In about 22.5 hours I will again be fully engaged in my daytime gig as an art teacher. New students will come flooding into my classroom. I dearly hope they bring with them the enthusiasm and energy necessary to light and kindle their creative spark. I spent most of last week preparing my room for the onslaught and unfortunately it is still not ready. That is the way it goes, one can only do what time and energy allow.
Usually I am able to approach each school year with fresh eyes and renewed spirits but this summer was a challenge to the heart. June was devoted to my father-in-law whose failing health led to his passing from the struggle of life on the 27th. I could write more about this but somehow this feels like private territory. Suffice to say I was left feeling emotionally drained and if you've ever been there, you know your body follows your spirit. I found myself, on more occasions than I care to admit, paralyzed by lethargy. Mood and physical pain contribute to this state as my arthritic knees provide me with pain as a nearly constant companion. Enough whining. I did get off of my butt enough times to be productive in my favorite ways.
I spent a good deal of time at Fire Arts in downtown South Bend where I am a founding member of this non-profit devoted to promoting and producing sculpture and pottery. This was the fourth or fifth year that I offered a summer studio camp for talented high school students. Three students participated and I believe each had a very productive experience. Penn Hs, Mishawaka HS and my school New Prairie HS were represented. The kids will have an opening on August 23rd where they will display their creations. Come on over to the Fire Arts Showroom at 305 E. Colfax between 5:30 and 8:00 pm to see their sculpture and pottery and share in their success. As these students worked I guided them when needed but for the most part they worked independently which was the goal of the experience. I used my mentoring time to create some fresh work of my own including functional ware and a couple of sculptural pieces. I also made a series of proto-type porcelain guitar slides. These were initially requested by a local guitarist. I took his requests and worked from there. I took some of these slides to the Troy Gillacamp last weekend and had just the right number to gift each player with their own Desrosiers slide. It was serendipitous that I had the right number of slides and that even though each was significantly different, each found an owner who liked that particular slide. Richard really liked the one he picked out. This has reaffirmed my decision to produce more of these slides. They are not the easiest object to make but if I can settle in and get consistent results that could make them marketable.
EVART 3.0
July was a month that brought two music experiences. The first was the Non-Electric Music Festival in Evart, Mi,(formerly the Original Hammered Dulcimer Players FunFest). John and I purchased a used mini pop-up camper to pull behind my Scion XB. Our goal was to make this third year of attending the festival a comprehensive experience by camping in the midst of all the other devotees. We had a great deal of difficulty getting started because of a dirty trick nature decided to pull on the day before departure. We had set up the camper as a practice run and to air it out a bit before going. A sudden wind storm kicked up while I was away getting the license plate for the camper. I returned just in time to see the wind pummel the structure of the camper forcing pole fittings to contort and snap. "The horror, the horror of it all." Clearly our departure would be delayed. I almost immediately began camper triage. I assessed the damage and it was extensive. I essentially had to re-manufacture all of the poles. This meant trying to source and gerry rig parts. I made many trips to the Lowe's, a marina in a nearby town, and ultimately worked into the wee hours. Finally got it working again, next adventure was installing a wiring harness for the lights. This had its own set of challenges and frustrations and I still think I have a defective harness. In the end we missed the opening day of the festival. By the time we arrived most of the camping spaces were gobbled up. Since our camper is so petite we were able to squeeze into a prime mini space and even had an electrical outlet to charge our phones etc. This spot was fantastic because we were actually in the thick of the action.
I put aside my trepidation and participated in jam sessions this year. I played in three different sessions, two Ole Timey and one Celtic. The Celtic one was my favorite since I really love that genre. I did not attempt to stand out although because I'm still trying to recognize keys by ear and sort out the best chords to play as a rhythm backup for the fiddlers who dominate the lead in both styles of music.
Our camping spot was located adjacent to a group of musicians who represent the center of a major solar system at Evart. The festival is like a universe that has solar systems located throughout the fair grounds. Each solar system has its own characteristics, dominated by a core group of players who know each other well and other musicians of varying skill levels, like myself, who are temporarily pulled into the orbit. The core musicians are incredibly skilled and provide the driving force. Saturday night is marathon jam night. The solar system, located near us and under a canopy of festive lights, literally jammed all night long. We fell asleep to the sound of dulcimers, fiddle, guitars, bass fiddle, tin whistle and bodhran and awakened to the same, albeit played much more quietly and with far fewer participants. Warning! Although the festival enforces a personally welcomed ban on alcoholic drinks and smoking, there are no quiet zones or quiet hours. Bring your ear plugs if you can't sleep with the sound of music in the background. I enjoyed it and found myself rocked to sleep by the surging rhythms.
We had a week's reprieve before heading down to Bloomington, IN. for a workshop that John signed up for with mandolin maestro Jim Richter. This workshop focused upon Blues and Rock mandolin technique, theory, and jamming. John's actual class-time was on Saturday. We arrived Friday late afternoon and checked into the Grant St. Inn, the B & B that hosted the workshop. I can only say WOW what beautiful inn. Our room was glorious and I spent hours using it as my guitar practice zone. I was invited to participate in two jam sessions that started after dinner time and lasted into the wee hours. These were informal sessions and I was pleasantly surprised to be included since I neither play mandolin and did not sign up for the workshop. I was also the only woman present. I guess mandolin workshops fit into Richard's "tupperware party for men" formula. Sorry guys for breaking with tradition.
Once we returned to South Bend, I felt the urge to force myself to start painting the livingroom area that had been on my list for over two years. I finished one wall area and started on the adjacent spaces, ran out of paint and now have run out of free time since school is starting. Hummm......hope it doesn't take me another two years to wrap this up.
August opened with one of my favorite activities: Richard Gilewitz's Gillacamp!!!! Another great weekend of immersion. This was my fourth Troy, OH. Gillacamp!!!! Damn time flies when your having fun. I count Gillacamps by the type of treats I bring. First year it was coconut cookies, second year it was the first annual Gillanut cake(Richard's Bday is in August), third year Gillanut cake with John's image imprinted on the frosting, and this year Zombie Gillanut cake. What the heck am I going to do for next year????? Well besides that annual treat we spent serious time working tunes: Last Steam Engine Train, Spanish Two Step, Yesterday, If I Fell(added spontaneously), Both Sides Now, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and Steve Talbot on the Keddie Wye We also spent time with some warm ups, and slide guitar using exercises from Richard's new "Slide Guide" course produced by TrueFire.com. On Friday evening Richard also took out some time to add details to the music for "Dumonde Blonde". I've been wanting to add this piece to my repertoire. Gillacamp is pretty intense and even though I manage to keep up with what is thrown my way, I realize I will always be the "least" experienced and proficient player in the core group. This is a simple reality because my guitar buds, Leibert, John and Camille(when she can attend) have copious years of experience beyond my few years. John has youth on his side and the reinforcement of musical background with his school band studies. He has been playing out regularly and to say that he has family support in his endeavors is a huge understatement. I need to remind myself at times that this is not a competition. I play for intrinsic reasons, gaining pleasure from the challenge and expressive nature of music. I always want to do better. I come home from Gillacamp humbled and with more repertoire and skill targets for which to aim.
I had the dreaded realization that as the beginning of school approached I did not feel renewed from summer break as I usually do. The beginning of summer left me sucked dry for a bit. Like a drought-drained well, my energy level is only now beginning to show signs of recovery. Here's hoping that the students and their energy(positive) will dump some healthy buckets of spiritual water into my vessel.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Post Perfect Summer-Not a Great Start
June has come and gone, was dominated by concern for my father-in-law and culminated with the inevitable. Dad had been dealing with kidney failure as a result of diabetes and he passed away on the 28th. My husband, John, sister-in-law Andrea and I kept vigil through the night. At around 5am, Andrea was the first realize that the steady yet dwindling cadence of his breathing weakened and ceased. So far we are all handling it pretty well. We knew this day was approaching as he had several health issues multiplying and his refusal to take dialysis sealed the deal.
He suffered a serious physical crisis the previous week that forced him to be hospitalized for a few days. When it became apparent that he was very near the end of his time, hospice care was arranged and he was moved back to his assisted living facility. Even though he was quite ill and not always lucid, he expressed pleasure when informed that he was going back home. He did like living at Inwood Hills, his assisted living home. His health deteriorated rapidly after mom died, forcing a move from the independence of living alone in his own home to somewhere that he could have the daily chores seen to and his medications monitored and administered. He had made friends at Inwood, mainly lady friends and the staff seemed to do good job attending to his needs. He will be dearly missed by us. The funeral consisted only of the three of us and my daughter, Naomi, son-in-law, Dan and eldest grandchild, Austin. A few visitors showed up for the viewing but it seems that the majority of dad's friends had pretty much lost touch or had passed before him. His siblings are quite elderly and could not make the journey to South Bend.
Through all of this I have found it difficult to play guitar very much. It is not ignored but I think for the time being I am a bit emotionally drained. Thank goodness it is summer and I have not had to deal with going to work through this whole ordeal. I'm trying to be a support for John and Andrea but I'm not too certain how well I'm doing at that. Anyway instead of immersing myself in creative efforts, I find the couch frequently pulls me off my feet and forces me to collapse. So in a month's time I've gone from being horribly plagued with insomnia to near narcolepsy. Hopefully by the time August rolls around I will discover the middle ground.
Even though I'm not absolutely consumed with the guitar at the moment, I manage to play each day. My lofty goals of being prepared for the Troy Gillacamp threaten to be stalemated. I wanted to be able to have each of the targeted pieces of music sorted out and on the road to memorization. Seems that will be an impossible challenge since there are only four short weeks until camp. John and I are trying to make a couple of trips this month, a three-peat to the Original Hammered Dulcimer Players Festival in Evart, Mi and I will tag along as he participates in his first mandolin workshop in Bloomington, IN. and conducted by Jim Richter. The mandolin workshop should provide me with the chance to tuck myself away and focus on my playing while John is in his classes. This event is being held at what looks to be a very nice B&B and there is a porch off of our booked room that beckons for me to use as a practice space.
I am still working on trying to memorize the Beatles' tunes When I'm 64 and Imagine. I have Yesterday and Across the Universe pretty much committed to memory but they are in need of massive amounts of polishing. These are arrangements by David Walbert and they are phenomenal! I am trying to get Richard's hypnotizing arrangement of Sunflower River Blues in open C tuning, squared away. I find myself easily slipping into improvisation when I practice this piece. Sometimes I find the groove and sometimes my fingers stumble over each other and it becomes counter-productive. I've been keeping my Breedlove J22 in Open C and using it exclusively for playing this piece. Recently I strung it with D'addario's EJ24 strings for DADGAD and boy does this guitar thump with that combination. I've been especially drawn by Gilewitz's arrangement of this John Fahey tune ever since I heard Richard play it over 2 years ago now. I think the alternating bass must be in synch with my own heartbeat.
I have acquired a nylon string guitar. It is a classical model with a cutaway body,solid red cedar top, solid mahogany sides and back, and rosewood fingerboard. It is produced by Lag, a French company. It is a Tramontane TN100ACE. I have been using it primarily to play in DADGAD tuning and I must admit it has a sweet tone and is very responsive for a relatively reasonable price tag. I believe although there is no marking to note it, that it is actually constructed in China. The build and materials quality are excellent and the sound has actually improved since March when I originally received it. Adjusting to the wider fingerboard is a bit of a challenge although.
He suffered a serious physical crisis the previous week that forced him to be hospitalized for a few days. When it became apparent that he was very near the end of his time, hospice care was arranged and he was moved back to his assisted living facility. Even though he was quite ill and not always lucid, he expressed pleasure when informed that he was going back home. He did like living at Inwood Hills, his assisted living home. His health deteriorated rapidly after mom died, forcing a move from the independence of living alone in his own home to somewhere that he could have the daily chores seen to and his medications monitored and administered. He had made friends at Inwood, mainly lady friends and the staff seemed to do good job attending to his needs. He will be dearly missed by us. The funeral consisted only of the three of us and my daughter, Naomi, son-in-law, Dan and eldest grandchild, Austin. A few visitors showed up for the viewing but it seems that the majority of dad's friends had pretty much lost touch or had passed before him. His siblings are quite elderly and could not make the journey to South Bend.
Through all of this I have found it difficult to play guitar very much. It is not ignored but I think for the time being I am a bit emotionally drained. Thank goodness it is summer and I have not had to deal with going to work through this whole ordeal. I'm trying to be a support for John and Andrea but I'm not too certain how well I'm doing at that. Anyway instead of immersing myself in creative efforts, I find the couch frequently pulls me off my feet and forces me to collapse. So in a month's time I've gone from being horribly plagued with insomnia to near narcolepsy. Hopefully by the time August rolls around I will discover the middle ground.
Even though I'm not absolutely consumed with the guitar at the moment, I manage to play each day. My lofty goals of being prepared for the Troy Gillacamp threaten to be stalemated. I wanted to be able to have each of the targeted pieces of music sorted out and on the road to memorization. Seems that will be an impossible challenge since there are only four short weeks until camp. John and I are trying to make a couple of trips this month, a three-peat to the Original Hammered Dulcimer Players Festival in Evart, Mi and I will tag along as he participates in his first mandolin workshop in Bloomington, IN. and conducted by Jim Richter. The mandolin workshop should provide me with the chance to tuck myself away and focus on my playing while John is in his classes. This event is being held at what looks to be a very nice B&B and there is a porch off of our booked room that beckons for me to use as a practice space.
I am still working on trying to memorize the Beatles' tunes When I'm 64 and Imagine. I have Yesterday and Across the Universe pretty much committed to memory but they are in need of massive amounts of polishing. These are arrangements by David Walbert and they are phenomenal! I am trying to get Richard's hypnotizing arrangement of Sunflower River Blues in open C tuning, squared away. I find myself easily slipping into improvisation when I practice this piece. Sometimes I find the groove and sometimes my fingers stumble over each other and it becomes counter-productive. I've been keeping my Breedlove J22 in Open C and using it exclusively for playing this piece. Recently I strung it with D'addario's EJ24 strings for DADGAD and boy does this guitar thump with that combination. I've been especially drawn by Gilewitz's arrangement of this John Fahey tune ever since I heard Richard play it over 2 years ago now. I think the alternating bass must be in synch with my own heartbeat.
I have acquired a nylon string guitar. It is a classical model with a cutaway body,solid red cedar top, solid mahogany sides and back, and rosewood fingerboard. It is produced by Lag, a French company. It is a Tramontane TN100ACE. I have been using it primarily to play in DADGAD tuning and I must admit it has a sweet tone and is very responsive for a relatively reasonable price tag. I believe although there is no marking to note it, that it is actually constructed in China. The build and materials quality are excellent and the sound has actually improved since March when I originally received it. Adjusting to the wider fingerboard is a bit of a challenge although.
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