An afternoon house concert

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This beautiful room is our stage set for a house concert this afternoon in South Jutland. 

Coffee and cake first for all the visitors - the house has been full of the smells of baking all morning yum.  

Then we play our first set after a few introductory songs from our lovely host.  

A pause then for a drink and chat and a chance to meet the guests. 

Then we play again for our second set and our host will round things off with a group sing.  

And then we all sit down for dinner together.  

Now isn't that a very civilised way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  

This is Day 28 of the 30 day blog challenge.

What's your favourite way to spend a Saturday?

Travelling Light

We're flying today with Mr Ryanair- my least favourite way of travelling.  

Howandsoever it's been a revelation. 

It is possible to go and gig with one small bag each. Our host is lending me a guitar and Tom is borrowing congas.  

What a change for us!

We usually take our car and end up bringing everything but the kitchen sink!  

How about you?

Do you pack light or do you need the whole house with you?

Reasons to Sing

Singing is good for you – it’s official. Recent research carried out at the University of Frankfurt in Germany indicates that singing strengthens the immune system, increasing significantly the levels of immunoglobulin A (proteins which functions as antibodies) and hydrocortisone (an anti-stress hormone). This German study and other research findings on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years have yielded encouraging evidence of the health benefits of singing.
	12  good reasons to take up singing
1	Singing boosts the immune system, improving circulation which oxygenates your cells
2	Singing improves your mood & helps combat depression; it releases the same ‘feel good’ endorphins as chocolate and sex!
3	Singing gives your upper body a  workout – lungs, abdominal, intercostal muscles & diaphragm – and improves posture
4	Singing is aerobic & releases muscle tension
5	Singing keeps your vocal chords in good shape and your voice youthful
6	Singing improves concentration, memory & mental alertness
7	Singing gives YOU immediate pleasure (your sacculus organ in the inner ear is connected to the part of the brain which registers pleasure!)
8	Singing clears your sinuses and respiratory tubes
9	Singing boosts your confidence
10	Singing combats stress and improves sleep
11	Singing stimulates insight into poetry, prose & the inner meaning of words
12	Singing is a spiritual experience (regardless of what is sung!) This blog is Day 25 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Garden Helper

I had help in the garden today.  I'm not a very willing gardener and very rarely go out to do any work in it but this little chap would bring me out more often for sure.  

It was like he was posing for me and kept me out twice as long as I would have otherwise stayed.  

It's time to start feeding them ... the weather's getting much colder now.   What is it about robin's that make you ready for Winter?

The weather has been so mild that the change in the clocks a few weeks back has been a real shock.   Normally the time change doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I just can't get used to it being pitch black at 5 in evening.  Ah well it'll get us ready for a good winter I hope.  


Are you ready for Winter yet?
Have you any unusual ways of feeding the birds in your garden?

This blog is Day 24 of my 30 day blog challenge   Can't believe the end is in sight.

Songbirds - Mary O'Hara

Part Two of Songbirds the First Ladies of Irish Song features the beautiful singer and harper Mary O'Hara who was first featured on British TV in the mid 1950s and was a huge star in America and a close friend of the Clancy Brothers.
Her story is fascinating.

Thank you for all the comments about the first programme.   Margaret Barry was such a wonderful character.   In this series we tried to focus on women who sang the same songs but from a different perspective.   Margaret and Mary are poles apart.   For many people Mary O'Hara was their first introduction to Irish music and before she came to fame, the harp had virtually died out in Ireland.  

With Mary in 2005 at the World Harp Convention.

You can read more about Songbirds, the series, here.

Let me know what you think about her.

This blog is Day 23 of my 30 day blog challenge

Irish Songs in a Woman's Key: Teddy O'Neill

All the guitar books that I've come across, for folk or particularly for Irish songs, annotate the songs in keys that are suitable for men.   Women who are starting to play guitar and who haven't mastered the art of transposing yet ( a subject for another post) try to play the songs and give up really quickly because either the song is way too low or way too high.  

Several of my female students ask me for the chords of songs so I thought it'd be good to start a series here with particular focus on Irish songs, both traditional and contemporary.  These keys are the keys in which I play and sing the songs.   I play this one with the capo on the 3rd fret.   To move it higher, move the capo up another fret or two, or to sing it lower move it back a couple of frets.

Teddy O'Neill is one of my all time favourite songs - I'm sure it was written in America in the 1930s, maybe earlier; the words are really corny, but the sentiment and the melody are just perfect.   I first heard it sung by the wonderful Dolores Keane.   (Sometimes it is sung with Verse 2 sung first).

Teddy O’Neill

Capo Fret 3

  

      G                   Em                Am               D

I dreamt but last night, ah bad cess to my dreaming

        G          Em                  Am                D

I’d die if I thought it would e'er come to pass

        G                    Em                  Am                         D

I dreamt while the tears down my pale cheeks were streaming

            G             Em         Am      D    G

That Teddy was courting another fair lass

        D                                     C                  G

Ah didn’t I wake with such weeping and wailing

         Em                                          Am            D

The thought of that dream was too much to endure

          G                    Em            Am                 D

My mother cried, ‘Nora child, what has you ailing?’

       G               Em                Am  D    G

But all I could answer was Teddy O’Neill

I’ve seen the mud cabin he danced his wild jigs in

As neat a mud cabin as ever was seen

Considering ‘twas used to keep poultry and pigs in

I’m sure you’d allow ‘twas both tidy and clean

But now all around seems so sad and so weary

So sad and so silent, no piper, no reel,

Not even the sun through the casement shines cheerly

Since I lost my own darling boy, Teddy O’Neill

Shall I ever forget when the big ship was ready

And the moment had come for my love to depart

I cried like a spalpeen, ‘Goodbye to you Teddy’

With a tear in my eyes and a stone in my heart

He says ‘tis to better his fortune he’s leaving

But what would be gold to the joy I would feel

To see him come back to me, honest and loving

Still poor, but my own darling Teddy O’Neill.

This blog is Day 22 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Kickstarter - my new project is now live.

Tom and I have decided to fund our new project via Kickstarter.

And I am officially inviting you to have a look and hopefully get involved.

We are recording a new CD of contemporary songs which we are aiming to have completed and back in our hands by the end of February 2015.  It is the first time in more than 10 years that I have recorded an album of my own songs as opposed to traditional material, and, due to popular demand, I've also persuaded Tom to sing on a couple of tracks.  Believe me, this has taken some persuasion and it is totally unjustified cos he has a beautiful voice that audiences love.
We will be enlisting the help of several wonderful musicians to fill out the tracks and to lend their expertise.

Crowdfunding

It's a very difficult decision to ask people to help out and in a way participate in a new project.   In the old days we all used to keep a mailing list, and when you were getting ready to record a new CD you'd write to everyone on the list and people would preorder the album, thereby helping you get in the costs of manufacturing and promotion.   Now that everything in the PR world has gone digital, crowdfunding has taken the place of this.

Crowdfunding for those of you who are new to it, is a system whereby people can donate small or large amounts to a project and in return receive the new product plus extra incentives - in my case, singing lessons, back catalogue, concerts etc.
They commit a certain amount and then at the end of the funding period, if the target has been reached, the money is deducted from your card and is transferred to us after all the Kickstarter deductions are taken out.

We've agonised for months as to whether or not to do a Kickstarter campaign for this new album and finally we've decided to go for it - take a deep breath, let everyone know about it, and hope for the best.

Kickstarter is probably the largest of the all the crowdfunding platforms and is American based - there are a couple of UK and Irish based firms as well, but we decided to go this direction.

If you like this and feel like getting involved, click on the video above  to go to the Kickstarter page where you can add your support.

Thank you in advance.
Fil x

This blog is Day 21 in Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge