Meet Shelley Phillips
Shelley Phillips is a Celtic harper and oboist who records with the
Gourd Music label. Although classically trained on oboe, she has
pursued a mostly folk style with the Celtic harp. She has recorded
two "solo" (Shelley with Friends) albums, a duo album with her husband
Barry, a cellist, and has been a guest artist on many other albums.
In addition to all this, Shelley is a warm-hearted, down-to-earth
person! When we heard about her yearly Celtic Music Camp for kids, we
decided this would be a fine excuse to introduce you to her. Enjoy!
photo: Shelley Phillips
YHA:
Please tell us a bit about your Celtic Music Camp. Who are the kids who
attend your camp, and what instruments do they play?
SHELLEY:
Celtic
Camp has been going for three years now. Last year it happened to be all
girls. We had four harps, and electric piano, a flute, a pennywhistle and a
recorder. They were all my students, except the piano was a sister. We have
it as a day camp from 10-2 for two weeks in June at the Montessori school here
in Santa Cruz. There is a great playground for release after we've been
practicing hard. The harps especially learn to read chord symbols and to
accompany the woodwinds in different ways, depending on individual ability.
We did nine tunes: Water is Wide, Swallowtail Jig, The Mist Covered
Mountains of Home, The Ashgrove, Chanter's Tune, Christ Child Lullaby,
All Through the Night, Hewlett and Scarborough Fair.
YHA:
Do most of the kids come in knowing Celtic music?
Are their parents Celtic musicians or Celtic music fans?
SHELLEY:
Most of the kids know Celtic music because
they've learned from me, and they often became my students because their
parents knew my recordings and liked them.
photo: Members of
the Celtic Music Camp play at Albion Center
YHA:
Tell us more about the camp.
SHELLEY:
On the Saturday after camp,
we have a garden party to play for people, followed by a pool party.
This all happens at the Albion Center, a very beautiful country house in
Aptos.
We also color in copies of the International Society of Folk Harpers &
Craftsmen (ISFHC) Members Directory cover, which has a cool line
drawing of all the fairies at their Autumn festival.
I
started camp as a way for my students to play together, not just do
recitals. They want me to try to do Celtic band once a week all year,
but it's hard to find the time. So we just have this intense time
once a year. There are reunion concerts sometimes for various events.
This year camp is only one week from June 16-20, with the party on the
21st, but we'll start at 9 am and end at 3 pm, still at Montessori.
Everyone brings a sack lunch. I'm going to try to expand into fiddles
and have my friend Deby Benton-Grosjean teach that part, and come
together to rehearse, but only if I can get another room!
YHA:
Shelley, you play many instruments! What
instruments did you play as a kid, and how did you learn them?
SHELLEY:
Well, I started out on pump organ, because
that's what we had, my grandmother's antique. I was self-taught.
Then my folks got me a piano, but again I was self-taught. I used
some old John Thompson books. In the fourth grade I started
elementary instrumental music playing my grandfather's antique oboe.
When my sister started flute a year later and quit right away, I took
up her flute because it was a lot easier than the ancient oboe. In
high school I took up oboe again because they needed one and had a
modern one I could play, and I played tenor sax for the jazz band. I also
took up guitar
to play pop songs I liked. Then I majored in oboe in college, and was
grateful for my piano skills in musicianship and theory.
photo: Shelley surrounded by instruments
YHA:
When did you take up the harp?
SHELLEY:
I didn't take up harp until after I had gotten my undergrad degree
when I was 25. I bought Steve Coulter's [a professional harper] Lyon
and Healy Troubador III and his yellow Volvo station wagon and paid $100 a
month for two years! He was an old boyfriend who moved to Holland. I
went back to school and got my master's in oboe at the SF
conservatory, and inherited a a little Dusty Strings there when it was
donated to the school and the school didn't really want it. I finally took
my first harp lesson from Cheryl Ann Fulton then. I took one lesson,
which was wonderful. We talked mostly technique, and I went into
retreat mode to fix what I could, but my technique isn't very good.
I give my students Cheryl's technique, not mine!
YHA:
Did you ever take music lessons?
How did you--and how do you, as a teacher--feel about
practicing?
image: The Fairie Round - Shelley's first solo album
SHELLEY:
The only private lessons I've had have been on oboe and not until high
school. I've always been motivated by sound and my parents aren't
knowledgable about music, so they didn't get involved either to
encourage or discourage. When I wanted lessons I got them though. I
didn't think to ask earlier. I got everything at school. That's why
it's scary about public school music disappearing. I try to make
music it's own motivation. And I try to provide social performance
opportunities like I had to create goals. I stay flexible about
repertoire. You'll practice if you like the tune. I played every
afternoon after school. It felt like playing, not practicing. But
that's why I'm a folk musician, even with a conservatory degree. My
technique is my weakest point, that I cover with musical flair! I
love to perform. And I love harp, but I should learn more
technique....So the moral is "don't do what I do, do what I say."
YHA:
You mentioned that you were motivated by sound: could you describe
what you were "seeking", or what it was in the sound that lured you on?
What led you to teach yourself how to read music, as opposed to making
music by ear? Also, can explain a little more about how you
"got everything at school"?
SHELLEY:
I learned to read music in school, and it was pretty visual and social. But
then I was able to get sheet music for things I liked that I heard on records
and radio, and I would also go the other way and buy records of what we did in
band or youth symphony. By hearing a good recording I could imitate the
style. I got into Celtic through Steeleye Span and the Chieftans, but knew I
loved it when we did Vaughan-Williams in school. I got set on fire about
music from hearing a large high school band come to our elementary school; the
bass drum went right through my chest. Then it did get a little mental and
physical and social (even competitive, especially in the flute section). Just
the nature of school, but I still love concerts, and try to remember what
floats my boat about music. Which for me is that the instrument is a sound
source, then an emotional outlet, then a mental game, then a physical
exercise. I'm slowly learning about music as a spiritual practice, since my
husband Barry is taking lessons from Ravi Shankar. Barry is a cellist.
photo: Barry & Shelley Phillips
YHA:
My impression is that after you graduated from the SF Conservatory of
Music, you and some friends continued to play music together. And
eventually this led (somehow!) to recording and your Gourd Music
albums. Can you "fill in the blanks" on this story? Also, what
groups/musical projects are you involved in now?
SHELLEY:
Actually, going to conservatory was an in-the-middle thing that
didn't really have anything to do with Gourd or the band or recording.
I was in a band here in Santa Cruz since 1982 called Orison. We made
the second Gourd record ever, and then Barry, Bill Coulter and I all
went back to school together. Steve Coulter, also in the band, went
to busk in Holland and is still in Europe. During school we all drove
down here to record and play, sort of on the side. We didn't even
talk about it much at school. School really honed our technique and
raised our standards, but then we just applied that to what we were
already doing. Orison has been renamed Blackbird, and includes a
flute player we met at conservatory who moved here. Also a fiddle
player who has always been here. And I'm in a band called Anjali that
has oboe, cello, violin and piano, but no harp. We play Indian
devotional melodies as a fundraiser for an Indian orphanage.
YHA:
Shelley, thank you for speaking with us!
Celtic Music Camp Info:
June 16-21, Monday through
Saturday. 10am-3PM each day at the Montessory School in Aptos, CA.
The last day is a Garden Concert/Swim Party at the Albion Center.
For ages 7-13. Requirements: that you've played your instrument for at
least a year. Cost is $150. Call (408) 426-9155 for more info.
For more info on Shelley's recordings, please see the Web page
for Gourd Music
Here are some direct links to info on her albums:
Copyright 1997 Jane Valencia
Young Harpers Almanac - http://baruk.zendo.com/almanac
Permission is granted to copy this page for educational purposes if
the above notice is retained.
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