11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. (July '04)

Ah summertime: season of harp workshops, travel and temperatures of 14 degrees (which seems cold, until you realize that it's in Celsius. So you convert it to Fahrenheit and find that it's actually 57 degrees, which, come to think of it, *is* cold. For July. Apparently it's not like this every summer, I've just been lucky. [That's only half kidding; these low temperatures keep the midges down: pesky, nearly-invisible biting flies]).

So, let me reach my misty memory back to the beginning of June where begins my tale of "what the hell have I been up to for two months?" First there was a trip to Germany to make a harp. How many harps does one gal need? I hear you ask. The answer is as simple as it is universal, "one more."

There were justifications for making this harp, including: not having the expense of renting a harp anymore; getting a lightweight, easy-to-carry-about harp that sounds fantastic; leaving the country so that I could renew my visa and come back for another wee while; saving the world (I'm not sure exactly how it applies, but it's a great justification).

Ironically, after my harp made it back safely on a bus, two trains and three planes from the tiny village in Germany to my tiny village on Lewis, I was the one who made the first severe dent. I was carrying it down a gravelly road and I tripped, fell, and bashed the top of the pillar (and put several holes in my palms and knees, ouch). Luckily it's only one corner that's crimped, and it will be part of the wood that goes away when I carve it. I don't know yet what to carve it into, though; any suggestions are welcome. You can see pictures of the harp below.

Directly after I got back there was a harp-playing workshop in Tolstachaolais. Justin and Laura give two harp workshops each summer at their house, and it was through attending one of them in 2002 that I first found out about this place. This year I was both the kitchen-helper (a gourmet lunch is included every day of the five-day workshop) and assistant-teacher for both the courses (one in June and one in July). Good music, good food, nice people, beautiful views (the pictures of my harp were taken outside Justin and Laura's house). Two very busy weeks, but very rewarding.

In between the two workshops was the Hebridean Celtic Festival, a huge celebration of celtic music, with bands from all over. The population of the island goes up dramatically; there are actually traffic jams, sometimes! One of the intro bands in one of the smaller venues was a group made up of four girls from the local high school, including one of my harp pupils. I was so proud :).

Also between the two harp workshops I went over to Ireland for two weeks. I visited Ralf in Cork, which was nice. I got to meet some of his friends and see the gorgeous south coast of Ireland (high cliffs, smashing surf, seagulls taking aim for your head...).

I also went to visit the Irish Harp Centre (http://www.irishharpcentre.com). It's located just outside of Limerick (in the south west of Ireland) in the small, picturesque village of Castleconnell, on the river Shannon. Slightly bigger than Tolstachaolais, Castleconnell actually has its own general store, two churches, a post office and twelve pubs. Well, it is Ireland, after all.

I talked with the woman who runs the Harp Centre, and I got a really good feeling from her. She has a similar philosophy of music to mine; she believes that music should be taught as a living language, not a frozen collection of notes on a page to be learned by rote and repeated exactly the same way each time. I liked her and the place so much, in fact, that I'm going to spend half a year there, probably from December to June, studying Irish music (which is significantly different from Scottish music, much to my surprise), teaching, and perhaps playing in the harp orchestra (yes, an orchestra made up of 14-20 harps. It's a...unique sound). It will also be good to study in depth how the place runs, in case I decide to open up my own harp centre(er) some day. It has been in the back of my mind to do such a thing.

So, that catches up the activities of my recent past, leaving out all the mundanities like eating, sleeping and saving the world, and looks into the slightly far-distant future. The nearer future includes a visit from my parents at the end of August; we're going to spend two weeks driving around the Highlands and Islands, yippee! Then I'll fly to Philly in October, and then out to Portland sometime in November.

I hope your summer has been warm, exciting (or relaxing) and free from all biting flies, visible or in-.

Love,
Andrea

Andrea Blumberg

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