Pete Ellertsen harmonica

Harmonica — minor tunes (including Dorian) and a primer on the modal scales

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Vu-V9aAAo&t=7s LearnTheHarmonica.com https://www.youtube.com/@Learntheharmonica. Fair warning: If you surf onto this page looking for basic harmonica instruction, keep surfing! I'm a rank beginner, and I'm entirely self-taught. So I'm pulling together YouTube videos of tunes I want to learn and links to copies of the music in standard notation (the "dots"), mostly from The Session website. … Continue reading Harmonica — minor tunes (including Dorian) and a primer on the modal scales

Pete Ellertsen dulcimer, ELCA, harmonica, Holy Land, hymnody, James Martin, lectio divina, personal God, prayer, spirituality, T-shirt

‘How Firm a Foundation’: Reading the lectio divina with a shape-note folk hymn when a hard rain’s about to fall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQDqufENb0 Sacred Harp singers, Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church, Old Chicora, Fla., 2018. According to longstanding custom in the shape-note singing community, the annual Illinois Sacred Harp Convention is held the Saturday before the third Sunday of September. In 2001 that came out to Sept. 15 -- the Saturday after the World Trade Center was destroyed … Continue reading ‘How Firm a Foundation’: Reading the lectio divina with a shape-note folk hymn when a hard rain’s about to fall

Pete Ellertsen cancer, diversity, Dominicans, dulcimer, harmonica, journal, music, pluralism, racism, social justice, spiritual direction

A twofer for spiritual direction: ‘By their fruits — and (harmonica) toots — shall ye know them’; intersectionality, too

Ameya Deshmukh, 'Squirrel' (Wikimedia Commons). Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director in advance of our session for March. I’ve been writing these for several years now, primarily in order to help me focus my mind before we talk. It’s not a record or an agenda of our sessions. (Often enough, … Continue reading A twofer for spiritual direction: ‘By their fruits — and (harmonica) toots — shall ye know them’; intersectionality, too

Pete Ellertsen African American spirituals, cancer, dulcimer, harmonica, music, spirituality

How Beyoncé’s crossover country and a Black harmonica player of the 1930s got me back to making music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7xxnaWxmPo DeFord Bailey at Grand Ole Opry reunion (Living the Blues). My taste in music is nothing if not eclectic. It runs toward Anglo-Celtic fiddle tunes, southern Appalachian ballads, trad Irish, Swedish and Norwegian gammaldans, English folk melodies, roots reggae, blues, African American spirituals, Southern gospel and early American shape-note hymns -- practically anything, in … Continue reading How Beyoncé’s crossover country and a Black harmonica player of the 1930s got me back to making music