Random Acts of Harping

June 20, 2011 — Shannon

Last Saturday was National Random Acts of Harping Day.  I set out with my teeny-weeny little black Fullsicle.

At the Arizona State University Art Museum, I played for about an hour, until they closed at 5pm. That’s such a perfect place to play — the entrance is underground, so nice and cool, with a fountain. The acoustics are great, too. Plenty of people stopped to listen, and after I left, one man stopped to thank me for the music. The management was super nice, too.

After that, I hit up the Desert Botanical Gardens. It’s hard to find a good spot to play outdoors in June in Phoenix, but I did manage to find a shady spot just off the trail where I could concentrate on my music. It is so nice to be a little off the beaten path – I could see people stopping to listen. One woman stayed for quite a while, and I saw a family hang out for a bit also.

Even better than watching was listening – the birds were out making a racket, even in the heat of the day, and the breeze through the grass is always a soothing sound. There was barely enough breeze to set my harpstrings humming. I had heard Aolean harps in San Francisco years ago, but hadn’t made the connection until that first time I could hear the breeze in my own harp strings. There is nothing like that sound. It’s soothing and otherworldly all at the same time – if you’ve ever heard a bowed piano (Steven Scott‘s music is a good example of this), you know what I mean.

On Saturdays, the DBG has an evening flashlight tour. As I packed up to leave, one of the tour volunteers decided to “volunteer” a little information to me. I had been sitting next to a big box (and I mean BIG — this thing was about the size of a small kitchen island) box of snakes. Yikes! I’m glad that the people were easier to spot than those critters!

A good day!

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Aeolean

May 27, 2011 — Shannon

Aolean. What we learned in elementary school as the natural minor. I remember having to memorize the three minor scales, but noone explained why there were three scales. After years, I feel that I have a gut understanding of why there are three prominent forms. Singers, of course, like Melodic minor. Harmonic minor is more natural for, well, working harmonically — vertically. And the natural minor. After 5 minutes of playing a 6 hole flute, I understood why the natural minor – Aeolean – still exists in our modern studies.

This mode is good to use when a patient is in reflective or introspective mood. Our IHTP materials touch on the use of Aeolean when we see a patient in the fetal position. Like my understanding of the minor scales, I will trust that more experience here will help me understand this more fully in my gut.

There are some nice transitions that can be used with this mode. Transitioning between this mode and its relative major (Ionian) mode is common in classical, traditional and pop music. Many Irish tunes move from Ionian in the “A” section of the piec to its relative Aeolean in the “B” section. To me, moving from Ionian to Aolean (major to its relative minor, e.g., C major to A minor) gives a feeling of development — taking an idea and thinking about it in more depth. Moving the other direction has a strong effect on me – It is the same feeling as being outdoors and feeling the sun come out from behind a cloud. You aren’t unhappy with the sun behind the cloud, but the effect is pronounced.

Transitioning between parallel Ionian and Aeolean (e.g., C major and C minor)  is also effective, but I think the relative changes effect me more profoundly.

I haven’t experimented with moving between Aolean and another minor mode: Dorian yet. I can see using relative tonalities (e.g., A Aeolean to D Dorian) can give a strong V-I feeling. We often create our dance sets in the Strandband so that we have this V-I shift in focus. I think that moving between Dorian and Aeolean in a parallel fashion (e.g., D dorian to D Aeloean) can be intriguing – Since Aeolean is the “natural” minor, I think of Dorian as being Aeolean with a raised 6th. Moving back and forth between the raised and “natural” 6th can be an intersting improvisation, but easier to play on flute than on the lever harp. But I’m eager to try it out the next time I practice.

Anyway, here is my Improvisation in Aeolean. This is a combination of the Scottish air Mary Young and Fair, along with snippets from the Moldeau. I hope you enjoy it!

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ACME

April 29, 2011 — Shannon

Tonight, I went to a performance by the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble, at Arizona State University. The performance was part of a festival celebrating the music of the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis.

This is not everyone’s cup of tea, admittedly, but I have found contemporary music to be both calming and energizing. My first experience with this was when I was young. As a student, we were challenged to listen to everything around us, and to attend all kinds of events. One semester, our school hosted a contemporary music symposium, including both scholarly talks and performances of all kinds of sounds, from Tibetan throat singing to multiphonics in woodwinds. It takes a certain kind of listening to appreciate this music, and I admit, it takes repeated listening for me to hear any kind of structure (more about that in a later post) to this kind of music, but once I find that, I am usually hooked on the piece.

If you are not a fan of this kind of music, try this experiment: Find a quiet space sometime when you don’t have any pressing thoughts or tasks. Just sit quietly, and listen, really listen, to what is around you: the air currents, the traffic sounds, the building settling (if you are inside). Then listen to Xenakis again, and see if your perception changes. I’d be interested in hearing your experiences with this. If they are anything like mine were, we just might see each other at the next ACME performance.

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IHTP

April 24, 2011 — Shannon

I applied to enter the prep program in Tina Tourin’s International Harp Therapy program, and got my acceptance email last week. I want to do this! But I’m not sure why. I started off writing in this post what I hoped would come of this program, but “hope” isn’t a strong enough word. I am the one required to be here and to do it; without that, I only have hopes that things will happen to me – or not.

Here is what I will do:

  • I will use what skills I already possess along with improvisation skills to discover who I am and to express that to the world.
  • I will connect with other people and learn who they are and share who I am with them for our mutual benefit.
  • I will use what I learn about music and other individuals to learn and express what I know about the human condition.
  • I will combine what I know about music, other individuals, and the human condition to help others in their path toward healing and insight.
This is my promise to the program, but more importantly to myself.
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