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CLOUDS, Les Mis and Summer

25 July 2013 3 Comments

Summer 2013 is turning out to be very busy indeed!

Last week was the first leg of the CLOUDS Harp Quartet tour. We did five concerts in and around Manchester and had a great time, rehearsals were at my flat, rather interesting fitting four pedal harps into an average-sized lounge:

The tour is to promote our new CD entitled WATER:

We are all so excited about this new piece. It’s written by Esther Swift – but I use the term loosely – nothing is physically written down. Esther composes the piece, then teaches it to us aurally and by demonstration. When we first started playing together about four years ago I’d never done anything like it, but now I love it. The music is so free because we aren’t bound by sheets of music, we have to communicate a lot during our performances and I think it makes us much tighter as a group.

*At this point I’d just like to say anyone wishing to purchase WATER can do so by clicking here http://www.cloudsandharps.bigcartel.com/product/water *

Also, here are the dates for our 2013 tour – catch us in Edinburgh, Peebles, Newcastle or North Wales:

On the first day of rehearsals with CLOUDS, my new lever harp arrived! I’ve hired one for the year, and it arrived like this:

It’s a Dusty Strings Ravenna 34 and so far I’m really happy with it – I even went busking earlier this week! I hadn’t really realised how heavy these things are, yes it’s easier than a pedal harp but too much walking around with this on my shoulder results in a lot of pain. Definitely an interesting experience though.

So this week I’m playing for Les Miserables over in Runcorn. Same company that I played for when they did Phantom of the Opera last year. It’s a group of 16-19 year olds and it’s in The Brindley in Runcorn. I do love playing for shows and I’m lucky enough to be doing three this Summer, this one is a bit different though because I’m playing from the guitar part. Shaun Chambers, the conductor, thought (quite rightly) that some of the melody parts would sound really good on the harp – however, it also means I have to play from guitar notation eek! It has been so good for me though, playing from chord symbols – a bit time consuming to mark up in terms of pedals but once you get used to it it’s nice having the flexibility to slightly change what you play each time. Usually playing harp for a show you can expect to be in five or six numbers. I’m playing ALL THE TIME – it’s great! Although it doesn’t leave enough time to eat my minstrels during the show. I made friends with the brass players during the interval last night over chocolates and warm lager. Classy.

The final show is this Saturday evening, after which I am driving straight up to Edinburgh to start the second part of the CLOUDS tour. Someone remind me how I ever managed to fit in a day job?!

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Both sides of the coin.

1 July 2013 1 Comment

Well again it’s been too long since I’ve posted, but I can promise that from now I’ll be blogging much more regularly because…

I QUIT MY JOB!

That’s right, I’m giving up regular income and easy work to become essentially a wandering minstrel.

I have three shifts left – I actually cried when I handed my notice in, but I know it’s for the best. Saturday is my last one, it’s going to be weird. Long Tall Sally has taken up so much of the last 6 months it’ll be very strange having time to do other things.

The fact is, it is too hard to fit my musical life into 3 days a week. I’ve tried, and I can’t do it. Yes I can do my Saturday gigs but I never have time to practice (I actually miss practice – what’s happened to me?!) My flat is always a mess because I never have time nor energy to clean and tidy, my repertoire is dwindling as I don’t have time to learn new pieces and I’m way behind on general life admin (sorry to my parents who still have my deceased car on the driveway seven months after I get a new one!)

Yes, the income was OK, the girls I work with are lovely and I feel very lucky in that respect. But, I didn’t study for four years for a music degree and undertake years of practice and hard work just to spend my days manning a shop floor for minimum wage.

So here’s the plan:

1. Summer is pretty booked up with gigs so income should be ok for a while.

2. Hire a lever harp and try busking to see if it’s a realistic source of extra income. If it does turn out to be good money, try lots of different cities/save up to purchase the harp. Maybe even drive to France and do some busking on the continent?!

3. Keep any spending to a MINIMUM – essentials only – bye bye gym membership, clothes from Primark and food from Aldi – get a cheaper sim-only contract when my current contract runs out AND my car insurance should be a lot cheaper when I renew.

4. Write to all the cruise companies I can google and try to drum up some work.

5. Chop up credit card (I actually already did this)

So I named this post ‘both sides of the coin’. Before I got my job at LTS, I needed income – desperately. When I got the job, I realised I’d actually given up the freedom that comes with being freelance – and the price I had put on my freedom was a little over £6 an hour. I can now see that having the ability to work for myself and to rely only upon myself is worth so much more than that. Yes it’s risky and scary, but I remember at RNCM in one harp class with our teacher – Eira – we discussed the poem by William Arthur Ward ‘To Risk’ and in particular the line the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. I simply have to be free to sort my own schedule, to come and go as I please and not have to ask anyone’s permission before taking on work that is good for my career.

But, I honestly think, having seen and experienced a ‘normal job’ for the past six months, I am more motivated than ever to take my music career as far as I possibly can. This has been a real wake up call and shown me that it is my passion – and the only thing I can really see myself being happy spending my life doing.

To Risk by William Arthur Ward

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out to another is to risk involvement,

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return,

To live is to risk dying,

To hope is to risk despair,

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow,

But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.

Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

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April 18th

18 April 2013 2 Comments

Last week I spent five days aboard the Saga Sapphire in Southampton:

While docked, it acted as a hotel, allowing passengers to experience what Saga have to offer. I was booked to play for them, but I had no idea what would be expected when I got down there.

I gave a lift to the trombone player in the band – Matt – and we set off from Manchester at just after 5am on Wednesday. We arrived pretty much bang on time but had to wait a while before boarding. I got numerous comments of ‘don’t you wish you’d played the violin?’. One day I swear, someone will say that and I will respond ‘wow, YES! Why did I not think of that before, here, take my harp, I’m leaving to find a better life!’

Basically, I had no idea what was going on, how long I would be playing each day, where I’d be staying (i.e. in a ‘crew’ room or a ‘guest’ room) or where I’d be eating. Once on board I was told the lifts weren’t working and I was to take my harp to the 8th deck (are you KIDDING?!) they sent me down to 4th deck to find my cabin, only there was a man in there watching telly, so I trundled back up to reception and asked for another room. They gave me this lovely room on 8th deck:

Not sure why I got a twin room but at least my bags had somewhere to sleep. The weird thing about it was, as it was an inside room (no windows) you can turn off the lights at any point during the day and it feels like night time! Ideal napping territory.

I was told that I was to eat in the restaurant, with the guests, and oh my, the food was divine. Wine was included with dinner (dangerous):

The steak was also to die for, I had chocolate cake, lots of chocolate cake every day and it was amazing. And yes, I may have gained a little weight while I was there but I was having such a lovely time it didn’t matter!

So my job on the ship was to play background music while the guests were having afternoon tea. Every day we had different guests and every day they were really receptive and I got lots of applause (rare for background music) and I was also thanked by the Cruise Director several times, which was lovely. So I would play for an hour, have some coffee and pastries, then play for another hour, have some cakes, then play for the last 45 minutes or so. Dream job? Yes. Here’s my harp on stage:

In the evenings, from around 6.30, there was a cocktail party in the lounge where champagne was on tap – uh oh – and the guests were welcomed by the Captain and the Cruise Director. Dinner was after that (did I mention the amazing steak?) Then at 9.30pm Steve Terry would sing his Cabaret set, Bobby Darin, Michael Buble, things like that, I loved it! At around 10.30pm the dance troupe would start their Mo-town show, all singing, all dancing – I saw this maybe twice or three times while I was there and really enjoyed it, then at 11pm the UpBeat Beatles started playing and everyone danced. They finished around midnight, when I would go up and listen to the cocktail pianist/piano entertainer Martin Orbidans play until around 1.30am. Any song you can think of, he knows – he even managed to get me behind the microphone singing Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man – I was having a great time and no one walked out, amazing! On the last night I managed to get a photo with Steve and Martin so here we are:

So the evenings were pretty full, in the mornings I was either sleeping, or having a swim in the spa on the second deck, which I pretty much had to myself…

So yea, had a lovely few days and didn’t want to return to normal life really – I wanted to stay on the Sapphire and sail to the Med! Never mind, I would jump at the chance to do some more work for them. It’s also got me thinking how much I’d love to travel and play – I’m discussing the possibility of going out to somewhere in the Middle East/Asia to play in a luxury hotel for 3-6 months. I mean, it sounds too good to be true, all food/accommodation/flights/visas paid, I would get to stay in a swanky hotel and play every day – and I would earn good money doing it – more than I make now, working every day either in the shop or teaching or gigs. I’m seriously thinking about it. I turned it down last year, don’t think I’m going to be turning it down this time. Watch this space!

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Torquay

21 November 2012 No Comments

I will never forget last week. When I wrote the previous post, I was waiting to hear back from the garage about my car’s MOT test. Seconds after clicking publish the phone rang. My car’s engine had died. I could either replace it for £1200 or put the money towards a new car. I can’t believe I was freaking out about money before this phone call! I burst into tears on the phone (I really love my car) and said I’d have to think about it.

But I had to think fast, I was due to drive the 250 miles to Torquay in 3 days. I knew I didn’t want to rush into buying a new car so I got consent from the event organisers to hire a car. The problem was, I’m under 25, car hire companies don’t generally give estate cars to youngsters like me. However, with a little eyelash fluttering I was soon driving this beauty:

Yep, a brand new diesel Vauxhall Astra Estate. Getting the harp in was a bit of a squeeze – new cars always seem narrower on the inside – but I managed it and (a tad gingerly) set off for the South Coast. The car was lovely to drive, 6 gears, a working radio and a really quiet engine all helped to make the journey fly by. Five hours later I had arrived at my destination.

The Riviera Convention Centre, Torquay, was hosting the 2012 Festival Dinner for the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys (RMTGB). The reason I had agreed to travel sooo far to do this gig is that the RMTGB, or to be specific, the branch of RMTGB known as TalentAid gave me a grant to cover the cost of my harp. It is because of them that I’m even in this business. So, I thought the least I could do would be to drive down and play during their annual dinner, plus, the exposure surely wouldn’t do any harm either.

I dropped the harp off at the centre and drove the short distance to the hotel. The RMTGB had very kindly put me up in a room at the Grand Hotel overnight. The car park was more like a big garage, with rows of expensive cars so close together it was difficult to navigate my huge car in amongst them – especially as it was an unfamiliar hire car that, if scratched, I would be charged heavily for.

Playing for the dinner went very smoothly, there were 600 people there and I only had twenty CDs to sell, I thought I’d get rid of them all in minutes. Nope. 595 people walked past me and my little CD stall on their way out, five stopped to buy a CD. Wow.

Anyway…

Am I the only one who gets really excited at having a hotel room to myself?

This was the hotel:

This was the room:

And this was the view!

In the morning, the sun was beating in through the window. It honestly felt like Summer. Leaving Torquay was so hard, it was so beautiful. The air was clear, the sea was blue, no clouds in the sky. A complete contrast to Manchester – the weather here is usually pretty grim.

I’ll just put in one more photo that I took just before leaving – I think next time I go to Torquay I’ll have to take a suitcase and stay there a good deal longer:

Career, Music

Decisions

23 September 2012 1 Comment

This has been a week of choices. Isn’t it weird how they all seem to come at once?

After a mad couple of shifts in the bar at the RNCM for freshers week, I decided that, if I really don’t enjoy working there that much, I should just quit. I need to be earning money doing things that take me in the direction of my dream. It isn’t my dream to work in a bar forever, so I decided it was time to take the plunge and lose the safety net of having that bit of extra cash each month – in favour of pushing myself to do more for my music career.

So that’s it! I never have to pull a pint again. I’ve worked in one bar or another for my whole student life, and now I feel like the time has come to move on.

And doesn’t the universe work in mysterious ways, on the morning following my final shift, I got a phone call from the Chethams School of Music asking if I’d be interested in doing some harp teaching there.

Of course I was! I taught my first lesson there last Friday and loved it, hopefully it will lead to working there regularly.

The day after the phone call day, I got an email from a hotel asking if I’d like to stay with them and provide background music for a few months… in DUBAI! Sounds too good to be true and the money is exceedingly tempting (enough to invest in a lever harp and take lots of the financial pressure away). But it would mean being away over Christmas and New Year, and I’d miss a certain trip to Lanzarote in December as well as various gigs and family commitments. So basically, I’ve said I’m very interested but maybe another time.

I had to think about it so carefully, but I need to be here, in Manchester right now. I need to be gigging and building up my contacts and getting better gigs. My dream is to be an orchestral musician, and while the money from providing background music is fabulous, I’m not sure I would want to do it all the time. What I love about my career so far is the variety. Every day is different and brings its own challenges. Not going to Dubai was a really tough decision but hopefully I will look back and be glad I stayed.

Maybe I could have gone to Dubai and could have stayed working at Brodsky. Had I done so my bank balance would definitely thank me. But at the end of the day, maybe I’m choosing the less profitable choice right now, but maybe it will pay dividends in the future? I have noticed that each day since turning down Dubai I’ve been contacted about doing a gig in the next few months. It’s going to be ok.

Maybe there is no right or wrong decision. But I’ve made mine and now my job is to make the best of my situation and keep moving towards where I want to be in the future.

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CLOUDS mini-tour

4 September 2012 5 Comments

Last week was spent up in Scotland with my harp quartet CLOUDS.

The purpose of the week was to learn the material for our forth-coming album ‘water’, and to pay our way we would do four lunchtime concerts at St. Giles Cathedral up in Edinburgh Monday through to Thursday.

Learning music with CLOUDS is very different to how I was trained and it has been so good for all of us. Esther composes the music, then, without writing it down, teaches it to us aurally in group rehearsals.

Our first CD was entitled CLOUDS and we recorded it I think two years ago now. Water is so different, it’s much more exact whereas CLOUDS had lots of improvisation. Water is incredibly rhythmic, and often I think it’s very hypnotic as well – I’m really excited about its release in early October (it’s also available for pre-order now! Visit http://cloudsandharps.bigcartel.com/product/water )

The first few days of the ‘tour’ were pretty stressful. Bec’s car broke down in Manchester but she somehow managed to get up to Scotland, Esther’s car smelled of smoke every time she drove anywhere and, well, Elfair doesn’t have a car yet. So it was up to me to transport harps and harpists to and from the cathedral each lunchtime – luckily we have found a slick way to get two harps in one car!

Monday was easily the most stressful concert, well the concert was OK, getting there was another matter. It was the final day of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and what we hadn’t accounted for was that the street where we had special permission to park was CLOSED! And the traffic was at a standstill. But luckily a very nice traffic warden man told me where to find a little side street where I could park. Lovely.

That was with harps 1 & 2, with harps 3 & 4 our friendly traffic officer had disappeared and had been replaced by a much less nice lady who didn’t seem to understand that IT IS 12.40 WE WERE DUE TO PLAY AT 12.15 AND WE ARE ALL VERY STRESSED WHERE DO WE GO?!?!?!?!

I argued with her a little bit, most unlike me but I was stressed out!

Meanwhile, harps 1 & 2 were wondering where the rest of us were and trying to patch together a concert of solos and duets – from what I hear they did an excellent job considering the stress of the moment.

Compared with Monday, the rest of the lunchtime concerts ran smoothly – we sold lots of CLOUDS cds and got some lovely audience feedback.

Each afternoon we would learn a couple of movements of water to play the following day in the concert.

Friday was recording day.

I can’t believe we tried to record an entire CD in one day! After choosing a room in which construction work outside couldn’t be heard we started to record at around 2pm. We finished at 2am.

Ana – who was doing the recording for us – was lovely. She hadn’t had breakfast or lunch but didn’t tell us this fact until around 5.30 in the afternoon! She must have been ravenous. Sorry Ana.

At around 11.30pm Bec and I realised that the car park our cars were in closed at midnight – with any cars left getting towed away. What a lovely opportunity for a late night run through the streets of Edinburgh to ensure our cars weren’t taken away and crushed.

But despite the stress of the day and the situation, I think the recording went really well and I’m so excited to hear the finished product. There were lots of tears along the way but I’m so proud that we could learn the music and record it in five days – it was intense but great as well.

Career, Music, Uncategorized

Mahler 2

23 June 2012 1 Comment

Last weekend I had a gig in Sheffield, with Sheffield Symphony Orchestra. The only piece on the programme was Mahler’s Second Symphony. Now there are two harp parts for this epic piece, however, it seems I was the only harpist that could be booked for this day. Mahler’s writing for harp (that I have experienced) is lovely. Sometimes it’s quite sparse, but you can hear 95% of the notes. And that, for what is usually an instrument buried underneath more forceful instruments – looking at you, brass and percussion – is unusual. But it left me in a little pickle. Both harp parts are important, how on earth do I set about putting them both in?

Should have got double the fee in my opinion but apparently that’s not how it works.

Anyway, there were a couple of places that I had both parts on my stand and was piecing it together in what I hope was a convincing manner.

The Symphony is nick-named ‘The Resurrection’, the fourth movement includes a solo voice, and the fifth includes an entire chorus – I’ll include the English translation of the text, it really is as uplifting as the orchestration:

Rise again, yes, rise again,

Will you My dust,

After a brief rest!

Immortal life! Immortal life

Will He who called you, give you.

To bloom again were you sown!

The Lord of the harvest goes

And gathers in, like sheaves,

Us together, who died.

—Friedrich Klopstock

O believe, my heart, O believe:

Nothing to you is lost!

Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired

Yours, what you have loved

What you have fought for!

O believe,

You were not born for nothing!

Have not for nothing, lived, suffered!

What was created

Must perish,

What perished, rise again!

Cease from trembling!

Prepare yourself to live!

O Pain, You piercer of all things,

From you, I have been wrested!

O Death, You masterer of all things,

Now, are you conquered!

With wings which I have won for myself,

In love’s fierce striving,

I shall soar upwards

To the light which no eye has penetrated!

Its wing that I won is expanded,

and I fly up.

Die shall I in order to live.

Rise again, yes, rise again,

Will you, my heart, in an instant!

That for which you suffered,

To God will it lead you!

—Gustav Mahler

I must say a massive well done to Dane Lam – the conductor. He did a marvelous job of this epic piece – I would imagine that conducting Mahler 2 is a big dream of any aspiring conductor.

While I am dishing out mentions, I must say a big thank you to Simon Passmore. Not only did he keep me company in the car, he got out in the rain to reserve me the most ideal parking space, bought me lunch, dinner, and snacks (I think he’s trying to fatten me up) and just generally was a massive help on the day. Thank you!

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Final Recitals

30 May 2012 1 Comment

I have an enormous back-log of posts to write about recent gigs. Safe to say I have been insanely busy! But I think it is worth mentioning that this year’s 4th Year Undergraduate harpists – Alice Kirwan and Sarah Paterson – had their Final Recitals last week. The harp department at RNCM is a lot like a little family, whose members support and encourage each other. Even though I left last year I still enjoy socialising with the department – especially during ‘post-harp-class-drinks’.

I was – unfortunately – away playing for a wedding on the day of the actual Finals, although I was able to watch the dress rehearsals. Both Sarah and Alice had to endure a string snapping either before or during the run-through – better it happens then than on the day… It is so refreshing to hear repertoire that I have either not heard for a while, or not heard at all! I love hearing a Recital, because I feel like I can hear the hours of work that have gone into it. It’s an expression of determination, hard work, and passion for the music and it’s the same with every Final Recital I watch. Four years’ work lead up to one Recital. It’s pretty daunting. But we are so lucky as musicians that we can have our friends and family there at what is essentially an exam. You don’t get maths or french students doing an exam with mum and dad cheering and clapping every time they finish a tricky essay question…

After the real Finals, we were all invited out for a meal at Pizza Express. We had the whole basement floor of the restaurant – for the family and friends of two fourth years. How brilliant is that? Apart from being an amazing excuse for a party, it’s overwhelming when so many people turn up on the day to wish you well and to just be there in the audience.

It pained me greatly to do, but I had to say no to the night out that followed the meal… I had to be in Liverpool the following day for another gig. But that’s a tale for another post…

Career, Music, Uncategorized

Summer Term

25 April 2012 1 Comment

Ok so I’ve graduated and ‘term dates’ don’t mean that much to me any more. But it seems like a good time to refresh my goals and just get organised with all that’s going on.

May is looking busy.

I’ll be at Chets (Chetham’s School of Music) working in the Practice Department for 6 days, 2 orchestral gigs, a wedding, teaching at the weekends, and a solo recital in Scarborough that I’m really over-excited about.

On top of all that, I need as many shifts in the bar as physically possible to help me get back on track.

So lots of practice is happening at the moment, and it feels great to have lots of things to work towards, I’ve also been brainstorming ways of improving my business and getting lots more work.

Current ideas include:

getting a lever harp and busking on free days
putting together a demo video to send to anyone who might give me work
recording an album for general release
emailing lots of orchestras, music services and schools with my CV and seeing what comes up
looking into harp therapy and possible qualifications to be gained
getting more teaching work

So yes, after a very restful and relaxing Easter holiday I am ready to throw myself back into all things harp-related. And I need to work out how to come up with the cash for a lever harp… all ideas welcome.

Career, Music

Easter Holidays and too much time off.

7 April 2012 2 Comments

I was playing at a wedding today down in Staffordshire, about an hour’s drive from my house so not too bad. The whole day went very smoothly and I got paid (yay!)

But instead of blogging about another background gig – I’m going to talk about the holidays in general. I got a bit emotional yesterday, tears may have been involved, and I couldn’t put my finger on what was upsetting me.

I eventually came to the conclusion that it must be a number of things:

having lost my phone and shelled out for a new one, all the financial progress I’ve made recently has been pretty much cancelled out.
my harp has a buzz 🙁 nothing serious but it needs sorting – I’m currently waiting for a technician to get back to me on that. Harps are so complex and have so many moving parts that occasionally these parts can vibrate against each other to make a buzzing sound when a particular note is played. It’s not serious and it’s easily fixable but extremely annoying!
All my current gigs seem to be background music – yes it’s easy money but it leaves me rather unfulfilled. My place is in an orchestra. I’ve known this for some time now but it’s definitely time to start really pushing for this and sending emails and hopefully getting some auditions.
I’m scared that if all I ever do are background gigs, I’ll lose all the progress I made in my four years at the Royal Northern College of Music. I didn’t study for all that time just to play cringe-worthy arrangements of cheesy music for people who don’t listen or care.
I haven’t had a harp lesson in nine months and I can definitely tell, I’m going to focus now on learning some new repertoire for an upcoming recital and resuscitating some old favourites so I feel like I can still actually play the harp with a good level of skill.

Maybe it’s just the holidays, and current lack of work, but things definitely need a push right now. I’ve hit some sort of plateau that I haven’t experienced before.

So yes, sorry this post is decidedly less cheery than others, but this blog is about the whole picture of being a freelancer. Hopefully over time I’ll see that the good times far outnumber the hard.

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