Summer plans II

I'm definitely getting ready for summer. I just ordered myself a new Lee Oskar harmonica. 

I know, I know, I posted about my harmonicas last January (and the picture was missing a few), but I don't have a Lee Oskar in the key of D. Can a person have too many harmonicas?

On a more serious note, I decided what I'm offering to libraries this summer. Of course, librarians can request any program on my larger list, or they can propose something else (if I can do it I will, and if it isn't my cup of tea, I'll say so). Here are the blurbs I sent to the Northeast Kansas Library System performer directory this morning:

Hopping on one foot!
All ages
Storyteller Priscilla Howe pulls out her favorite silly songs and story stretches, for a rollicking good time in the library. Of course, Priscilla will have some help (or hindrance?) from her handpuppet buddies.

Silly stuff
All ages
From tee-hee to guffaw, with giggles in between, this program of stories and songs with storyteller Priscilla Howe is not for the serious-minded. Check your scowls at the door! Of course, Priscilla will have some help (or hindrance?) from her handpuppet buddies.

Story goulash
All ages
Storyteller Priscilla Howe serves up a tasty mix of stories and songs, old favorites and made-up-on-the spot tales with plenty of help from the audience. Of course, Priscilla’s ridiculous handpuppets join in the hilarity.

In this last one, I plan to do at least one  improv story with the audience. I'll have a basic structure in my head, and we'll play with it together from there. Should be fun!

When skies are gray...

This morning was cloudy and I found myself humming You are my sunshine. As a warm-up for the audience, before the show begins, I've been playing "Name that tune" with the kids. I play a tune on the harmonica and they guess what it is. Often, I play You are my sunshine. Kids will say, "My mom sings me that song!"

I play mostly old favorites like Twinkle, twinkle, little star and Jingle bells, with a few lesser known songs thrown in. Lately I've been playing Red River Valley. Every now and then a child will know it. More often, an older adult will remember that one.

Sometimes I'll invite the kids to suggest songs for me to play. If I know it and it's playable on my harmonica, I'll play it. I got applause for Ode to Joy the other day. In case you wondered, We will rock you is in the wrong key for my main harmonica, though I can do it with a different harmonica. I also don't play Freebird.

Last year I had a request for Ashokan farewell, the fiddle tune written by Jay Ungar that was played on the PBS documentary on the Civil War. I couldn't quite get it in my head, but after the show, I found the girl who'd requested it and played it through for her. It's oddly poignant on the harmonica.

Harmonicas

I've got a few harmonicas. I thought this was the whole collection, until I remembered the one in the car (for emergencies) and the one in my briefcase, and the one in the kitchen that lost its pins. There's a pretty blue echo harp that lives with the props for the puppet show Rumpelstiltskin. There might be a few more lying around the house, too.


These two were my first real harmonicas. Yes, of course I had one as a kid, but I just played as kids do: I blew in and out tunelessly, driving everybody crazy. When I was a freshman in college, I went to the music store and bought a Hohner. I followed the directions enclosed and was playing "When the saints go marching in" by the end of the day. I carried that harmonica with me everywhere--notice how these two are squashed from being in my back pocket, and one is missing its screws. I played as I walked, getting the rhythm from my pace much as I do when I'm working on a story. Once again, I drove everybody crazy, but at least I was playing actual tunes.

I've got a reasonably good ear for music, or what Howard Gardner calls "musical intelligence." Anyway, if I hear something, most likely I can play it, if there aren't accidentals (sharps and flats in unexpected places). Someday I can even deal with those, if I learn to play the chromatic Hohner harmonica my friends Dave and Joanna gave me:

That nifty button on the side makes the sharps and flats. The little one next to it is a Yamaha, given to me by my friend Yuko in Bulgaria.


This is the one I use most often, a fancy pants Lee Oskar. I keep it in my puppet bag for performances. Before this, I played a Huang, which I loved, but the replacement I got doesn't sound as good (the one in my briefcase replaces the one missing its pins).

I play the harmonica sometimes before performances as kids are coming in. We usually play "name that tune," with standards such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald, The Chicken Dance, etc. The music focuses the listeners and gives us all something to do if we have to wait for other kids.
This is a cool box o' harmonicas my friends Thom and Sarah Howard sent me out of the blue a few years ago. Seven keys in a velvet-lined case!

And this tiny one with its cool satin box is a mystery: my siblings found this in Dad's desk after he died. Dad couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with the lid on top and he certainly never played an instrument. Why was this there? Was he planning to give it to me someday? I think I'm the only one of us who plays. Hmm.