Poem Published!

I received the news on the same day as the magazine:  my sonnet is being printed in the next issue of Renaissance Magazine.  Now I'm a real Bard, which is very cool.  I'm being sent an additional, complimentary copy (which I had forwarded as a little gift).  I'm rarely so happy with my poetry, but I am very happy with this one.

Thy Golden Strings
(a Shakespearean sonnet, by Anna Castiglioni)

Poor harp!  Unwanted, hidden out of sight,
Discarded by your minstrel, what disgrace,
Forgotten, lifeless in the dismal night,
In want of hand or breeze to thee embrace.
Thy chords hang strained and snapped about they crown;
The dust lies thick and dark upon thy breast.
Lost in mem'ry is thy great renown.
What clever bard could rouse thee from thy rest?
And yet, a voice still slumbers in thy heart!
Some linseed, cloth and gold shall thee renew.
Now, from thy darkling dreams thou shall depart,
And in this minstrel's loving hands sing true.
Thy soul shall ride the wind, be strong and free;
Thy golden strings shall ring in ecstasy!

© Anna Castiglioni, 2011

You can find my sonnet in Renaissance Magazine, #84, page 16, on newsstands now!

Winter is Here (song)

Winter is Here

by Anna Castiglioni, © 2011

Chorus:

Winter is here, at end of year.

with cold, and waning light.

And in the sky, the reindeer fly,

bringing winter cheer all night.

We used to take a trailer ride

out to the old fir grove,

and find the one that looked just right

to grace the hearth at home.

When twinkling in its raiment dressed,

so tall and looking grand,

the ornaments that I like best

are the ones we made by hand.

Making gifts, for all to know

how much I lo-ove you;

tie them up with a pretty bow

and write "from Me, to You".

On TV, the movie guide

shows Who-ville and the Grinch,

and Uncle Scrooge his greed defied,

three ghosts -- it was a cinch!

Singing songs around the fire

surrounded by its glow,

drinking cups of hot spiced wine

and mugs of hot cocoa.

Listen for the tiny bells

of reindeer and a sleigh

and hoofbeats on the roof to tell

that Santa's on his way!

Chorus:

Home Improvements

Many long-needed home improvements are underway.  Recently we got the front yard curb appeal and replaced the old ratty roof.  Now we'll soon have energy-efficient windows in the front and a French door in the back.  Today began our closet makeover.

After nearly 5 years of the chaos and clutter, haphazard piles of clothes and not enough space, it was time for a change for the better.  I got a nice deal from the designer, $1000 less than the first estimate, including free removal of old and free installation, so I'm basically paying just for the material.  I feel good about this.  She was very personable and designed a custom closet for our needs.  AND, she's my neighbor, and wants me to do a landscape design for her!  It'll be done the week after Thanksgiving.

We still need to finish the kitchen.  (That was the first improvement to get started, and was never finished.)  Tiles and backsplash need to be completed, and the breakfast area needs to be done.  *Sigh*

Curb Appeal

At last, after years in the planning (which, admittedly, is a bit excessive for an average residential site), our front yard is nearly finished.  A low retaining wall was built, the ground leveled, and a walkway outlined.  Now several low-water-use, drought-tolerant plants bloom and spread in fountains of varying shades and textures.  I am adding more plants gradually, giving those I have time to establish and making sure they'll survive.  The trees will be staked to make them grow straight and tall.  A new hedge of jade plant will add privacy to the north side and separate us visually from the neighbors and their hyper, yippy, "rat-on-crack" of a chihuahua.

In the back, the enormous original jade hedge is gone, leaving the yard much more open and breezy.  The giant jade and oleander in the back corner are gone.  In the future, we'll be digging a fire pit and lining it with smooth stone and (maybe) cut glass pieces.  Extend the patio, build a small dancing stage, and additional awning.  I would really love to have a canvas to roll down so we could show movies out there.  That would be fun.  I've also started an herb garden for cooking.  Nothing like fresh herbs :)

Catchup

I haven't been able to blog for over a week, because when I arrived home my computer was dead!  And my laptop is incredibly slow after just an hour of being on, so I gave up on it.  Now the hubby has rebuilt the entire desktop with tons of memory and working capacity, Thanks so much to him!  Lots to tell.

ACII costume is still a WIP, but is a little more complete each week.  I am starting a leatherworking class tomorrow at Tandy, and I can't wait!  I've wanted to learn leather for a loonnnngg time.  I was taught some basics a few years ago by a photographer/costumer friend, but he didn't teach me how to tool (carve).

I beat ACII and AC Brotherhood for the second time, so now I'm ready for AC Revelations coming this month.  Not sure how I feel about it though, since Ezio's not in Italy anymore but somewhere cold and snowy.  I haven't kept up with the news though to be sure....

Over this weekend I got to schmooze with some landscape architecture fellows, as the photographer's "assistant".  There were a lot of important people -- founders and board members -- in the landscape field at the event, including a professor at Texas A&M where I went to school.  One of my profs was also there, so it was nice to see him, he who taught me the basics of AutoCAD and Photoshop, and design.  He even remembered that I used to keep my harp under my desk and would take it out and play late at night in the studio.  He said I kept him sane in a group of largely insane people.  I also met the man I'm interviewing with on Friday.  Hopefully I will be able to impress upon him the importance of hiring me, haha.  Yesterday I did more schmoozing at the Convention, with landscape vendors.  It was a little tiring since I'm an introvert, but I hope it'll pay off.

Last night was Halloween, normally my favorite time of year for the costumes, treats, and merry-making.  However, this was the first Halloween in a very long time I didn't even wear a costume!  It felt very strange.  Actually, I spent it having some "craic"!  A voice lesson, dinner, gossip, and lots of music with some great friends in the Irish music community :)

One of them loaned me the first book in a series:  Game of Thrones.  I just started it, read the Prologue and I'm hooked.  I'm thoroughly convinced this is going to be every bit as intriguing and suspenseful as she said it is.  That, in my opinion, is what a really good author does.

O'Flarity Irish Music Retreat

This past weekend I was able to go to the most amazing music retreat.  Held just south of  Midlothian, TX, in a small but charming camp called Hoblizelle (which looks like “Hobbitsville” when you first read it!), this annual Irish music immersion features teachers from Ireland and the United States who travel teaching workshops and performing; mini concerts at every meal; fantastic nightly concert performances by the instructors, and student music sessions.

Students can take workshops on any of several instruments, not all of them traditional.  I took the fiddle workshops with Rose Conway Flanagan; also teaching fiddle were Liz Carroll and Martin Hayes.  Other instructors included Robbie O’Connell (singing), Michelle Mulcahy (harp), Louise Mulcahy (uillean pipes), Jim Crowley (bouzouki), Dave Cory (banjo), Damien Connolly (B/C  and C#/D button accordion), John Doyle (dropped-D guitar), and Kevin Crawford (Irish flute).  Also in attendance were harpist Teresa Honey, fiddler Randal Bays, and several regional instructors of various instruments.

One might wonder why in the world some of these teachers, especially those who are from Ireland, would come all the way to the middle of no-where in Texas to teach music.  The answer is apparent in their performances:  They really, really love Irish music!  And they love people who love Irish music.

Rose taught us several jigs and slip jigs by ear.  I had to write down the notes in shorthand to remember them (I have a very short memory with music), but I eventually got them.  Rose was so patient with me and the others who took a little extra time.  She is obviously very used to teaching groups.  She and Liz Carroll both have wonderful personalities, very approachable and kind.

The first day I attended Robbie’s class on performing songs.  It turned out to be more of a history on Irish music in general, with some performance notes here and there.  Though it was not quite what I had expected, it was nonetheless quite informative.  Robbie performed in concert the second night and sang some wonderful songs, including the comic “Princess and the Frog”, and the lovely “Shores of Newfoundland”.  His pleasant voice and Co. Wexford dialect compliment the songs beautifully.

On Saturday I was in Liz Carroll’s composition class.  Wow, what an amazing and funny woman!  Not only did she explain her own methods and play some of her own tunes (my favorite was “Paddy and the Wolf”), but she also made the lesson interactive by playing a couple of games with us.  First a word game to explain the idea of question and answer in Irish music, then a note game.  I was awed that she remembers all her tunes, even the one that she rejected because she thought it was so aweful!  In fact, all performers I’ve seen seem to have hundreds of tunes in their heads, and it staggers me.  I wonder how they can memorize so many?  I asked Liz about this at breakfast the next day, and she said, “I think people just use different sides of their brains, [one for music, one for words].”  This actually makes sense to me, as I told her, “I can often memorize most of a song after hearing it just once.”  Tunes however, which are not associated with words, take much longer for me to learn.  For Liz, it is the opposite:  she learns tunes much faster than words.  Perhaps it is that way for many other tune musicians.

Liz ended her class with a wish that everyone would be inspired to compose something, and actually asked if we would play it for her!  So I went to lunch, and they served butternut squash soup.  Well, I love butternut squash soup, but this was... a little disappointing.  The way I make it, and the way my local grocery store makes it, is very thick, flavorful, and has a happy golden color, like and egg yolk sunny-side-up.  The soup served at lunch was indeed thick, but not creamy, and the color was like mustard, with flecks of some unknown (tasteless) spices.  I use fresh butternut, and maybe this was canned.  I thought “I should write a tune about this!  Their soup, and mine.”  A little silly, sure, but... inspiration can come from anywhere!  Now I am inspired to write a tune about my time in Italy seven years ago, perhaps an air.

I left lunch early, hurried to my room, grabbed my fiddle and started playing, jotting down shorthand so I could remember.  It felt like it should be a slip jig, but some of the later parts came out sounding more like a hornpipe.  Once I get home to my music writing program, I can get the timing right and finish it up with any missing notes.  The next day I played what I had for both Rose and Liz.  They actually liked it and were very encouraging; they did not criticize or make suggestions on how to finish it, which I appreciated.  “It could go either way [a slip jig or a hornpipe],” said Liz excitedly.  Once I finish it, I will send them a midi file.

Evening concerts were the biggest treat of all.  These performers are so incredibly talented and amazing.  On Friday night Dave Cory began the concert on banjo.  He also played Carolan’s Concerto.  On banjo!  When he announced it, he said, “Apologies to any harp players out there.”  Then Jim Crowley from Co. Cork sang a song he wrote about the Titanic called “The Queen of the White Starline”, a beautiful tear-jerker of a song with vivid imagery.  He also did a song about a beautiful sailing ship he took several voyages on, but now lies at the bottom of the ocean, “My Love Is A Tall Ship”.  Also up were the Mulcahy sisters from Dublin; Michelle plays not only harp, but also fiddle, concertina, accordion, piano... what else???  Liz Carroll and Randal Bays played sets too, both incredible fiddlers.

Saturday night were Rose Conway Flanagan on fiddle and Kevin Crawford on Irish flute.  John Doyle sang songs about the Irish emigration to the Americas, the battle of Fredericksburg, and many others.  Martin Hayes played an amazing rendition of “Carolan’s Farewell to Music” on fiddle, then several tunes, accompanied by others.  He and John Doyle did a set that practically set the house (figuratively) on fire.  Bow was blazing, guitar fingers flashed, and one could feel the sparks of energy ricocheting between them as the music built, stronger and stronger, until their instruments were shouting!  It was fascinating to watch the unspoken, dynamic dialog between fiddler and guitarist.  I was standing in the very back of the room, and I could feel the energy coming from them up on stage.  I actually began shaking with a very intense, almost desperate desire to dance Irish hardshoe or sean-nos....  But, I couldn’t, it would be rude, and besides, there was no dancing space, the floor was all carpeted.  So I could only tap my feet softly.

All the evening concerts were sound engineered by Russ Alvey and Travis Ener, who have been doing sound together for over forty years.  They shared their experience and knowledge in a two-part class on basic sound system operation, which I attended.  I wanted a basic understanding to be able to operate my own digital recorder/mixer/burner, and to know what happens when I see concerts around town.  I was a bit surprised to discover there is a real art behind sound engineering; it’s not just plugging things in and turning knobs until the music sounds good.  One has to know the acoustics of the room, adjust out resonating frequencies, place the equipment in optimum locations (which could differ even by an inch in any particular direction!), constantly watch the performers and maintain visual communication, and of course, be flexible.  For example, at the end of Friday’s concert, Liz Carroll, on a whim, asked for all the other performers of the night to come up and do a finale together!  The sound crew soared to the occasion, producing enough microphones and cords for all and they sounded amazing.

Another note on the resonating frequencies:  one student who teaches music at a school, mentioned that one of the most fun classes she had at her college was the physics of music.  I stared at her and asked what school she went to, because my college definitely didn’t have interesting classes like that!

Saturday night I went to a song session with Heather Gilmore, a fiddler who used to perform around Texas.  I had first seen her playing with Jeff Moore in Austin, and attended a session with her another time.  I was thrilled that she remembered me now.  People shared some wonderful songs, some funny, some creepy for Halloween coming up.  There was even a harpist!  He was playing a beautiful deep blue Camac pedal harp; he played “Carolan’s Farewell to Music”, and I noticed he held his hands in the same method I was taught.  Reluctantly, after singing my third song and hearing Heather’s, I had to excuse myself and retire.  I had no idea what time it was, but I knew it was so late it was early, and I had a three-hour drive the next day.

I had to leave after the first class on Sunday, though the camp wasn’t officially over until Monday morning.  Rose spent several minutes of class playing tunes for us so we could record and learn them later when we had time.  I learned so much from her over the two days of classes.  She demonstrated the differences in playing music as written, and playing it the way it really should sound as Irish music, with variations in bowing and pressure, ornamentation, and timing.  She even let me play her own fiddle when I played my tune for her!

The O’Flarity Irish Music Retreat should be given due credit for preserving and promoting this wonderful genre of world culture.  Many of the performers said in different words the same adage:  “The victors write the history books, but the victims write the songs.”  “History is written by those who conquer, but songs are written by those who suffer.”  Songs about war, songs about everyday Irish life, social songs about drinking and dancing, songs that tell a story, songs about courting, songs that entertain, songs commemorating a hero.  All wonderful songs that should be preserved and shared.  And the tradition of singing and telling stories around the fire at the end of the day.  I wonder, what other culture has such a rich tradition?  Probably many that we don’t often hear about.  We Americans used to have it too.  What has happened to that tradition?  We should bring it back.

Thanks for reading.

Oh, by the way, because of all the Irish fellers I’d been listening to all weekend, I was actually speaking with a mixed Irish accent meself for a couple days after leavin’ because it rubbed off on me ^_^

I’m inspired now to write lots of songs, what to do first?  I want to write a war song about Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings, or one about the Rohirrim.  Add those to the others I wrote about Lord of the Rings.  And I need to write my “Aire di Toscana” (Air to Tuscany).

Back at School

I went to the architecture school at the University to meet a professor, from whom I received some helpful advice, while I left him my resume.  Since the annual international Expo will be happening at the end of the month (not here, but in San Diego), there is a workshop going on for students.  Several current student projects, and projects of ambassadors abroad were displayed in the walls.  I even met a teacher of mine.  He remembered me, but not my name.  That's ok, I remembered him but not his name too.

While I was there I of course had to take a little trip down Memory Lane, and it was actually very inspiring.  Landscape Architects are still there, being tree-hugging Stewards of the Land.  I was reminded of the importance of what I want to do, and to keep pursuing my dream.