A Long Expected Party

My posts here of late have been few and far between. It's not that I haven't been pursuing music, it's quite the opposite. Since I last posted I have completed building my ten string Kantele, pictures were taken by my sister and husband and I have yet to obtain them. When I do I will be certain to create a nice long blog post of my kantele building adventures.

Rehearsals for Season 4 of the Idisi has begun, and I am having a wonderful time with all of my wyld sisters every wednesday night. We are getting ready for a big photo shoot this coming Sunday, it will be a great time providing the weather is accomodating. Wyld women photograph best in a natural environment, after all. It's an exciting time in my life, and I am most looking forward to sharing all the happenings with my friends next month at my Annual Fall Music party.

Let's talk a little about The HOBBIT A Long Expected Party, shall we? I have preared some songs that are Middle Earth inspired, one on my mountain dulcimer, and three on my autoharp. I hadn't even had my autoharp in my little eager hands a week when I was suddenly inspired and worked out a melody to one of my favorite Tolkien poems, I Sit and Think, which is attributed to Bilbo Baggins:

I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

This is the first song I have written that has words to it, so it is a milestone for me. I have a couple that I wrote on the mountain dulcimer and a couple on the five string kantele. I love to play them and I think they sound good, to my ears anyway, and if there are some quiet moments I may play them at the party as well.

While I would like to spend all my spare time practicing my instruments between now and November 17th, I will be spending a considerable amount of time getting the house ready. We pulled up the carpeting in the living room this past weekend, and there is more prep work to do before we can sand and finish the hard wood floors. The good news is that there does not appear to be any gouges or damaged boards. But there are many stains which may or may not come off in the sanding process. We'll see. A stained but re-finnished hardwood floor is still more attractive than a stained old carpet.

But back to the music, there is one little bit of trivia that I want to share. There is a strong link between Authoharps and The Hobbit. Marc Gunn, Autoharpist and Tolkien fan extrodinare, wrote some of my favorite songs in honor of middle earth that I have ever heard. In fact, his song Ring of Hope, is one that I have prepared for the party. But don't worry, you can learn some Hobbit friendly tunes in time for the event yourself. Just purchase his songbook via downloadable PDF, like I did!

Dream to Reality: Autoharp Aquisition Part 2

My vision of what my life is with music is pictured here, specifically, my new Autoharp sitting inside Bag End in Hobbiton. The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien have, for the past 30 years, been a delight and inspiration to me. This coming winter The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be coming out in theaters near you, (get your Facebook covers now!) and I am thrilled beyond belief. So much so that I really wanted to share this feeling with everyone here, because it ties in with my Autoharp in a big way. In my last post I mentioned the Bards of Old, and I have to say, that Tolkien was one of the best bards of all time. My goal, when I get my Autoharp, is to learn some Tolkien inspired music. Lucky for me, Marc Gunn has been out there playing his Autoharp and writing songs! His most recent release is Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits, and I had to get a copy, of course. He even signed it! Now that I'm totally into music, adding some of his tunes to my repetoir is a key goal. Since my love of LOTR began, the lyrics Tolken wrote have filled my mind. My sister once put some to music, and I hope to be able to do the same as well, and I also want to learn the theme to the animated Hobbit movie.

That's the goal. The reality is I still need to make one more payment and patiently await the arrival of my Autoharp. Or not so patiently. Every once in a while, I'll pick up my poor old broken autoharp and hold it and press the buttons. I can never play it again, but it's good to feel it in my arms, close my eyes, and imagine myself in Bag End with my new one. For me, music has become the greatest adventure. I can create and learn and share, it's just so exciting! I also get to dive deep into the folk music of my ancestors while I'm at it. I've gone a year without being able to play this instrument which opened up a whole new world to me. To be able to hold and play one that was made just for me, well that will be a day of joy indeed. Until then, I am still accepting donations, there's just $312.00 left on my layaway. Please consider making a donation today.

Let's Go Singing With Hobbits

The past few days I have not been able to stop thinking about the prospect of getting my new Autoharp. I'm so incredibly excited about it I can hardly tell you. I have some of my favorite Autoharp music playing on the stereo right now, including Memories of Middle Earth and Heart's Ease by Marc Gunn. A while back I wrote a review of the second of those two albums here on my little Strum Pluck and Drone blog. But with the vision of my new Autoharp in my mind, and the fact that The Hobbit movie will be released on December 14th 2012, it's the first album that is fueling even more excitement for me. I am a hard core Tolkien fan, and proud to admit it. My plan is to have a Hobbit themed music party in the first part of November. What would make it perfect would be to have my new autoharp a few months before that so I can learn some of the Middle Earth themed songs on it to share at the party. Until then, I will try and figure out the theme from the new movie on my trusy mountain dulcimer, because a fan girl has to do what a fan girl has to do.

Timing is everything, and with the saving for the new instrument in the beginning stages, I wanted some more information about that. So, to keep myself busy toward my goal, I sent off an email to the luthier to find out what the turnaround time is for an autoharp and when he would need a deposit. There are songs to learn before my Autumn Music Party, and Marc was kind enough to post the lyrics to a ton of his songs on his website. He is a true Bard, and I'm going to contact him for the chords on a few of them, as he noted he would provide on his lyrics page. If I can learn them on the dulcimer first, then they'll be that much easier to learn on the autoharp when I get it. Not many song writers are so open with their lyrics, and I'm just so glad that Marc is, it will make for a great night next November.

Until then, I have the songs to prepare for next month's Spring Music Party. There's so much to do! Diving into the Folk Music can be that way. Finding time to practice, people to jam with from time to time, research info on my latest music enthusiasm takes time. There are still Finnish tunes that I want to write dulcimer tab for, and now songs about Hobbits to get chord for and print out for my songbook. The printer broke, so now I have to research printers too, that needs to be replaced in the next few days. I still try to find time for my friends, and I was at a lovely tea party this afternoon, and a gathering last night with artists. So much fun to be had, so many songs to sing!