Mariano would sink the 8 ball in the pocket on the break without scratching.

A nice addition to the harp world.