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Hola*,
my friends!
Is
it February already? I'm heading off tonight for a show
in northern France, where I'll meet with harp builder
Jakez Francois to see my NEW HARP! It's
a completely new model, made completely of carbon fiber
– like a competition bicycle. It has more strings
than the older model and it's blue with Harley-Davidson
style flame decoration. See, many people don't realize
this, but the harp is just a derivation of a motorcycle,
the only difference being you don't take road trips with
it, you play it on stage. Minor difference.
Jakez
Francois is the protege of the visionary harp builder
Joel Garnier, who built both harps for my DVD and PBS
Special "Invention & Alchemy." Years ago,
when I was going from builder to builder trying to get
a harness-harp built, I finally gave up and made my own
prototype from a little wooden lap-harp, which I covered
in shiny contact paper to make it look like a Stratocaster.
Then I strapped a rudimentary wireless transmitter onto
it, built a harness for it and took it on the road. In
a tiny club somewhere in France, I played it for Joel,
and saw the lightbulb go on above his head. Within a year,
he'd built me the harp I have now: the first commercially
produced electric body-harp, or harness-harp.
Working
with Jakez to develop a new generation of this instrument
is exciting from my end — sending diagrams and specs
back and forth — but this is my first chance to
get my hands on it. I can't wait! It's an historic moment
for me. The harness-harp revolutionized my life as a player
and a composer. To be part of this arts-and-technology
collaboration to create completely new instruments is
an honor, a thrill — a chance to be an active player
in the history of musical development. It's also just
plain FUN to get a newly designed instrument that nobody
else in the world has ever played - one that's been designed
specifically for me!
When
I get back from France I'll be burning the midnight oil
on two projects: one is my musical "In the
Wings" in collaboration with genius-producer
Linda Goldstein in NYC, and with the help and feedback
of my friends at the "New Opera Music Theater Initiative"
in Boston. I'm so excited about this show and the work
I'm doing with Linda. As the project develops I'll let
you know more.
The
other project I need to finish quickly is an arrangement
for 500 harps (!!!) for this summer's World Harp
Congress in Amsterdam. This event is both historical and
hysterical! We're vying for the largest harp ensemble
in the Guinness Book of World Records, and I'll be playing
my "New Blues" with a backup band of 500 harps.
I can't WAIT to hear this! Do you realize how many strings
there are on 500 harps??? Let's see, average 33 strings
per harp and that's 16,600 strings – plus my 32
strings – that's 16,632. Imagine the sound! (Er
.. imagine what it's going to be like to TUNE 500 harps...
eek!)
After
that I'll be in Grand Rapids for the birthday of my beloved
friend, Peter Wege, the man behind my "Invention
& Alchemy" project. For the past 8 years, I've
flown to his birthday party each year for the profound
pleasure of singing him "Congratulations, You Made
it This Far" -- one of the highlights of my year.
Then I'm back home for a minute and off to New Hampshire
for a show at Tupelo Music Hall, which
hosts some of the greatest singer-songwriter-types around.
And if that's not cool enough in itself, the show is going
to be taped by NYC filmmaker Greg DeLiso for a music
documentary, featuring the likes of Bela Fleck
and the Flecktones, The Sugar Hill Gang, DJ Spooky, Presidents
of the United States of America, Ice T, professors from
MIT, Juilliard and NYU...and me!
In
March, I head to NYC for a double-bill at Symphony
Space called "One Way ... and Another,"
where I'll do two completely different shows on a single
night. The first one features my older, most-requested
material and the second has newer or more esoteric work
— with a special ticket price for folks who want
to come to both shows. This is something I've always wanted
to do — and it's a way to connect directly with
those two types of audiences: the ones who want to hear
their favorite pieces again and again, and the ones who
want to hear something completely different each time.
And for folks who like both, Symphony Space offered a
discount on tix for both shows. Very cool. Details are
in the "Upcoming Events" section of the February
E-Blast. (Or go to my tour
page)
In
April, I'm giving a clinic at Berklee School of
Music, where I've been asked to give a retrospective
about where I started and where I've come to, to give
students an idea of alternative music career-paths in
action. That'll be a great chance to sit down and review
my life and ask myself "How DID I get here anyway?
OK ... well, there was the stork ... and then ..."
Sometimes it does seem as incomprehensible as flying in
by bird, figuring out what led to what that gets us where
we are today.
Coming
up this summer: We finally got the dates (July 7–12)
for my summer intensive workshop, "Performance
for Musicians," and I'm really looking forward
to that. Folks have already started signing up, and it
only accomodates about 16–20. This workshop is specifically
for musicians: singers, instrumentalists, conductors –
anyone who presents music on stage, or who is headed in
that direction in their lives. Last year we had about
a dozen harpists, a story-telling harmonica player and
electric fiddler -- what a great combination!
Like
last summer, I'm co-leading with my colleague Karen Montanaro.
Karen and I are both disciples of the great Tony Montanaro
(she was such a great disciple she married him!). Tony
started as a mime, in the same circles as Marcel Marceau,
but then expanded his work into something he called "Physical
Eloquence": combining mime, spoken word, music, stories
and philosophy. He became a kind of performance guru for
folks who didn't fit the norm of performance practice.
So, along with jugglers, New Vaudeville acts, one-man
bands, magicians and clowns, I made my annual pilgrimage
to Tony's barn every summer to study with him. And he
changed my life. With him I learned to break out of my
ideas of what the harp had to be. When I dragged my harp
up to his "Celebration Barn" in the late 80's
I basically flung it at his feet in tears and said, "Tell
me how to get along with this beast or I'm dropping it!"
Ha! In retrospect it seems like he did in-depth marriage
counseling for my instrument and me. And in the true spirit
of marriage counseling, both my instrument and I changed,
immensely – and continue to change. Tony taught
me how to literally get out from behind the harp, and
how to tell the whole story of my musical ideas, which
in my case means not just playing, but singing, telling
the stories, acting out parts — bringing what's
in my imagination alive on stage. Starting last summer,
I'm carrying on that tradition, and along with Karen,
holding a one-week intensive at "The Barn" (Celebration
Barn in Paris, Maine). You can get more info at my tour
page.
West
Coast? Yes! My agent is working to get me out
there this year for sure (and thanks to everyone who keeps
asking)! We'll keep you posted!
And
on a non-performance note, I continue to work on my running,
and (for the moment, anyway) I actually AM getting just
a little bit faster. I gotta say that, having been a very
un-athletic youth, it's comforting to find myself running
faster now than I did in High School (where I couldn't
get around the track once without falling over).
All
the best and I hope to see you at the shows!
*Do
I speak Spanish? No, sadly, I do not speak Spanish. I
WISH I spoke Spanish. I've TRIED to learn Spanish many
times. I'm still trying. But I DO know the word "Hola,"
and it makes me feel like there's hope that some day I
might speak Spanish ... thus the "Hola" at the
beginning. And now ... adios amigos. |
