Harping Around

A close soprano friend of mine and I recently formed a musical group called Sharp (Soprano + Harp) and are hoping to perform in some concert series this year.  Our repertoire has ranged from soprano and harp arrangements to reductions of whole orchestral works.  It's been a great experience for me to play these orchestral reductions and has definitely taught me a thing or two about pedaling.  For those non-harpists out there that I have officially confused, let me explain a few things to you about the harp.  There are foot pedals at the base of the harp that control accidentals (sharp, flat and natural).  Each note (A, B, C etc.) has a pedal that can be moved to control the accidentals for that note.  For example, if I want to make all the F's sharp, I move the F pedal down.  To make all the B's flat, I move the B pedal up.  This is all very nice when you have a piece that stays in one key because you can just set the pedals and go; however, when playing a piece written by Mahler or Strauss, like we are doing, it is quite a different story.  Mahler and Strauss' pieces tend to be very chromatic pieces (meaning lots of accidentals, which means lots of pedal changes).  Some passages have upwards of 12 pedal changes per measure! 

Ok, now on to my story.  You all must be wondering why in the world my harp is sideways in this picture and why I have a huge frown on my face.  And maybe even why I just talked so much about harp pedals.  All valid wonders...  So, a week before one of these concert series' auditions, I was stomping away at the pedals while practicing our Strauss piece, when I heard the most terrifying pop sound come from my harp.  It wasn't like a bass wire string pop, which is also terrifying, but rather a deep solid metal popping sound.  My heart sank.  

What had just happened to my precious harp!  

I tried to change the D pedal that I had just moved, but it was immobile.  I just continued trying to change the pedal in disbelief, hoping that somehow it had just gotten stuck and made a random ominous popping sound - Random ominous popping sounds don't usually come from angelic sounding harps.  

Eventually I got my harp on its side, ready for inspection and sure enough, something was wrong.  The D pedal's solid metal spring had snapped in two.  With the audition being only a short 3 days away, I called every local harp vendor.  None of them had the spring.  I soon found out that no harpists in the area had a spare and that not even Lyon & Healy West (my harp company's closest branch) had one!  Out of desperation, I had to purchase the spring straight from the factory in Chicago and have it shipped overnight for a hefty $50 shipping fee.  Luckily, it did get here the next day, and even more luckily, it was the only problem with my harp.

McKay and I, again put the harp on its side in preparation for surgery.  I put the harp under and McKay performed the procedure.  

Mid-surgery.  

Some of you may need to look away if you get queasy from the sight of inner organs.

The surgery took a total of 15 minutes and was a success!  I was so relieved to have my harp back, healthy and ready for more Mahler and Strauss, but maybe not so intense this time.

Easter

Ok, yes, yes I know.  Easter was over two months ago!  In many ways I still feel like I am back in April, celebrating Easter and yet, we have already zoomed by Mother's and Father's Day, our 1st anniversary and can see the 4th of July just around the corner!  For goodness sakes!  When will it all slow down!  Yes, yes I know - Never!  So, without further hesitation, here is my attempt to catch up, starting with Easter.

McKay and I tried to get ourselves to color eggs on our own, however it's just not the same without kids, in fact impossible I believe.  Luckily, McKay's aunt invited us over, where plenty of kids reside, to color Easter eggs.  

Arts and crafts are a big deal in our family (which you will soon find out in our upcoming posts) and usually involve meticulous planning, crazy ideas and lots of messes, which we definitely got our fill of!  Just coloring the egg any ordinary way would be unacceptable in our book!

Our weapon of choice this year - Painter's Tape!

It gave us some pretty wicked cool 80's designs!

BYU spirit!

 McKay's eggs

 Marielle's eggs

Rest of Bali & Singapore

For the sake of finally (finally! It's taken me almost 2 months!) finishing all of our posts from Bali and Singapore, here is a super long post about the rest of our trip starting from our bungalow in Ubud.

As stated earlier, we sort of lived as vagabonds hopping from hotel, to bungalow, to shack - It was a blast!  Here I am carrying the brunt of the load after McKay's poor decision to not put sunscreen on and consequently frying his shoulders.  Here, here for strong women!

We roamed around the streets of Ubud for a few hours, feeling a bit like Joseph and Mary, just looking for room in an inn.

We finally landed a sweet hotel that overlooked Ubud's Royal Palace, conveniently located above the stage where a performance of the Ramayana would be later that evening - meaning we got to watch for free!  Score!

The Ramayana is a performance with musicians and dancers based off of one of the two great Indian epics.  It's not just a story, but rather, a Hindu teaching tool that depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characteristics for fathers, spouses, siblings, servants and kings.  Here I am on the stage.  Near the end of this post I have included the two versions of the Ramayana that we saw.

Early in the morning we journeyed to the rice paddies of Ubud to watch the sunrise - How yogi of us, right?

It was so peaceful.  No wonder all the yogis come here to meditate.  

There was definitely some meditating going on for us as we traversed the tranquil rice paddies.

Trying some of the local fruits.

We made our way up to this neighborhood, high on a hill top, where all the yoga masters live and teach.  It overlooks all of Ubud.


There are no roads where cars can travel in this neighborhood, so everything must be transported by head.  Below was the team of women transporting cement on their heads for the building of a house!

Then it was on to the south of Bali where the Uluwatu temple and kecak dancers awaited us.   

But first we had to change into sarongs, (a fabric wrapped around the waist) before entering the holy sight.  McKay proudly sported his Balinese kilt, as he liked to call it - He is half Scottish after all.

At the edge of the cliff lies the majestic Uluwatu temple.

As promised, here is the video of the Ramayana from Ubud and Uluwatu.

That evening we slowed down our pace a little to enjoy a romantic dinner on the beach with stars above, crashing waves ahead and...

...serenading voices.

McKay's favorite part was getting to pick the fish fresh from the tank!

Sorry little fishy...

...but you were so delicious.

Before heading to the airport, we spent a day in Kuta going to the spa and lazying about at the beach (very unlike us).

Our cute pedis!

We had one more day in Singapore before we flew home and it just happened to be on my birthday!  (That was, after all, why we made the trip, in case you didn't know.)
 Best birthday present EVER!
Our dear friend took us out to birthday sushi.  She seriously spoiled us and we love her family to death!  Did I mention that she is the one that introduced McKay's family to me.  Well, she was, and for that I am eternally grateful, because now I am happily married to the most amazing man I know.  Thank you!

 Being in the military and all, we had to make a stop off at the Battle Box, a command center used by the British during WWII.  It was later surrendered to the Japanese.  Inside, they had recreations made of what the center would have looked like when in full use.  McKay ate it all up.

That night we hung out with our friends more, eating delicious food, playing board games and talking until late.

And thus ends (finally) the saga of Bali and Singapore.  Now back to our everyday lives!