Obviously it's been WAY too long since I posted anything or read LJ, for which I profoundly apologize from beneath my "to-do" mountain of undone stuff.  Quick update/excuse: for those who don't know, we found out two days before OVFF that I'm pregnant again.  Unfortunately, the week after OVFF (congrats especially to vixyish  and cadhla  for their Pegasus awards!) my morning sickness attacked.  While I've been able to keep working full-time, I pretty much have come home every day and crashed on the sofa or in the recliner.  This pregnancy is just a lot more tiring than I remember the last one being; of course, coming home to an active toddler every day wouldn't affect my energy levels AT ALL, I'm sure.  :)  Also, my Irish group worked very hard through December working on a CD: rehearsals, studio sessions, etc.  Still not done, as the holidays took over our lives in late December.  Maddie turned 2 last week (hard to believe!) and will attend her THIRD Capricon next month!

So please accept my apologies for being AWOL.  I miss my LJ friends (especially all the filkers, which is nearly all of my friends) and will try to get caught up somewhat, especially since Capricon is next month and I'll be seeing many of you again.  Please let me know if there's something in particular I should catch up on in your journal, since I'm pretty overwhelmed thinking about catching up with three months' worth of all my friends on LJ!

This is a banner year for Wild Mercy.  Not only did we go where no band had gone before (save for an exploratory partial voyage by the Black Book Band) in recording Barry's song-cycle "Dream of a Far Light" and then performing the WHOLE DAMN THING live at Marcon this year, we've been nominated for a Pegasus Award for Best Performer!!!  Also, and directly connected with this (I think), Barry Childs-Helton has been nominated for a Pegasus Award for Best Writer/Composer!!!!  These awards are voted on by the filk community:  this includes filkers and filk listeners, so go vote at www.ovff.org! 

Frankly, we in Wild Mercy are stunned (and very, very flattered) to be on the ballot this year.  We're on the ballot with amazing folks such as vixy & tony, Heather Dale, and Amy McNally!!  Seanan's on the ballot too, and lots more amazingly talented people!  You can hear all the selections on the ballot and then vote.  If you participate in filking in any way (player or listener!), you can vote: these are the awards whose outcome YOU directly control.  :)  Plus, you should go to the ballot just to listen to all the great music!! 

This ends my shameless plug.  Now for the condition.  Please, if you've never heard of filk before, don't vote.  Seriously.  This is for the filk community to decide.  :)  Thanks for understanding!

So earlier this month I went to the Somerset Folk Harp Festival, held this year not in Somerset but in Alexandria, VA, but never posted anything on my LJ.  Condensed version is sort of a compare/contrast with the American Harp Society conference:  less formal, more concerts that were actually fun (meaning, less classical, more Celtic and popular music), way more attendees who brought harps, way more workshops that used harps, mostly lower-level workshops.  Very friendly vibe on EVERYONE's part at Somerset; I met some friendly folks at the AHS conference, but the overall vibe was very different.   Saw Martha Gallagher again ("The Adirondack Harper"; Google her--she's great!), and saw a kick-butt concert by a Scottish harpist named Corrina Hewat.  You will LOVE her stuff--check her out!

Met a great couple: Jaque and Genevieve Davison.  Jaque plays harp and has a really cool virtual world dedicated mostly to the harp, with a gallery set aside to showcase images of his wife's stained glass.  We had some really fun conversations!  One of my favorite experiences came when I tried out a harp at the Sligo Harps booth.  What great instruments!  Lightweight, but really resonant and clear tone; the fluoro-carbon strings are a part of that sound, and the rest is the amazing woodwork and craftsmanship.  Sounded great, looked great; I raved positively about them to a harp-shopping family that came by while I was playing and asked me questions about the harps.  Afterward Rick Kemper thanked me for my sales pitch (completely unsolicited--they're great instruments!  www.sligoharps.com) and said that he planned to make me "an offer I couldn't refuse" to make sure I could go on promoting his harps.  He sent an email this week.  He was right; I can't refuse.  I have a 30-string Seang (pronounced "shang") coming in the next couple of weeks.  I'll get a trial period for FREE and then get to decide if I'm buying or not, plus he offered me a discount since I'd spent the better part of an hour talking with the harp-shopping people and explaining why Sligos, in my opinion, are wonderful harps (they are!!!).  Whee!  Gear Acquisition Syndrome strikes again! 

 On the way to church last Sunday morning, Maddie and I were listening to one of Wild Mercy's CDs; I think it was Furious Fancies--and one of the instrumental tracks started.  She heard the harp and looked at me (I spend WAY too much time driving while looking over my right shoulder, so I saw this look from her) and I said, "It's a harp! Can you hear the harp, Maddie?"  She nodded and then brought up both hands and played "air harp"!!  She plays my harp occasionally at home, so I recognized the gestures immediately.  She's gone from just touching the strings and smiling to actually playing notes with both hands, somewhat intentionally--she's mostly playing with her thumbs, anchoring her hands in place with the other fingers.  We play piano together as well; she wants me to sit next to her on the bench, and then she plays and occasionally directs me that it's my turn (usually she wants me to play the very lowest and very highest keys, since I can reach them both without scooching along the bench).  

Anyway, the 18-month-old playing air harp in the car was just too funny, so I had to share.  Can't stop the cuteness!  (She needs that on a T-shirt!)

 First, thanks to Tanya Huff for coining the swearword I used above; it's from her Torin Kerr novels, which I love dearly.

Second, and the actual point of this post:  I need marketing tips.  I want to get paid to play harp and sing.  What kind of venues should I be looking at, how much $ should I ask for, how does the whole land-a-weekly-job-at-a-club thing go anyway?  

Anyone?  Please help.  I've played for weddings since 1995, and I've got lots of 'em on my calendar.  Those of you who know me through Wild Mercy know that I am capable of more than The Wedding March.  

My favorite thing to do is sing and play, and I have a Big Damn (Pedal) Harp to pay off, so the decision to seek this kind of work was easy.  Implementing it. . .well, let's just say I was one of the lowest earners in those school fundraisers where you knock on doors and get people to buy stuff.  

Advice on ANY aspect of this would be very helpful; you don't have to know particular venues, just types of venues, since most of my LJ friends live nowhere near Indianapolis.  

Thanks in advance!

 What an amazing event!  The American Harp Society holds a national conference every other year, and this year's was held in Dearborn, MI.  It's mostly pedal harpists, but Dusty Strings and a few other folk harp vendors go too, because some pedal harpists are broadening their horizons to folk harp, mostly as "therapy harp" (playing in hospital/hospice settings for patients--very soothing and therapeutic!).  The first thing I went to was the dealers' room (they called it the "Exhibit Room", but everything in there was for sale, so. . .), and it was incredible.  I'd never seen so many pedal harps in one place: had to have been at least 60!  Add in about another 30 or so lever harps. . .plus sheet music, accessories, even "harp-friendly" vehicles--the local Subaru dealer had several vehicles, none of which passed my scrutiny as acceptable harp vehicles (wheel bases too high for me to lift the harp in, plus no room for second-row seating, so no children allowed in the vehicle when the harp is in. . .which is just impossible).  But it was all very impressive, and I bought some new sheet music and tried out a totally electric lever harp.

First concert was Sadie Turner, a brilliant 21-year-old harpist.  OMG she was amazing!  I watched her effortless pedal changes (mine look like I'm riding a bicycle, and at least 15% of my pedal changes are wrong to boot) and graceful hands and thought "I can't do this, and I'll never be able to".  That, plus a feeling of dislocation every time I spoke to a pedal harpist, pretty much made me feel at a loss for Monday and most of Tuesday.  Except for Monday night's concert, which was freakin' AWESOME!!!!  Calvin Stokes, Park Stickney, and Edmar Castaneda were the three featured harpists: all jazz and Latin harp stuff, with backing instruments (Calvin had bass, drums, & sax; Edmar had trombone and percussion) and all truly incredible in their unique ways.  High point of the concert for me was when ALL THREE harpists came out on stage together at the end, and jammed (with Edmar's percussionist) on Sting's song "Fragile".  A. Maz. Ing!  Afterward, there was a chocolate reception (mmmmm!) and more great music with Rizpah Lowe, who sang and played harp with a backing bassist & drummer.  

Rizpah was the only harpist I saw all week who both sang and played, and it helped me realize that what I enjoy most on the harp is singing and playing.  I saw more concerts that I won't describe; all were of the more formal variety, and honestly bored me silly.  I mean, yes, I play the harp, and I have immense respect for the skill of all these harpists, but I just couldn't keep my brain there to pay attention.  I attended some great workshops on effective practicing, on healthy posture at the harp (something I have struggled with forever, plus my messed-up rotator cuffs and tendonitis tendency), and even an ergonomic eval at the harp with a licensed PT!  But for me the best part of the conference were the open mics, held Tues. and Wed. night.  Read on: this is the best bit.

So I show up at 9:30 Tues night for the open mic, held at the little coffee place in the hotel lobby, hoping I'll make it on the set list (it's only running from 10-midnight), and there's NO ONE THERE.  The bass player and drummer are setting up (it was advertised as a chance to jam with live bass & drums, and there was a 15-minute max on performance time), and there are no chairs or tables.  Or a vocal mic.  Or a music stand.  And no harpists and no one, apparently, in charge.  A hotel employee came in to see what we needed, and I chivvied him into setting up chairs and tables, and wheedled another one into providing a vocal mic.  The harp was an acoustic/electric pedal harp by Camac, jet black and beautiful, needing only to be plugged & played.  Scrounged a music stand and we were ready to rock!  Except there were no other harpists there: they were all still at the evening's formal concert, which was offsite and ran over its scheduled time.  Since the open mic was advertised as being open to the public, though, there were a bunch of other folks there waiting to hear music.  So I wound up doing almost the first hour by myself, with Pete Sears on drums and Kurt Kronke on bass--they were awesome!  I played the four songs I had prepared and had lyrics for, and then did the few tunes I have memorized, and then finally another harpist came up and did two tunes.  She was Martha Gallagher, "the Adirondack Harpist", and she was very good!  Then no one would go up, so I went up and tried a couple of things I was pretty sure I had memorized.  One lyric bobble, but otherwise they worked.  Then Sam Milligan, author of several harp instruction books, went up and did a dirty song about the joys of masturbation.  WTF???  Then someone else did something (can't remember now) and then I went up again.  No one else would play, so I finished the last 15 minutes out, ending with Sarah McLachlan's "Angel", well, because I could.  Went up to my room and shook for a while--I mean, I was the worst harpist I heard all week, and I had to anchor the Open Mic?  Yikes!--and then worked up five more lyric sheets for Wed night so I wouldn't just be repeating, because that was just TOO MUCH FUN!!!

So Wed. night there was a goof-up regarding who was supposed to provide the harp(s) (added a lever harp for those who didn't play pedal but wanted to perform--wise decision!), and at 9:44 we still had no pedal harp.  Unlike last night, we now had a hefty crowd of teenage harpists eager to play at their VERY FIRST OPEN MIC!, and so I finally had to go up to the rotunda, crash an invitation-only event, and whisper the situation to the concomm chair, who promptly excused herself, grabbed her OWN electric/acoustic pedal harp, and amp, and cables, and we got underway only a few minutes late.  I sound-checked everything by doing the first number, but after that, I was basically the moderator (got to close out the night).  It was GREAT!!  The teenagers were really, REALLY good, and Calvin Stokes even sat in and did a jazz standard.  The place was totally packed, with folks standing in the back, along the divider wall, and even dancing in the lobby! Later,  in the privacy of my hotel room, I mused on everyone's willingness to accept me as the person in charge.  Even the concomm chair, as we hauled a** to get her harp downstairs, turned to me in the elevator and said, "So. . .who ARE you?  You really just came in and took charge and made it happen!" (in an approving tone; open mic had been her idea, but she hadn't known that those run better with a moderator).  Everyone came to me to volunteer for playing next.  It was a blast!!  Not the power trip, but the knowledge that I helped make it fair, to give everyone a chance to play, to keep hogs from hogging and to encourage the shy ones to get up there and try it!  I laid the "rules" at the beginning, because most folks there had never been to an open mic: be supportive of EVERYONE, remember it's NOT a competition, just a sharing of music among music lovers, etc. . . and it was beautiful.  Sweet to my ears, at the end, was a general request from the audience for ME to take another turn.  My buddy Bob had driven over from a meeting in Ann Arbor, so I had to do "Angel" again.  :)  

The open mics affirmed that I am going in the right direction. Almost no one sings and plays pedal harp, and folks really liked my song choices (thank you Mary Crowell: I did "Captain of the Guard" and "When I Grow Up"!), and it DIDN'T MATTER that I wasn't as good a harpist as anyone else: I was doing something different, and they loved it.  (I'm not being modest: I really was not even close to the caliber of any of the other pedal harpists, although I could hold my own with the other lever harpist that evening.)  So that is the direction I will be pursuing with my new pedal harp: singin' and playin'.  Any suggestions for songs I should cover are welcomed, by the way!  

Thursday was just a travel day home; I'd goofed up when planning my flights and was going to miss the final afternoon and evening concerts, and during the day there was NOTHING happening, because folks were supposed to use that day to see The Henry Ford area and downtown Detroit, etc.

So ended my first experience of the American Harp Society.  While most folks there spoke a foreign language (repertoire I'd never heard of, name-dropping names I didn't know, etc.), I found my place there after all, and discovered I have guts enough to make something happen, and that it's possible to be terrified and gleeful at the same time AND still sing and play simultaneously!!  Whooeee!  Now to get a full night's repertoire worked up and start hustling gigs!!

 So I realized that, between traveling without Internet access and having the cable modem go down intermittently once I got back, I haven't posted to LJ for forever.  Updates are coming soon.  First, though, I have to credit vixyfor pointing me to this link, and elizalavellefor the amazing vixy&tony icons she's created.  I swiped three and you'll see them start showing up in future posts.  Beautiful work! 

 Okay, so all the standard disclaimers I always tell other musicians not to do are popping up in my brain ("remember, I haven't done very much of this yet, so it's probably not very good")--the kind of self-defeating stuff I try to empower my students to ignore: physician, heal thyself!.  So without any more cowering (at least not where y'all can see me), here are the lyrics for "Not an Open Book".

I know of guns and intrigue and the ways of evil men,
Of how to track and how to fight and the lies of government.
Ask me how I know these things and I'll just look at you and smile,
My secret's mine to keep, and it's been secret for a while.

Chorus: Now you see me as a Shepherd, but that's not all that I've been,
You ask me of my past, but that's a Book that's closed, my friend.
No, I wasn't born a Shepherd, but that story's mine alone,
And what I've been in days gone by is someone you've not known.

I'd like to tell you how it is I know the things I do,
But that would open up old wounds, and maybe hurt you, too.
I'm content with my new life now and the Book that I now teach,
But certain, older, words remain and turn up in my speech.  Chorus

Now in my life's mysterious past there are chapters I can't mend,
But I can scratch them out now, as I write the new ones in.
Yet in the crossed-out lines, I've found, some useful things remain,
So I'll use those things to help you, and so wash away their stain.  Chorus

Bridge:  Perhaps I sought forgiveness for the man I was before,
Perhaps I just grew weary, and chose to close that door.
But a door connects two places--the Others don't forget--
and in my darkest, desperate need, they'll honor unsaid debt.

Perhaps someday I'll tell you why I'm now the man I am,
But I don't know you well enough to show all of my hand.
I have found a place to stand, in faith renewed my heart,
And I'll help you do the same when you come seeking a new start. Chorus

Now you see me as a Shepherd, but that's not all that I've been,
Don't ask me of my past, for that's a Book that's closed, my friend.

 I wrote a SONG!  For anyone who doesn't know me well, let me tell you that I NEVER write songs--partly a case of "somebody else did it better", and partly a lack of time and attention to my own non-job-related thoughts.  I've written instrumental harp tunes, and once a poem that I thought would make a good song, but never lyrics AND melody AND chords.  Anyway, I was listening to vixy and tony's new CD "Thirteen" (with bits of stormlight811's song "Aslan's Country" jumping in here and there--what a hauntingly beautiful song!) and random musings about Firefly, because, hey, it's my favorite show EVER, and suddenly I thought about Shepherd Book.  Many of the cast of Firefly have songs written about them, but I'm not aware of any about Book.  So I wrote one, called "Not an Open Book" (couldn't resist), and I have melody and chords and everything.  It was scary, how quickly the whole thing flowed (and very cool: riding the wave of inspiration feels like downhill skiing for the brain, when you're on a roll!).  Unfortunately, I'll have to post the lyrics later; it's time to go play a wedding with Wild Mercy.  Lyrics and more about the wedding later. . .

So this weekend will be the premiere performance of "Dream of a Far Light" in its entirety, at Marcon.  It'll also be my debut performance with my new NS WAV4 upright bass--I'm even playing it bowed on one song!--in addition to the Fender jazz bass and my Heartland lever harp.  I also have a Consuite set, at which I will use the upright and the harp.  And

sweetmusic_27 will be playing her new awesome electric space fiddle of DOOM!  Yeehaw!  Plus, there's filk circle (yay filk and hanging out with filk friends!), plus relaxing with Phil and Maddie at intervals--there's a pool!!--plus, eventually, sleep.

In addition, I've been cheering for cadhla's success in getting signed by DAW--so exciting to know a REAL PUBLISHED AUTHOR on her way up (every fan's dream), and making plans to meet up with quadrivium and pferdina at different times this summer: two folks I don't get to see nearly enough of.  And tollers just got the word that she's got the new house (official closing June somethingth), so I'm sure I'll be helping with the move and possibly some painting.  <g>

Life is good.  Life is very, very good sometimes.  The trick is to remember how good it can be, so that when it sucks, you know that good times DO come and WILL come again!

 

 So we have new clothing for Marcon, at least part of the Wild Mercy concert costume, and new clothes are always fun.  Plus, I have my beautiful new pedal harp to play with, and that's always fun.  Finally, I got another new instrument this year (meaning I won't be buying any more instruments for QUITE A WHILE!)--an NS WAV4 electric upright bass.  It's min0taur's fault.  :)  In the middle of the Far Light concert, I switch between harp and bass so often it's not worth dragging the Fender's strap over my head.  (Just kidding, Barry; like I need an excuse to indulge in Gear Acquisition Syndrome.)  Very pretty.  I haven't plugged it in yet, but I set it up in the living room right away and started playing.  Whee!!  

Upright bass isn't quite as much of a stretch (in either sense) for me as one might think; in the ever-more-distant past of high school and undergrad, I played upright bass: the last semester of high school as a cadet teacher for a junior-high orchestra, and the first semester of college, thinking, "Hey, I got myself this far, maybe I could play in the college orchestra next year!"  Not having taken the difference between half- and full-size basses into account, my college semester was frustrating, because my left hand went dead every two minutes from lack of blood flow.  Kinda hard to play that way, but if I shortened the end pin, I couldn't bow the strings and stay upright.  The next semester, I quit bass and started thinking about what other instrument I might possibly want to take up.  The next fall, I started the harp. . .and my life's course altered irrevocably.  

But good ideas do return.  After many years of not giving the bass a thought, I started playing bass guitar when Wild Mercy formed and we wanted to show off minotaur's awesome guitar chops instead of keeping him on bass, as tollersand I had initially half-thought.  And so we come from that moment to this. . .when I buy an upright bass that can be set to any height and angle I want, so that I can play songs about the space/time continuum and the ways in which it will and will not change humanity when we learn to traverse it farther and faster.  Feels less like a straight-line progression and more like a spiral from then to now. . .

 Let's see if this still happens; I've not written as often as I want to, because of a weird thing that happens when I list a fellow LJ user's name, such as min0taur

 See it fly. . .off to Groovehouse, from where many clones of the master disk and gorgeous artwork (thanks, Ray!) will return in a fortnight's time, just in time for Wild Mercy's concert at Marcon!!  See the Wild Mercy MySpace page to hear a sneak preview of the tracks.  Here's the link: http://www.myspace.com/wildmercyband  

What an exciting time!  Now we all have to gear up, after so many months of working on small pieces of individual tracks at a time, to play The Whole Thing All In a Row, All Together Now.  We'll be doing it live at Marcon (www.marcon.org) in just a few weeks.  'Twill be a concert like none other for Wild Mercy!  

On a personal note, I love my new harp more every day.  The pedal technique (sharps and flats controlled by foot pedals instead of flipping levers on individual strings by hand) is coming back to me; I studied pedal harp in college, but could never afford my own.  It's going to open up so many new doors, music-wise, with the songs I'll be able to play.  Now that I've plugged it in to play, I can confirm that it sounds AMAZING amplified--exactly like acoustic, but louder (and sometimes with a little reverb, because nearly EVERYTHING is prettier with just a little reverb! <g>).  Played a bridal show on Sunday and enjoyed myself thoroughly, especially when I got to sightread a bunch of stuff a friend brought me that was specifically written for pedal harp.  Too cool!

Some dreams become less exciting once they are realized.  For me, though, even acknowledging the challenges ahead can't dent my infatuation with my shiny new harp.  It's a 44-string electro-acoustic pedal harp from Camac (www.camac.com) in a beautiful honey-brown color.  The sound is lighter, yet mellower, than my Salvi McFall, which is my biggest lever harp, and the pedal action is very smooth and easy compared to many other harps I've tried.  It stays in tune really well (one of the big selling points as far as I'm concerned--it was practically in tune after riding in a UPS truck for three days!), plugs in to amplify, and is a thing of pure aesthetic beauty, with clean lines and no ornamentation other than the beautiful finish.

Can you tell me, is this love or infatuation??  :)  Well, it's probably the latter right now, since I've had it less than a week, but it will quickly become the former, I think.  There are challenges: I'm used to sitting very close to my lever harp, but at the pedal harp, I wouldn't be able to use the pedals!  So I'm experimenting with where to sit (further back and higher up), which then throws off my sense of where certain strings are located in my reach.  It'll take some adjusting, that's for sure.  But it's SO going to be worth it! 

min0taur and Sally came over to see the harp and Sally was enchanted by its balance and tone (Sally played harp briefly before drums took over her life).  tollerswas planning to come over, but the real estate rollercoaster derailed on Saturday (check her page for details) and she wasn't up for socializing, more for burning a certain agent in effigy.  Best of all was when my harp teacher came over, played jazz on it, and then raved on and on about my harp!  She says she has a massive case of harp envy now.  :)

So much music to learn, so little time. . .
 

 . . .my Celtic group Alair will be playing at the Artsgarden from 1-2 pm on Saturday, March 8.  The Artsgarden is easy to find; it's the giant hamster-ball-looking glass dome that is suspended above an intersection in downtown Indianapolis (I want to say it's over Illinois Street where it crosses Maryland, but I could be off by a block or so).  Concert is free and all-ages, so bring your lunch (or buy it in the Circle Centre Mall Food Court and then bring it) and enjoy!  

Alair is in a transitional phase right now; our fiddler and cellist have decided to pursue other ventures, mostly orchestra work, and so we have Julane Lund playing fiddle with us, with Vicki continuing on flute and percussion, and I'm still on harp and occasional vocals.  Check us out at  www.alairmusic.com 

Okay, that's my shameless plug of the week.  Got to get back to work!

I have not recently had to deal with this, but it's been on my mind because the other three of my Wild Mercy bandmates have lost furry loved ones this winter.  Barry and Sally lost their beloved dog Grace, eleven (?) days after she suffered a stroke and lost the use of her back half.  It was believed that her motion might return, so min0taurand Sally nursed Grace around the clock, but to no avail.  Grace was a grand old gal, with a fearsome bark and a great sense of humor and play.  I miss her every week when we congregate at Barry and Sally's for band practice.  Then Debbie's sweet Toller (that's Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever to those of you who haven't met this amazing dog breed before) developed pneumonia, then some odd white blood cell counts, then a sinus infection, then myasthenia gravis, then megaesophagus.  tollers nursed Chase tirelessly throughout, with meds and with specially concocted dog food and with lots and lots of love, but. . .whatever underlying issue had caused the anomalous white-cell counts apparently ended the struggle yesterday.  Chase was one of the happiest dogs I have ever known, and could express that joy without moving a muscle, since he was also one of the best-trained dogs I have ever known.  He has been Debbie's "furkid" for many years (never enough!) and we will all miss him as well.  

In memoriam for the dogs I have been privileged to know, and especially Grace and Chase: you have given many years of joy to the people who were your families.  May you run through fields and never grow tired; may you lie in the sun and know its warmth, may you always remember the love of your people.  And may you be reunited one day in the grand adventure that you are even now experiencing, while we who are left behind mourn your loss.

 It occurred to me that I should post this, although it happened over a week ago now. . .I won an $8,000 fellowship through the Lilly Endowment to pursue a "project for personal renewal and creativity".  My proposal, which was one of the 120 selected (out of 600-plus that were submitted) was to study pedal harp: classical technique, jazz charts, and accompaniment techniques are the three things I especially want to learn.  So this summer will find me logging into LJ from Alexandria, VA; Detroit, MI; and Stevens Point, WI as I attend harp conferences all over the country.  When I'm home, I'll be studying harp with Jan Aldridge Clark, an amazing harpist here in Indianapolis; she's got both classical and jazz background, so that will rock!!  

The goal of this course of study: to be able to read jazz charts and accompany myself on any song, so that I can work up a fun set of "standards" and get gigs at restaurants, clubs, parties, etc, and sing and play all night!  As far as I know, no other Indy-area harpist sings and plays, so that will give me a unique angle.  That for evenings, and--don't take this wrong--funerals for daytime gigs.  I actually enjoy playing for memorial services.  I choose my music VERY carefully and always try to remain sensitive to the atmosphere in the room, to provide comfort without being maudlin.  Several folks have told me that my music does bring them comfort and a sense of peace, so I feel that I have helped them through a difficult time.  

Ultimate goal: to go back to freelancing.  I'd like to have time to spend with my family and to take better care of myself, and working a full-time job just doesn't get it done.  I could make the same amount of money in half the time, literally, if I had enough gigs on my schedule.  Timeframe: sometime in the next 2-3 years.  We have lots to do before that happens, though: we'd like to move to a house closer to my folks with a little more room, I need to pay off my pedal harp, which should arrive either in April or May, and I'm also hoping we have our second child before I try to leave the day job.  Lots of steps between here and the ultimate goal, but getting this fellowship will get me a few steps further down the path!