The last time I wrote in this blog, it was all about the new duo, Celtic Moon in January of 2024. Here it is, almost August of 2025, and I realize I have been too busy to write for over a year and a half! Wow. Was I really too busy, or had my focus shifted away from inner musings? Playing in Celtic Moon became such a strong focus, that I forgot that there are other things in my life worth pursuing.
Now, my collaboration in Celtic Moon with my duo partner, Lynda, has come to an end. She is moving on to play with another group, and I will continue Celtic Moon with my longtime friend and musical colleague, Barbary Grant! But my focus is a bit lighter -- not trying for Celtic Moon stardom, but just having fun playing music with Barbary. We'll do a variety of performances, with the focus on playing Celtic music, but not necessarily limited to jigs and reels. I'll still get to play my numerous instruments, and Barbary brings her multi-instrumental talents to the duo, along with her beautiful singing voice. So we'll still have the stunning vocal harmonies and diversity of instrumentation.
I've updated the Celtic Moon website to include Barbary, but have left up some videos of past performances with Lynda. I'll start to include videos of the new Celtic Moon, beginning with our performance at the Pleasanton Scottish Games on August 31st.
Our website is at the same address: Celtic Moon Home Take a look and let me know what you think!
In the meantime, as I said, this will be a lighter focus, which will allow me to include a focus on my singer/songwriter career. While working with Lynda in Celtic Moon, when I wrote new songs, she was happy for us to perform some of them, particularly if they had a "Celtic Moon" feel to them. But that's not all I write... We recorded a CD that included a remake of my song Rendezvous with the Moon (the content fit us so well) and two of my more recent songs: The Goddesses Three, and This Too Will End. But not all of my songs were a good fit. We still have a lot of CDs (also available as USB drives) if you're interested. You can find the "Shop" link in the menu bar of the Celtic Moon website.
When Lynda decided to move on, I started thinking about what it is I really want to do. And yes, I really still want to play Celtic music and play my variety of instruments, and I can't really perform solo on fiddle, mandolin, or nyckelharpa. So yes, I want to continue playing as Celtic Moon, but in addition, I've been missing playing other styles of music with other musicians, and also playing solo gigs where I can play my original songs in addition to cover tunes in a variety of styles. I was just looking over my CDs and realized that, including the two new ones on the Celtic Moon CD, I have recorded 67 original songs!
So, as a result, I've redesigned my home page: Verlene Schermer & Karmalu Productions to include my performance offerings: solo, Celtic Moon, Silverwood, Parlez-vous Jazz, and Scandinavian music. I put together a little (well, not so little, as it's nearly 20 minutes long) video showing a bit of 20 different live performances, both solo and with various groups. I play harp, guitar, fiddle/violin, nyckelharpa, and tenor banjo, and of course, sing in several styles.
I am scheduled to perform in a round-robin style house concert with three other female singer/songwriters in October, and will post details on my website soon! The hostess is calling this concert "Divas Under the Moon." I'll accompany myself on harp and guitar for this concert, and I look forward to sharing the stage with three wonderful singer/songwriters.
Changes are difficult when they are not self-motivated, but I am moving past the sadness of ending one thing and moving on to the freedom to participate in a variety of musical ventures!
