Why? Because I Can

Last night was my second time performing at the Original Works Open Mic at the Dunn Brothers in Chaska. This time I brought my autoharp, and utilized the pick-up for the first time ever. Rosie sounded great plugged in, I was nervous and fumbled on the chord bars a few times, but my vocals were strong and it was really fun.

Kent Hansen playing Original Music at Open Mic night

 My brother Kent leads this and provides the amp and the mic, he has a huge collection of songs he has written, so he was able to both start out the night and bring it on home after I'd had my turn. I had such a good time listening and playing, and was complimented on my singing so that makes me feel very happy. A friend of my brother's said I should record an album and he will sell my CD's for me at the coffee shop while I'm singing!

Since I first took up the Autoharp six years ago, making music has been my happy place. The fall of 2009 was my first Fall Music Party, and I could only kind of play two songs and I was incredibly nervous to play them even to my friends and family in my own living room. Fear is the mind killer, and I have been chipping away at my stage fright a little bit at a time ever since. My favorite way to experience music is in a circle with other players, so we can all play together. While I really appreciate those who are devoted to performing their music, and I love listening to great performers, I'm coming to it reluctantly myself. But now that I'm writing songs, I really want to share them, and I love love love singing so much that I'll sing the songs that I love the most for others.

It's a busy music month for me, which began with my Fall Music Party on Saturday the 7th which was a ton of fun. We started the night earlier than usual, because if I had my way, everyone would stay and play all night. Alas, it was not to be, as my players all drove quite a distance for the party, the last of the music ended just before midnight. Still, a good time was had by all, and we had a photographer in our midst, who caught me doing what I love to do.

This morning while I was drinking my coffee, I started contemplating why I do this. After all, I have no desire to have a career at this, no ambitions to be a performer at all. I just love music so much, and I love telling story with song. What came to me was that I make music because I can. Life is too short, and I intend to fill mine with music. At some point I might want to throw my creative juices toward recording an album, because it sounds like a fun and rewarding project to me. For now I am in my happy place, and just last night I got another melody for a new song while I drove home from Chaska. My muse is taking me places I never thought I'd go, and it's a very good thing.

Itchy Fingers

It's summer and I have itchy fingers. They are itching on a daily basis for the Autoharp that I have on layaway. It will be several weeks yet before I get my new baby, but they are itching nonetheless. This malady is coming with increasing frequency and intensity as the day of arrival draws near. Visions of songs dance in my head, the ones that I learned on Autoharp that I never learned on Dulcimer, and the ones I had planned to learn...all are popping into my mind as I wait for my new Autoharp. Tonight I write the check for the fourth of five payments, and I'm amazed at how quickly time has passed since I made my decision in April.

A lot has happened since then. I've written another song on the Dulcimer, and learned two new lovely standard folk tunes: "Southwind" and "The Storms are on the Ocean" which I play just about every day. It's fun learning just the melody on the mountain dulcimer and not worry about the words.  Maybe I'll learn the chords and lyrics when I get my Autoharp, so I'll have two different versions to choose from on my different instruments. And as much as I enjoy practicing my dulcimer, and it sits so joyfully on my lap, I long to embrace my new Autoharp. Nothing can compare with the intimacy of that instrument, as it vibrates against my body, my heart can't help but respond. So much joy these zithers have brought to my life! They are like members of the family, as much as the cats are. I learn to care for them, play with them, and share them with others. And then there are the long moments we spend alone together, getting to know our abilities and strengthening them together, my zithers and I. It is a mystical relationship, and I feel connected to the Bards of Old as I learn tunes played hundreds of years ago.

The feelings go so deep, I feel as if there are strings on my soul that I awaken as I strum my zithers, a resonance and mystery fills me as I play. I wonder what songs I will write on the Autoharp, and how will she feel under my fingers? I can only imagine and long for the end of summer to come, darkening evenings and hours by candlelight to practice. It's so exciting! I feel like I'm off on a new adventure.

Kantele Spring

It's another beautiful Spring day in Minnesota. The sky is blue and the breeze is blowing dandelion fluff all around. Too bad we don't like dandelions too much in these parts, I liked them well enough as a child. In the neighborhood I grew up in, we would pick the dandelions when they were in full seed, make a wish and blow them off the stem. If the seeds traveled all the way around the world and back again, your wish would come true.

The wish I have now is to take some of the traditional Finnish tunes I've learned on my lovely five string kantele, and create TAB for the mountain dulcimer with it. I've tried struggling with MusEdit, which is a free program with some nifty features. The problem is it doesn't always do what I tell it to do, and since it's free, there isn't a manual. Let's just say it has a few glitches that are not about to go away. In fact the website appears to be gone, so it looks like it's time to get real and pay for TablEdit.

My order has been placed, so I know what I will be doing on the rainy days this Spring, getting all my music down in TAB format. It's a wonderful tool, and now that I've written 1 2/3 songs (really, can't seem to get the middle part of that second song down yet) I'm excited to see them written in music. It's an exciting time for me while I wait for my Dream Autoharp. They have received my first payment, so they can start building it any time. For some reason the mail took it's own sweet time, so the check sent on the 24th of April didn't arrive until the 10th of May. So my dream was in limbo during that wait, now it's in Pete's capable hands. So my zither obsession continues, complete with dreams of obscure instruments in the zither family that never existed. Really, that's how deep these stringed instruments get for me, right on into my subconscious.

Well, it's not raining now, so I've spent enough times tapping away at this keyboard.

Next Week: MUSIC PARTY!!

Still Point

Every once in a while you come across a rare and wonderful piece of work. Since 2009, I have been taking lessons on the autoharp and then on the dulcimer from Karen Mueller. During that time, I have been slowly collecting her albums. Still Point was released in 2000, and like most folk/world albums it is timeless. I was looking to listen to her play the dulcimer, since that is the instrument I am concentrating on learning right now. As a zither enthusiast, I just love to hear someone with her skill level play. This has some dulcimer tunes, but it also features other instruments that she plays as well, including autoharp.

The album opens with "30-Year Jig" which sets the tone for the entire work. On that song, Karen plays both the mountain dulcimer and the autoharp. The title for the album is a quote:

"At the still point, there the dance is..." - T.S. Eliot

For me, it emphasizes the listener. While we are still, her fingers do their lively dance on the strings of multiple instruments. This is the magic of recording, where Karen can play multiple parts on a single song. I think everyone should have this album. It has a good amount of Celtic classics along with some contemporary tunes. There are fourteen wonderful tracks, with the final song being "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" which is a joyful way to end the album, finishing everything with a statement of her incredible talent. Years of music making went into this, and it shows. Sometimes the magic is in the dedication. Being willing to focus on being the best you can be at whatever instrument you pick up. It's a great inspiration to me, and I'm looking forward to buying her newest CD Landscape of the Heart next.

The oddest part of all this for me is, right now I'm not even taking lessons! For the next few months I'm pinching pennies to pay for my Dream Autoharp, so I'm really starting to miss my visits with Karen at Homestead Pickin' Parlor. But I'm keeping myself busy with practicing my mountain dulcimer, and listening to some good music while I'm at it!

Finding My Heart's Ease

Tonight is a time for me to sit in my room with kitties, to relax and to meditate. I don't do this often enough anymore, it used to be more of a habit in the evening after dinner to take some time to be quiet. Quiet is my soul's food. With so many things demanding my attention, it's nice to slow down and have a date with my soul. Even though I have listened to the album many times, I never thought to listen to Marc Gunn's Heart's Ease as a meditation CD. Not all the songs are super quiet or super slow, maybe that's why I never tried it before. But tonight it seemed like the thing to do. Accompanied by the cool breeze after a summer rain, it is the perfect way to end the day. The flame of a single votive and a small stick of Japanese incense complete the mood for me.

I really love this CD, it has a variety of moods. From sweet melancholy to joy among flowers, the tunes take me on a magical journey each time I listen to it. My intention was to bring a little bit more calm into my day, but I have found a smile as well as I contemplate while listening to Wildflowers of Party Field. There is a feeling that wells up from deep within that music can tap into for me, and this album tosses pebbles into that well until I feel the ripples calming the chaos and setting my mind at rest. Marc Gunn is really a wizard, and his magic dances from his fingers, through the strings of his autoharp and out into the world. There's no other way to adequately describe this album.

As an autoharpist, it is an inspiration. As a Reiki Master it is the perfect accompaniment to my practice. As a lover of fantasy, it ignites my imagination until my mind starts to travel to Hobbiton and beyond. It was a lovely addition to my CD collection, and one that I will surely treasure for years to come. It can be yours too, just buy Heart's Ease: Instrumental Autoharp Music by Marc Gunn from CD Baby. Do it, I dare ya.

Strum Flower Songs & More

Tonight I played my Autoharp, which had been sitting neglected in a chair until last night when I tuned it. The base notes were all sharp while the middle and high notes were exceedingly flat. It took about a half an hour to tune it, and now that I've played it for a while it probably needs another good tuning. What it actually needs is a new set of strings, but that's next month's project, after the house gets painted.

After taking a break from the 'harp to work on my new mountain dulcimer it was nice to come back at it. Some of the harder things I had been frustrated with are magically much easier. I'm completely convinced that picking up a new instrument has made me better at the old one, and appreciate it's attributes much more. Like the ability to stand up and walk around with it. My little dulcimer has a strap, but it's for keeping from sliding off of my lap. I've got a lot to learn before I figure out how to play it standing up.

My autoharp is for singing with mostly. I love the quality of it with my voice, and I'm learning a bunch of songs that I really love. But since I'm taking her out in public, I need to work on some more of my favorite sing-a-longs. Making music with a bunch of like-minded individuals is a very good thing, and I get to do a lot of it. It's mostly folk music I'm learning, of the popular '60's variety, and some traditional standards as well. There are still a couple of songs that I'm re-learning since I had my chord bars moved around last fall, but those are making more sense with the standard Bryan Bowers arrangement. Much easier for me to work with, and I recommend it to any player.

I'm trying to get a few sets of three songs, for the purpose of playing at open mics. I love the idea of having some kind of theme, but I need to learn a few more songs to round them out. I think I have a Wildflower Song Set almost ready to go with:

• Wildwood Flower
• Wild Mountain Thyme
• How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower

I also am casually looking for another song with the word "damn" in it, as I have two already for my Damn Song Set. I am learning my second "death" song for my Death Song Set, "The Death of Queen Jane" and I still need to get the chords figured out for the third. Clearly I plan to be prepared for every eventuality at an open mic night. Who knows, if I get the hang of it, I might actually tell people in advance to come see me. Maybe next year sometime.

Musings about Music

It seems like a day doesn't go by when I don't find myself contemplating music. Yesterday I put a post up about FolkThyme internet radio. I love having it playing while I write my blog posts, it reminds me how diverse and how meaningful folk music can be. But in this post I want to talk about my love for my autoharp, and about my history with it. When I was in grade school we had both a piano and an autoharp in the music room. This was back in the 70's and I lived in a nice suburb of upper middle class families.

I remember I had the opportunity to take the autoharp home and play it. I laid it out on the living room floor next to the piano, and pushed buttons and strummed away on it. I strummed and strummed with the pick until it leapt out of my fingers and right down the hole in the autoharp. From what I can remember I was pretty upset about this, tried to shake the pick loose, but it just didn't work. So I strummed and strummed some more with my fingernail until my little 9 year old fingers hands were sore from holding the buttons. As I recollect I only had it for the weekend. The other thing I remember was June Carter Cash playing the autoharp on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, holding it upright. When I asked my music teacher about playing that way at school, she told me that the correct way to play the autoharp was with it lying flat.

Remember when I said that I put it on the floor next the piano? Well, my first instrument was the piano, I think I was six when I first started taking lessons. It was fun at first, but later I was made to continue because I had to learn to commit to something. Some kind of life lesson my parents wanted me to know. I finally quit when I was about nine or ten. Then it was time to sign up for band, and I wanted to play the flute, but all little girls wanted to play flute so I was steared toward the clarinet. So for four years I played in band, but it was a small band and the Senior High band members were all also the schools marching band. This I did not want to do. But music was a part of me now, so I joined the choir.

Singing became my main musical outlet, and in my teens my sister and I each got guitars. I struggled with it with my soft girly fingertips. I loved my guitar for at least one whole summer, but I never took lessons, though my sister did. But I kept singing and my guitar collected dust, I wanted pretty long nails, which seemed more important to me. Later in college I flirted with the piano again as an elective class. I really liked it. A lot. But pianos are kind of big and expensive and hard to get up the stairs to an apartment. Then at some point I took up the twelve string guitar because I always loved the sound. I spent a good year with it, but only barely learned 3 songs though I practiced a lot. Again I didn't take lessons.

The next musical transition was trading my twelve string for a flute. Because, you see, I wanted the flute not the clarinet all those years before. This time I did take lessons. It was really fun, and I wonder where my flute music went to. The flute is in a closet somewhere. You would think that I would learn something by now, get a smattering of music theory or something. Well, I can read music for the most part, but there are all kinds of complexities out there that are way above my head. I've got some pennywhistles lying around here somewhere which I have an audio tape and book.

Finally the Autoharp comes back into my life. I saw my friend Becca Leathers playing one with her band Riverfolk. Now, it had been some time since I'd seen live music. It's funny how time passes when you are dealing with trying to be an adult. It was so wonderful, and they are so good, that I fell immediately in love with their music and enchanted with the idea of taking up the Autoharp. That was June of 2009, and I'm still playing my Autoharp. Thanks in part to taking some lessons so I'd learn how to play it properly.

And here I have to say that I feel spoiled, priviledged, and honored to have the opportunity to take lessons from Karen Mueller: 1986 International Autoharp Champion & 2006 Autoharp Hall of Fame. While living in Lawrence, Kansas, Karen took first place in the Kansas State Dulcimer Championships in 1984 and 1985, and was a finalist at the 1985 National Dulcimer Contest in Winfield. She lives here in the twin cities and teaches at Homestead Pickin' Parlor. She travels all over doing workshops as well. And she gave me a mountain dulcimer lesson on her instruments so I could try before I buy. As I said in a previous post, I have signed up for The Dulcimer School due to financial considerations. But I'll take lessons from her again, when I get stuck and need some extra help with either the Autoharp or the Mountain Dulcimer. I'm on my own with the Kantele, but for the book and what I can find on the internet.

A long post, but I just needed to work through the steps in my journey through instruments as I stand on the verge of taking up yet another one. And I forgot to mention the doumbek that I took up for a while. Still have one, they're too fun not to have at a music party.