The website has this to say about the Millennium Harper Awards:
"Your quest must involve live performance on your harp. By established precedent, a worthy quest involves at least 25 live performances, widely distributed in your community, state, or region. A worthy quest should be a year-long commitment; a personal challenge, achievable but not too easily. Age and skill are not important. The key is to stretch your "comfort zone" as a person and a performer. A truly worthy quest is a blend of community service and personal growth."In 2004, I decided to embark on my own harp quest ....
What happens when one brings these two metaphors together in a community experience? On this day, March 2, 2004, I, Jane Valencia, hereby declare my intention to find out.
I will combine the metaphor & form of the paper crane with harp music in at least twenty-five adventures during the coming year. I will document these adventures with photos and written reflection, and post them on the web. At the conclusion of my quest I will assume the title of Vashon Island Millennium Harper Of The Paper Crane.
This was the idea with which I set forth, but I had no idea where it would lead. What began in the form of a "paper crane" shape-shifted like origami, folding into different forms, each with their own resonance and meaning, each with their own layering of metaphor. The resounding notes were harp, song, community, nature, and some archetypal experience or metaphor that threaded the experience into its own kind of music, sometimes simple, sweet, and playful, sometimes deeply moving to me and profound. As you wander through these little tales or "glimpses" I invite you to experience the events as little origami forms strung with a harp string, blessed with song and an imaginative eye.
In all of these adventures I received gifts: some were actual, like a song or poem. Others are seeds for tales and possible musical and community adventures I might offer in the future. In the end what I discovered was a deepened mission for myself as a harper, and a number of experiences like jewels that showed me the way.
Make yourself a cup of tea, hum yourself a little tune, and imagine a lovely square of paper folding itself into a perfect paper crane. As you sip your tea, that paper crane flies up and settles on your shoulder, and whispers possibilities into your ear. Listen to any thoughts or ideas that begin to wriggle into your own mind--your own unique origami, your own delightful sparkle of harp song. Listen, and enjoy!
Before I set out on my first adventure I fold a few paper cranes and reflect on the beauty of my wire-strung harp, which perches before me. I consider that it's been quite some time since I'd really felt I'd offered the harp as a 'professional'. Though I played harp in community, and occasionally performed, I'd mostly been occupied with being a mom to young children these past several years. I felt that my experience with the harp was evolving in different ways from flashy pyrotechnics and intricate arrangements or compositions, but I didn't really have a road map for what was unfolding for me. Part of the reason I chose to pursue this harp quest was to begin to define the shapes and pattern of this emerging expression.
I begin to hum a melody, which I recognize after a moment as "The Magic Horse Jig" by Paul Machlis. A few minutes later, a haiku shapes in my mind:
1. THE PAPER CRANE: Peace
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER - March 5, 2004
And so for my first community expression of harp and crane: playing "Gathering Music" for an interfaith service devoted to peace through prayer--or, how do I find Peace within myself?
This service is an intentional coming together of different faiths (the organizer would have been thrilled to have had the Wicca represented). A family from the Havarrah Community (and friends of mine) light the Sabbath Candle. Prayers from the Muslim, Ba'hai, various Christian, Native American, and Buddhist meditations are interspersed by five queries and periods of silence (from the Quaker/Friends tradition) and readings and songs. I open the whole service with meditative music on my wire-sturng harp. Before that, however, I placed three paper cranes on the lectern, and folded a wee crane for a little boy attending the event--the only child attending the potluck part of the event-- which was attended mostly by gray- and white-haired elders.
It's always a joy to play acoustically, and in a silent holy space. I explore the sounds of the harp, and the music that came to mind and fingers, but I must admit that when I begin playing the Japanese "sa saho ma" song I chicken out of singing. My voice aches to join in, but I just can't push past my comfort zone tonight. So I settle to purely instrumental.
Afterward, I reflect on the paper crane. Those cranes had been wings of myself, but as usual these days when performing, I'd had a kind of tunnel vision while playing--curled inward, not daring to look out on the people gathered with me. Not connecting with them in awareness and spirit, not really. The paper cranes can be reminders for me to expand my awareness, and to disperse my fear. To embrace the people in gatherings.
At the end as I was leaving, the Methodist pastor drops a plastic ring attachment into my basket. It has the Prayer Of St. Francis written on it. When I arrive home I fold a fabric origami crane (my oldest child's suggestion) and slip the prayer into the wing folds--a gift I received.
PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where their is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury ... pardon
Where there is doubt ... faith
(etc.)
Scene from my story "Origami With Tea". Story doll by
Lisa Mathias
2. PAPER CRANE TO GREAT BLUE HERON:
A basket of 12" by 12" cardstock folded paper cranes, owls, and a
turtle. A handful of tiny versions of the above. My wee
wire-strung harp, a basket of magazines to cut up, decorative
papers, scissors, glue, my Rumi card deck.
In the classroom I place a quartet of the large cranes around--for the
four directions-- and as reminders to me to define and expand my space and awareness.
I couldn't have had a kinder, more comfortable and safe audience to test
my wings with song, harping, telling the story "Origami With Tea", and
speaking of my concept of spirit mapping and one's soul landscape, and
the Spring Equinox and balance. The group was small--beginning with six
(including me) and expanding to eight. We opened with a Thanksgiving
Address, where we all linked arms. So how could I not attempt to
sing! I think of these art jams as female process oriented, but three
men were present and dove into it as enthusiastically as anyone else.
We unfolded our origami. Patty requested that I play harp while they
held their hands over their materials, and so we set our intentions.
Then collaging!
When we finished, we placed our landscapes side by side--and they did indeed create
a magical unique world. Each one was different.... Some with
lots of images and words, some with only "sounds" (it seems to me now) in the
expression of a few images or swirls.
One of the women--one who I'd tagged as being pulled along to this event,
not into it--was excited by the process. "What if business meetings
opened with this sort of creative experience, or with a poem? Wouldn't the
former help to diffuse tensions and help the attendees to know each other
better--perhaps it would even bring forth new ideas, or ways they could work
with each other?"
We sing "Lovingkindness" as a call-and-response, as a blessing on our landscapes.
At the end they hand me a thank you card. The comments--thanks from
all the attendees--were affirmations, it seems to me, of the musical
path I'm now on. Each comment mirrored a thought that I hoped would be
felt or perceived. Amazingly the artwork on the card is of a Great Blue
Heron--surely a kind of crane.
So I feel I have a link--a clue to the next aspect I could explore in this
adventure. The paper crane has led me to the Great Blue Heron, an elegant
bird of the Pacific Northwest.
3. THE MAGIC HORSE:
The Great Blue Heron shapeshifts to a Magic Horse ....
This is what I sent out via email to my commmunity:
Forest Halls presents:
WHAT: "If Wishes Were Horses" - an art adventure
"If Wishes Were Horses" is an invitational art show presented this
month by The Silverwood Gallery. 58 artists in a variety of mediums
participated, and the result is truly magical! The show inspired me
to create a short Celtic harp, story & song sequence (as part of my
harp quest this year - see below), which I'll use to 'introduce' you
to the show. We'll have time to let our imaginations romp with the
horses in all those art pieces. Towards 11am we'll gather again
to share our ideas and thoughts, and maybe a song or two.
After that, you're welcome to go on your way, or come to The Gathering
Place to create some artwork, poetry, or stories inspired by the show--or
not!
Magic horses to you all!
(I wrote further, describing the work of The Harping For
Harmony Foundation and explaining my quest)
Here's what happened:
My daughters and I arrive a little after 10am, but no one shows up for
another 15 minutes. Finally we begin at 10:30. I bravely ask if the
gallery music can be turned off, so I can play and tell my story in this
space (as opposed to outside on the porch -- heck, I may as well be bold
in all this!) I play "The Magic Horse Jig", (a little clumsily) but
tell my story pretty well. And I lead a call-and-response of the song "The Horse
Song" with the whole group. It goes well, but I do wish I'd mentally
tried to connect with each child more, and that I'd spoken with each one
individually about what art piece they liked in the show, and their
thoughts and imaginings. It would have been cool to have come up with a
collaborative horse art project--perhaps along the lines of "The Banner
Of Horses" (one of the pieces in the show). Ah well, another time!
I suggest horse art, horse origami, their own "If Wishes Were Horses"
poems and stories as ideas of what they might create. At my house the
children mostly paint, with a few folding horse origami toward the end.
4. STINGING NETTLE:
It is the final day of my ethnobotany apprenticeship. The others make a
nettle frittata, dandelion root coffee, dandelion head & maple flower
fritters, and a wild greens spring salad. I offer entertainment for
our feast: I sing "Under The Forest Wood" and tell the Nettle Song
story, and finish with the song "Small Though I May Be"
And so my paper crane has morphed again--into the plant spirit of
Nettle, threaded with story and song, and a nourishment of the body,
in addition to peace in the heart.
I'm providing the music.
I place a large paper crane of floral paper atop some "About Labyrinths" handouts.
The labyrinth is serene. As the sun drops behind the trees, my fingers begin
to freeze on the harp strings. I listen to the birds that start up (or have
they been singing all along?). I try to play the songs I hear.
I take a labyrinth flyer on heavy card stock to make into a paper crane later. And I take
a handful of palm fronds. My realization: to listen to what nature is singing. (I write
this as the frogs sing hugely. A marine airfront has come in after a hot day--Easter).
.... Imagine a great Paper Crane in the center of a luminous labyrinth. You
walk this glowing path, and bird song etches patterns in your wake--a song
of rejoicing!
6. THE BEAR:
The Paper Crane waltzes with bears ....
I pass around the Heartstone to the children as they gather. The
Heartstone had been the sharing stone at the Medicine Teachings of the
Si-Si-Wiss and was given to me by the elder, Jill Fanning, at the end of
the session. Now, in passing it around and telling this story, it helps
to quiet the group--which consists of a number of energetic young
children.
I tell the story of "Bear And Ant", told this past weekend by Jill,
after describing our gathering as a "red cedar circle". I use dramatic
gestures, even leaping to my feet and thumping the ground to keep the
attention of some of those kids. (Two of the older children--Amri, my
daughter, and Malaika-- had made a stage for me, draping the wooden
frames with silks--nice that Amri supported my performance at
Heartstone!)
At the end I play and sing some of "Binwag's Lullaby" on my mid-size
wire-strung harp I unexpectedly forgot the words during the third verse or so, but it
was just as well because I could see that those 4-5 year old boys had
gone as far as they could go with their attention span. I finish the
song, thanked them all for being with me in the circle, and end it.
The next morning I write a note to the older girls in this program,
giving them a quest if they chose to take it. I place a basket in the
loft, one of Heartstone's spaces, with a few wool puppets, and a few
books with places marked that referred to bears: a Petersons Animal
Tracks Guide, the Cedar People stories, "Waltzing With Bears" in Rise Up
Singing. Amazingly, the girls came up with a puppet show and performed
it for the little kids, as I'd suggested. Malaika dictated the story,
Sarah Kai wrote it down. In performance. Malaika read the story. Sarah
acted out the puppets, and Amri made cheerful and funny sound effects.
Tears came to my eyes!
On the surface it just seems like a gathering around a fire for two
days and nights. It is both just that, and far more. In the light of
the fire, sometimes kindling, sometimes blazing, sometimes burning in a
cheerful, easy way, and sometimes as glowing coals, I realize that my
harp mission, "to celebrate the magic of the natural world", needed a
part two. The phrase I added on is: "... and to nourish the imaginative
soul of community". Those twin ideas fold together into my present
concept (as of 2008) of what it means to be a Village Harper.
Arising at dawn with the birds, I bring my wee wire-strung harp
and myself to sit by the Sacred Fire that had been kindled a couple
of nights before, and which still burned, constantly tended. I
play my harp for the fire, with the fire, weaving in fire-song,
bird song, and the welcome of the morning, and I reflect on the twin
phrases that are like a pair of birds themselves--or perhaps merely
the two wings on a single bird: to celebrate the magic of the natural
world and to nourish the imaginative soul of community
After illuminating the shadow corners of the self, the Sacred Fire
blazes the profound beauty of one's true nature and of inner peace. You can
almost see that Paper Crane dancing in the flames, perfectly fine. No scorch
marks, no charring, no burns or distintigration after all.
8. LABYRINTH & MEDICINE WHEEL
MAY 9.
ALIGNMENT WITH GREAT MEDICINE WHEEL/SHIELD CEREMONY
Vashon Island
At a private labyrinth, a few of us provided didgeridoo, crystal bowl,
voice, and my harp -- offering intentions and blessings ....
This ceremony is part of one held by many people throughout the states,
aligning the "spokes" of a great Medicine Wheel centered at the Grand
Tetons in Montana--a blessing ceremony for Mother Earth's Mountains and
Waters. The intention is peace, of course.
9. CINCO DE MAYO - celebrated on MAY 11 at the
CULTURE CLUB
Paper Crane ala Fiesta!
The Culture Club is a gathering of families in a learning community
focusing on a particular cultural experience.
In this celebration of puppet show, food, and fiesta, I offer my harp,
demonstrating the 3-against-2 polyrhythm, and encouraging others to join
in with the rhythm, all of us singing "De Colores", and myself singing
"Copla de Ordena".
10. MAY 12
HOUSE BLESSING.
Paper Crane soars overhead as the Redtailed Hawk ....
I brought my harp and played and sang: Kate Wolf's "Redtail Hawk" and
"Home and the Heartland" (from Riverdance). We all sang "I Walk In
Beauty" as a welcome and to invoke the directions, as we walked the
perimeter of our neighbors' new home. Redtail hawks fly over the
fields, offering their blessing too!
11. JUNE 10
HERO'S JOURNEY
This was a rite-of-passage and final learning experience for the second
year students in LIOS' two-year program for counselors and corporate
leaders. I played harp and sang throughout the day, providing ambient
music for mythic visualizations and to enhance their archetypal
experience-- offering both Hero and Demon music along the way. Yes!
You can play Demon music on the harp. I only partially engaged the
sharping levels, and slid my tuning key along the strings, making sounds
of icky tension. And I wailed like a demon.
Wow! I feel
like I was made to offer music in this way!
12. DE COLORES AND THE FERRY (Fairy?)
OUTRAGEOUS ACT OF HARPING - JUNE 12
On the Ferry from Vashon to Fauntleroy.
I dressed in "de colores", with lavender skirt, red-purple
blouse, and a yellow veil draped around my neck, and prepared to
live and harp big! Gwynne wanted to harp on the ferry too,
so I brought the Hummingbird and my Ardival harps. Not
many folk on the passenger deck, but I drew out the harps
and sat down and began "De Colores". Gwynne gave a brief
strum and ducked her head, so I finished the verse and continued
further. A ferry worker seemed intrigued by the harp,
and I think a few others enjoyed it too.
13. A BEE: SUN MUSIC IN THE FIELD & INSPIRATION
I wanted to remember to really look -- to see the unique nature of
each person before me--especially that of the birthday girl! To remind
myself to do this, I put on my fused glass necklace that reminded me of
the fire and of the sun, and wore lime green, a flowery purple-red vest,
and black jeans (a reminder of rich soil). I pull a Druid Oracle card:
the Bee, which is about celebration and community -- well-suited to the
day.
The Bee is connected with the sun, as in its sundance, and honey
making and mead. Brigid is a Celtic sun and fire goddess, as
well as a water and well goddess, and is about community and
poetry, healing and fire. With these images weaving
in the back of my mind, I play and sing on the grass
with the kids songs from the Spring/Summer Revels Songbook in
the windblown field. With my music and heart I do my best
to honor the child whose birthday it is.
... and so the origami folds into Bee, and St. Brigit's Cross (even
though it's June!).
In honor of the Blue Moon, I lead a singing circle for all ages with my
harp for the Village Learning Community. In this gathering, we embody
wolf, sing songs for the moon and
wolf, cavort in a wolf howl improvisation, and hold a Full Moon
closing circle. Instruments we use are harp, percussion, and sticks
gathered from the field. I read passages from a book about wolfs,
foxes, and coyotes called The Twilight Hunters. Poetry is "Full Moon
Lunar Year" with information on blue moons from the book Thirteen Moons
On Turtle's Back.
15. JULY 31. BLUE MOON LABYRINTH WALK Church of
the Holy Spirit
Circle Of Sound, with their crystal bowls,
digeridoos, and occasional drum beats provided the music. I crash the
party, bringing my mid-size wire-strung harp. They graciously allow me
to join in, and I try hard to "fit in"--to improvise in the spirit of
their music.
Well, at this event, that spirit is long
tones--uninterrupted: mostly with crystal bowls. Occasionally the
digeridoo joins in, using circular breathing. With this continuous
sound I keep my harping minimalistic, barely entering into melody. This
for a bit, then I move to a crystal bowl.
Wow! The sound and
ringing is immediate! I am immediately enveloped in sound and
vibration, and now I truly understand the appeal of crystal bowls.
Of course, walking the labyrinth within this sound is quite altering
too. Definitly a walking meditation--I definitly imprint on the
mandala. I slip in some voice, with the singing bowl, while playing
my harp, and as I walk the labyrinth. A digeridoo "purifies" me with
sound, as if I am being smudged.
16. August 6 CHILDREN'S LAMMAS
FESTIVAL Rain! As facilitator of
this event, I am rather unsettled because we weeren't at the Sacred Song
and Dance pavillion, as before. We are on the main stage, and only Amy
and her family has shown up to help me. The Earthfair folk are setting
up sound for the bands to come, and all is damp. A booth nearby boasts
a drum and jam session.
We make our space under the sound techboard
awning. Not quite the mood I'd hoped for. Eventually Amy suggests the
Kid's Labyrinth. I'm disoriented--ungrounded--but agree. Others rally
folks to our new location. It is good! We sing, share
intentions/thankfulness, bread and honey, and I offer some harp.
Beautiful after all!
Here is are the Lammas lyrics and ritual
we offered at this event.
... the origami is the Festival of Lammas,
honoring first harvest of the year, symbolized by the offerings of bread
and honey and sweet song and gratitude.
17. August 7 STORYTELLING,
KID's WORLD Island Earthfair
Sounded the crystal bowl, played "The
Fisherman's Song To The Seals" on whistle, then a bit of harp. And told
the Selkie story. I had rearranged this adult folktale for 8-9 year
olds, but on the fly I had to reduce its sophistication again for the
3-6 year old audience before me. Whew!
... I shape the Seal in
honor of the Selkie. I have to try three times! But I manage a fun
sparkly figure for the young children.
18. SELKIE AND FIRE LANTERN
WALK AND FIRE CEREMONY - August 20 Islewilde Dressed as a selkie,
with small harp in hand, I assisted in singing the lantern songs. We
walked through an archway where we were greeted and smudged, then we
wound around the park to a grassy area amidst the trees. We circled.
"Grandmother Moon" invoked the directions. I, as West, swirled around
the circle (crystal bowls and digeridoos in the center), sounding harp,
and singing Starhawk's "The Ocean Is The Beginning Of The Earth". Later
I joined in the Circle of Sound as they sounded our intentions, and cued
them to end. We led the people to the Fire Ceremony area. I helped
light bowls of fire (alcohol). Then dashed to my car to exchange for
harp for my crstyal bowl. When the giant appeared I sounded the bowl
with gong and bagipes. ... The Selkie again, and Fire, and the
directional energy of the West. Fire & Water *do* mix, in the spirit of
invocation. 19. HEALING HARP October 19 REIKI TRAINING. I offer
live harp music during a Reiki healing session. To me, Reiki is a kind
of silent music, its own origami of healing energy, compassion, and
light .... To play music for healing like this is to offer a sanctuary
space for what is taking place--one of witnessing, blessing, and
shelter--and to respond musically and intuitively to what is unfolding
for the recipients of Reiki. It's a beautiful way to offer harp!
20. November 13. IN THE SPIRIT HOUSE Performance Gift Of The Harps
Concert - presented by Harpers Hall
& culinary society Palo Alto, CA
As Spookytree, my
harp partner Deb Knodel and I performed "In The Spirit House", a musical
journey with harps, song, poetry, and community singing. You can
read the script here
21. November 18.
LANTERN WALK
With harp and song, I tell the story to a group of young children (and
their families) of two bear cubs losing their way to the Dream Cave.
The Star Children lead them home. I play and sing "Bingwag's Lullaby"
....
We enjoy our own lantern walk -- in the loft of the barn! -- because
it's pouring rain out. Afterwards we share fresh-baked pumpkin muffins
and hot apple cider.
Bear, again, and lanterns, and the star children ....
22. Dec. 6.
ROSARY IN MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER
Grand Junction, CO
I give a musical offering, my song, "Call From The River" in honor of her transition.
At age 3 my grandmother decided she wanted nothing more than to sing harmony ...
"Call From The River" was actually a birth song I composed -- and so it is here:
my grandmother is birthing out of this world and into another ....
23. Feb. 6 2005
BLESSINGWAY
I play harp while others decorate candles to light when our friend
is in labor. Honoring the imminence of new life, and blessing the
way for mother and child. We all sing blessingway songs.
24. Feb. 23.
FOREST HALLS FOLK COLLEGE -- Welsh Language & Literature Session
In the forest with my Welsh student, I offer poems: "The Fox", some
Triads. We turn Welsh dialogue into a story. We sing and play (on harp
& fiddle) "Aderyn Du", "The Welsh Rabbit", and "Yn Y Gwydd". College in
the forest!
Click here for a downloadable PDF about my Forest Halls
Folk College.
... Or visit my Tree Letter page to access
the PDF from there (scroll down to Leaf 3).
25. Feb. 27
PAPERMOON DEATH HONORING
My friend has suffered a miscarriage at five months along. Several of us
gather with her to honor her grief.
I play a little harp for her, drape her with silk and scarves, offer
laying on of hands (Reiki), and a song blessing: "The Whippoorwill Song".
It is all sweet and sad.
The Paper Crane here is the gift of solace, beauty rising from sorrow and
recognizing and honoring that deep river of pain. "Sadly sings the Whippoorwill"
are words from the song. Indeed.
Thus completes the 25 Paper Crane and harp offerings.
Do you see the Paper Crane? It is peace woven within a gathering, the
one mind and heart of the adventure or blessing. And it is peace
within my soul as I dare to offer new forms of my gifts and vision,
inspired by moment, by the jazzy riff of the celebration or the painful
burning at the threshold, and by the magic of ourselves as we move through
the days, seasons, and our own many forms of being ... The
Paper Crane is my musical
offering.
Behind the nature of peace
resides the beauty of the harp, which creates that space of harmony and
luminous resonance, that shining quality that reminds us that life and
our journey through it is extraordinary, and that we ourselves are holy ones
in our unique earthy selves.
SPIRIT MAPPING ART JAM
Monday Night Lecture Series
sponsored by Community Threads
held at Bastyr University, Kenmore
FRIDAY, MARCH 26.
Silverwood Gallery
"If Wishes Were Horses" Invitational Art Show
WHERE/WHEN:
(where we'll create our own visual & verbal art & sing
Friday, March 26
10-11am The Silverwood Gallery (where we'll be inspired)
on Vashon Hwy at the crossroads in Burton,
across from The Back Bay Inn
11:15-1:30PM The Gathering Place yurt
some horse songs)
WHO: all ages welcome
BRING: misc. art materials for you & your kids to use & your lunch,
if you plan to join us at the yurt
RSVP: Please phone me if you can come! Jane
Jane
SATURDAY, MARCH 29
Camp Terra, on Vashon.
5. PAPER CRANE, LABYRINTH, BIRD SONG:
APRIL 5, 2004, PALM SUNDAY
LABYRINTH WALK, at the Episcopal Church.
APRIL 20, 2004, TUESDAY.
HEARTSTONE CHILDREN'S PROGRAM - Village Day.
7. FIRE:
MAY 2.
Sacred Fire Weekend, Duvall, WA.
LIOS Institute, Seattle, WA
BIRTHDAY PARTY - June 13.
14. WOLF AND MOON.
VILLAGE DAY: HOWL AT THE BLUE MOON Singing Circle - JULY 29.
Village Learning Community event
Opening of the Island Earthfair. 
selkie doll by
Maren Metke. Doll harp by Jane
Take me back home