—Anita Clark Jaynes, Omaha, Neb.

When I began my harp career more than 40 years ago, I didn’t use contracts and did everything by verbal agreement over the phone. Needless to say, this created some interesting situations, and I wised up pretty quickly.

One February day, the mother of a bride called and hired me to play a wedding in June. I asked her to call me back in May to discuss the music. She never called. I tried to call her but never reached her. This was in the days before people even had answering machines, much less cell phones, voicemail, or texting.

The day of the wedding arrived. I didn’t know what to do. I decided that I had better go to the venue. I schlepped my harp to the large Catholic church where the wedding was to be held. When I got there the church was open, but no one was around.

I didn’t know what to do. I decided to play it safe rather than sorry and unload my harp. I set up and waited. Still no one showed up.

I didn’t know what to do. I decided that I had better stick it out until the scheduled start time of the wedding.

Five minutes before the wedding was supposed to begin, everyone showed up—the bride and her family, the groom and his family, and the priest! The mother of the bride came over and told me to just play whatever I wanted. I asked her when I should play, and she said, “Whenever the priest is quiet.” I’m not Catholic, and I was inexperienced, so these parameters didn’t help much. Whenever the priest paused, I panicked, wondering whether or not to play.

I made it through the wedding, and everyone thought the music was wonderful. And yes, I did get paid. But it was one of the most nerve-wracking gigs of my life and taught me a lesson or two. •