Countdown!

Two weeks today, at this time, I will be at check-in at Heathrow Terminal 5 pushing the Big Boy - that's the case, not me! - and hoping it will be under the 51lb weight limit. So I just packed it with everything I think will be in it - came to 48lb!! And that is including the two autoharps. The problem is that actually it is very heavy but not very bulky, there is quite a bit of space inside, and I can see the harps moving about and bumping into each other. Bubble wrap is called for I think. Now back to my list making, tune practicing, singing, and worrying. It really can't come quick enough.

Quietly #%€$ing myself

Real adrenalin rush after the concert last Saturday when I rediscovered both my voice and my performance persona. The rush is wearing off as I keep stressing about all sorts of things. I am sleeping very badly too, as Gill is away. Back tomorrow, so one pressure off. I have been doing things today like clearing everything off my iPad that I don't want so I have space for photos and sound recordings, and trying to sort out the UKAA CD graphics so I don't have to rush that when I get back. Four hours on the failing computer, but successful. So  I treated myself to some singing. I went through every song I might want to record with Neal. The harps were a real problem, slightly out of tune and feeling quite dead. But .... I can sing again. I can't sing loudly, or for very long, but neither of those are a problem. I can sing in tune, and expressively, with a good range. I enjoyed the singing, and sang some of the songs the best I had ever done so. At least I am pretty sure my voice will be good for MLAG. Next thing to do is to pack my case and weigh it.

Gargrave

On 3 Jun 2013, at 10:31, Caroline Turner wrote:

Well Ive had the most fantastic weekend up in Gargrave with the UKAH. Arrived early Saturday for the day of workshops, and promptly walked into Sue and Bob. What a lovely warm welcome from everyone. I didn't feel a stranger at all and indeed everyone I met was so warm and welcoming, I was immediately surrounded by friends. Fabulous. 

.......... Huge thanks to everyone for making these days happen. Im sure there must be so much work, getting you guys together, plus the venues, the catering, the sound and to then be so generous with your knowledge and experience.....well Ive never known a musical community like it. Thank you thank you thank you. 

........................Caroline YOU are why we do it! What a lovely lady, smiling and cheering us up all day! And her evaluation sheet set a new record in synonyms for "wonderful"! 

It was a bit good though. We definitely had our doubts about this one It was more than 100 miles from any of our tutors, so it cost us a lot to put it on in travel and accommodation expenses. And there were not many autoharpers in the area - which was why we wanted to go there, to do the John the Baptist bit and spread the word. But would the locals come?

The answer is "Build it and they will come" of course. We were disappointed in the number of local musicians dropping in (0), but I take the blame for that - I was meant to do a tour of the local folk clubs but was unable to do so. But we did meet six totally new-to-us autoharpers, and we made a big impression on the 60 odd locals who came to our evening concert. We were asked back, and we introduced a whole area of the country to an instrument they ad never heard of before.

So many great highlights of the day. Which started the previous evening with a half hour from the fabulous Kilcawleys - I think we shall rename them thus - in the local pub, followed by a singaround, to give some of the locals a taste of what would be in the concert. Noisy, but great fun. On a personal level, I found having to stretch my voice to dominate the pub really hurt, but actually next day it was better, so I think the more I use it, within reason, the better. At the end of the concert on Saturday I hit my top G - can't be bad!

Then the workshops on Saturday. Mike had about 10 in his taster session, with some locals taking advantage of the free session and loan of the Autoharp. Then Nadine and Ian took on playing in sessions, Guy the beginners, and I taught some dance tunes on diatonics. Really enjoyable. The village hall staff laid on chili or corned beef hash and loads of CAKE for a lovely lunch, and then on to the afternoon workshops - again great fun and really useful. I got to practice two MLAG tunes in front of a discerning and helpful audience of three, so really useful for me. Then Mike taught us about drag notes and blues, lovely workshop. Then the delights of the open stage - some real quality performances - so good to hear Paulette who we haven't seen in a while singing and playing "Never on a Sunday", but one of the highlights was Polly, a new autoharper but a very experienced singer with a lovely voice. She was not willing to regale us with that voice on its own - so Ted on whistle, myself on Autoharp and harmony, and Paulette on accordion formed an instant band while she sang Fields of Athenry. Brilliant.

We set up for the concert. How many tables? Who would come? The village hall staff said put out seats for 60 - there were benches round the side as well if needed, but we set out tables in a bistro style and waited. And they came. We had over 80 people in the hall, plus performers plus catering staff, plus bar staff - had to be a bar, its compulsory in Yorkshire! And they experienced the best concert I have ever been at, let alone taken part in. Nadine and Ian opened for us, with Hello Stranger from Nadine as the first song. Then the Kilcawleys with their inimitable voice and musicianship. Then I gave them Autoharp Blues - which had one member of the audience almost wetting himself as he fell of his chair laughing! - and took the opportunity again to practice an MLAG tune. Then Patrick OSullivan introduced his work on Robert Story.

Patrick has been the driving force behind this project from the start. He is the local host and has been fed up with travelling so far to UKAA days, so he pushed us, kicking and screaming at times, to put one on in his area. To facilitate this, he undertook to get some Arts Council funding! Marvellous! He got the funds to allow us to pay our tutors. As part of his bid he promised to do some academic research on a local 19thC poet, called Robert Story, who lived many years in the village where we were. So he did the research, found a huge body of work, and persuaded the lovely Stephanie Hladowski, a local singer, to set some to music and perform them to the village in a World Premiere in the concert. Stephanie sang the first solo, about the death of one of Story's sons, the Patrick joined the second, and Mike played Autoharp and I harmonised the third. Would have liked more rehearsal. Would have liked SOME rehearsal, but went fine.

Second half opened with all of us singing Grandfathers Clock, lead by Mike, then Guy Padfield came on and really nailed it! How he plays ragtime bare fingered like he does, I don't know. His personality was really coming through as well. He introduced, in his London accent, one of his songs (Good Ol Mountain Dew) by saying he needed to put on a Southern accent. A broad Yorkshire voice boomed out "Yerve already got un!" Stephanie gave us three more unaccompanied songs, beautifully sang. Then it was Mike Fenton's turn. There are autoharpers - then there is Mike. He was on fire. We were already running about 15 minutes over schedule. We finished an hour over. There was no way we could get Mike off the stage, even had we wanted to, we would have been lynched by the audience. From "Listen to the mocking bird" to "Goodnight Irene" he had them in the palm of his hand, with jokes, Jews harp, dulcimer and peerless autoharping. The following day Nadine, Paulette and I played before and after the Communion service at the local church, and a little old lady came up to me and said how much she had enjoyed the concert - "especially the comic!" Well, he is much more than a comic, he gave all of us a lesson in stage craft that night.

We finished en masse again, with me leading "Will the Circle be Unbroken" in G. Difficult for me to sing about my mother dying, but it had to be done, and I was pleased with how my voice held out. Great way to finish a great concert, and so full of adrenalin after. A reminder, after nearly eight months of NOT performing, of how much I do actually enjoy it. Now I am REALLY looking forward to MLAG. 

Bob Ebdon

www.bobebdon.com

Sent from my iPad

One month to go

Four weeks three days and I will at this time be at Heathrow Terminal 5.  Assuming I can manhandle my case, carry-on and harp across three train changes and the London Underground. Today I ordered some mosquito repellant and some shorts. Not very short shorts, long shorts. But I looked at the weather predictions for Newport PA for June/July and saw temps of 85 F as standard. I would normally go a long way to avoid those kind of temperatures. Oh well. Need to get some dollars. Keep practicing, check the weight of my case, and try to train wife and son on how to use ask yep and pick up emails on a computer that I haven't got yet and don't know how o use myself. Meanwhile, back to reading the instruction manual on my new car!

Problems and solutions

Five weeks to go. I have been playing bare fingered with quite long fingernails, and my practice today was one of the best I had done. But I am pretty sure that I cannot keep them that length without breaking them for the next six weeks. So I have trimmed them right down and hope they grow enough in the time I have left. Is this a risk! I hope not. Meantime I may have to practice with picks again. The length of my pieces is bothering me as well. I timed them today at 2min 45sec (probably OK?) and 2min 20sec (probably too short?). So I may have to revisit the arrangement of the second piece at least. Also not happy yet with the dynamics and the emotion, need to concentrate on that aspect as nobody is going to be impressed with my speed! Meanwhile, Gargrave is fast approaching, and I have to focus on that. My workshop is sorted, but I have spent some time on each piece looking for the hard bits that I will need to concentrate on, looking at fingerings and teaching points. I also need stuff for the slow jam - with a computer that believes it is Jan 2001, printing anything is impossible at present. And I need at least two pieces for the concert there, probably three.

Computer problems, car problems, bank problems, family problems - life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. Had a delightful time with grandson Dylan at the start of the week though. I will miss him in America - hope Skype works!

Just sometimes....

...things go right. Didn't Paul Simon write a song about that? I have just had one of those practices where I was at one with my GD, and everything I played was spot on, there seemed to be no dead strings on the harp and I was caressing the music out of it. Yesterday I had to beat it out! I am sooo surprised at how well I am getting on with bare fingered playing. I cannot judge how loud I am though, is the only problem, and I have to really work on dynamic contrast. This is a real problem with bare fingers I find - you can play quietly, but not as loudly as you can with picks on, so the dynamic range is compressed. Perhaps I need to record something and have a listen.

A lot happening

Funeral next Tuesday, still a lot to get organised, especially where to park all the cars. Also will be putting up daughter, partner, Dylan and two dogs for two nights. Which means cleaning the house, planning meals, putting up beds, cots and child proofing the house. Meanwhile, my own Mum, who died last August, left me some money, which is why I am going to MLAG and getting a new harp in the first place, and it has only taken 7 months to sort out the estate. So I got a very large cheque last week, and have gone and bought a new car and a new iMac. So more to sort out - insurance, pick up, transfer files, learn how to use new computer. And in three weeks I have a big weekend at Gargrave with sing alongs, slow jam, workshops, concert and church service to organise. And I am trying to produce the art work and covers for the UKA CD. When I am in-between computers.

Still finding some time to practice though. Tonight I thought I would try some serious singing. OK. I am still struggling though. I feel a lump in my throat, I have a vibrato that was never there before and my breath control is pretty useless. My range seems not quite there but not far off. Power is not great either. Tone sounds good, though, and I may need to sing in lower keys than before. My best song tonight was "He'll have to go" sung in real Jim Reeves style, with a bottom F. Anything over a top D, I struggled with. I also struggled badly with the harps. My FC in particular is now producing wolf harmonics around the C lock felts. Funny, two days ago, I played some pieces better than I have ever done. Tonight I could only get a decent sound by strumming.

Gills latest contribution to my trip. "You can't go away for three weeks - you haven't got 21 pairs of underpants!".

F or G? That is the question!

Tried my pieces on my two harps today, F/C and G/D. Problem. One sounds best in F, the other in G, and you are only allowed to take one harp on stage at the contest. Still going with bare fingers though. I think the first piece sounds so much better in F - I first learned it in F - that this is a very good argument for doing them both in F. But then I am picking up a new Cascade single key E at MLAG, so I might end up doing everything in that. I have spent some time working on the pieces or Gargrave as well though, which are very different, and at least give my wife and son a break from hearing the same two tunes over and over again. Still so many decisions to make, so much to do - and a funeral to get through first.

Preparations

All sorts of other stuff that I have to do. I am planning on taking part in the contest, so every day I am working on two pieces - wont tell you which! One thing that has surprised me enormously is that I think I will be playing them bare fingered. I get a much cleaner sound with no pick noise and of course no picks to fly off. Fortunately my nails are quite strong, but every now and again I play with picks just in case I have no nails when it comes to the contest! I do have another two tunes, but am sure I won't be needing those, so just check them now and again. I have read Lucilles Contest hints several times - and still have no idea how long the pieces are supposed to be! I am sure mine are too short! Been looking at the MLAG site as well, trying to decide which workshops to attend. The only one that is a must so far is Cathys Harmony class. I also have to prepare my class for Gargrave on Dance tunes, plan the songs I want to record with Neal and Coleen, do the art work for my CD and the UKAA CD  - and attend my mother-in-laws funeral next week. Busy times.

Buying bits

It is amazing the amount of stuff I need to buy. The suitcase was a huge - in all senses - purchase. But then I need luggage labels, and some stickers to personalise it. I need a USB memory stick - and apparently a carabiner to attach it to my belt. I need shower shoes - having survived 62 years without them! I need an adaptor for my iPad charger - then I see an item on daytime TV about fake ones that are unsafe. I need flight socks. I need a London Tube map. I now have all the above. But as always, it is what you don't know that you need that will trip you up.