Why do you play the harp?

[adam-b-harris]

I used to go up to the local old peoples home once a month and run some tunes on the piano there for the residents. The instrument is past its use by date to the extent where if I tuned it, it would just sound “different” rather than “better” if you catch my drift. I was looking for a harmonica on ebay for a recording project I was doing and a pakistani harp turned up in the search. Sounded like a good idea, something portable I could take up to the old peoples home and play. Fortunately, I did enough research to realize that I shouldn’t buy it, but it lead me to buying a Dusty Strings Ravenna 34.

Should have done it years ago. A few friends gave me a hard time over it, but when you play it to doubters they just sit there with their mouths open.

regards

Adam

[Hannes E. Peregrin]

I was inspired by Harpo Marx as well (I’m glad to see I’m not the only one!) because he inspire me in so many ways, the harp playing just being one of them. But I didn’t really plan to start playing the harp, actually I started with piano at first (because of Harpo’s brother Chico) but I never got any real motivation. So one day I decided to rent a harp (because I found an ad) and learn how to play it, and so I did! It was all very impulsive. I have just started out so I’m not very good yet, but I have strong motivation and I really feel good playing it.

[Asha the Nagini]

Like many here, the beauty of a lot of music I’ve heard appealed to me, and the look of the harp is lovely.

[harp guy]

I play the harp because it is my outlet. In high school I was extremely creative and was successful in the art, theatre, music, and creative writing programs. Now my life doesn’t have room for all of them. My primary instrument has become the source of my income. And because of that, it has lost some of its charm. I picked up harp in high school by accident, and it is now a way for me to unleash the extra creative energy that I have. I miss being a writer. I miss being a visual artist and a thespian. So, harp is my quick shot of therapy every evening.

It keeps me sane.

[harp guy]

Oops. Missed part of the point of the original post…

I started playing, not because I fell in love with the sound, but because my mother nagged me. My dad went into a music store to get a new guitar stand. My mother went in with him and saw a little Paki 22 string harp. She came home and talked my ear off about it. “You have to learn to play it!” she pleaded.

After about a week, I conceded and rented the little Paki. I liked the sound, and I liked the feel. I didn’t fall in love with the harp until I tried playing a full size lever harp though. I went to the local harp circle meeting and someone had brought their Troubadour. After asking to try it out, I played a simple tune and fell in love with it. At that moment, it was the sound, but not the aural affect of it. I loved the way the vibrations made me feel. It FELT good, and all of the stress in my life just seemed to melt away.

So I then went from the little Paki to a 29 string harp made by Musicmaker’s and then finally a L&H Prelude 2 years ago. I already have my eye on a pedal harp, but I’m happy with my lever harp for the time being. Even after I get a pedal harp, I won’t sell this lever harp. The tone is absolutely beautiful (even for a Prelude).

[phyllis-adams]

It’s just fun! I love the physical challenge – it’s like being an Olympic gymnastics competitor or like being an opera singer It’s physical and etherial at the same time! I started playing the harp as an accident in high school – never once had given any thought to the instrument…. don’t really remember if I knew such an instrument existed. But loved the physical challenge immediately and it grew into a musical passion.

[Ee Reen Chew]

Because of its beautiful sound and the fact that there is a naturally determined inclination towards learning it …

[elly-mccabe]

I’ve always loved the sound of the harp and listened to clips online before I went to sleep, but it was only last year that it really struck me. I’d been through a pretty rough two years with my bipolar disorder, and losing people through irrational behaviour… Etc when someone anonomously sent me the Joanna Newsom track ’81, the minute she started playing I just burst into tears. I don’t know what kind of an emotion it was, I still don’t, over a year on but all I know is I felt this huge connection, like I was supposed to listen to it! After that, I started having dreams that I was in the Hobgoblin music shop in Bristol playing a small harp and as the dreams got more and more frequent I decided to do my research on the instrument. I got my first harp for Christmas ’10, a little 22 string and haven’t put it down since although admittedly, since my new Camac DGC 36 has been here, the poor little thing hasn’t had much attention!

I’m completely self-taught, and before playing harp I played piano, guitar, ukulele and sing and write songs. 🙂 And now I’m performing live it’s fantastic! I’m COMPLETELY obsessed with harp! 🙂

[lisa-rhea]

I lovey our first sentence.

[lisa-rhea]

actually, that was your first sentence.

[emily-mcintyre]

The harp helped me begin to rediscover the beauty and appeal of music after years as a burnt-out classical pianist.

Taking shelter from the rain at a Scottish festival, I found myself in a group harp lesson. As there was one harp left,I was given the bench. I left that day determined to play the harp, and nine months later began lessons.

I have to say that though I still struggle with some music-related trauma, the harp has brought me great peace and given me the opportunity to bring the same into many people’s lives. Whether I am playing a wedding and giving what blessing I can at an important juncture of the bride and groom’s destinies, or playing and singing in a coffee house and watching faces change with the progress of my music, the harp continues to inspire me.

Cool thread, Rod C.

[Julietta Anne Rabens]

I grew up on the edge of poverty, but always had a deep love for music and would play any piano I could find at a church or school for as long as people would let me. I would make up my own music because I couldn’t read music, didn’t have any lessons, but created hours and hours of my own music. I would occasionally see a harp and would perceive it like it was the Crown Jewels. It was beautiful, but out of reach. When in college I had some harp recordings I listened to all the time, and got to hear one student perform on an elaborate golden harp. It never occurred to me that it was an option for me, and so I appreciated it in the same way one is grateful to see the play of gold and light at the top of a grand old oak tree.

The sound of the harp always resonated deeply within me – it sounds like my “inner voice”. When it came time to choose a project for my doctoral dissertation I wanted to compose a harp concerto. There was a Lyon & Healy style 17 in a practice room and I got permission to start playing it. I signed up for lessons and took three years of lessons in preparation for my composition project. I fell so in love with the instrument and it felt like a part of me like an arm or a leg. I never felt that before. I felt peaceful when I thought of myself as “a harpist”. I spent the last years of my doctoral studies working multiple jobs, taking out more student loans, and wrangled together enough to buy a Lyon & Healy 85CG with the style 11 soundboard because I loved the organic, natural beauty of the line of the harp combined with the image of the flowers.

I spent hours practicing technique – specifically those physical gestures that were different from piano. I was advanced as a pianist and worked to transfer my skills to harp. I entered a masters in harp directly after finishing my doctorate where I studied Healing Harps with Ron Price and repertoire with Liz Cifani. That program changed my life in a profound way.

I saw the harp as a noble instrument being used in hospitals, with special needs students, and as a way to help people deal with anxiety and grief. I also saw the harp as universal being present almost as far back as written history and present in every geographical region. It reassures me that deep down people are drawn towards the beautiful, noble, and peaceful qualities of this instrument.

It is an instrument that I love to hear for hours for practicing, teaching, and performing. I don’t grow tired of the sound because it is close to me like the sound of my own breathing. Playing it feels wonderful because you interact directly with the strings and create a wide range of color. You can feel it resonate into your own self and so you become one with it and the music. There is an honesty and clarity to the mathematically based organic curves and the openness of the exposed strings. The elegance of the design is a metaphor for my own ideals. I think it is a good thing as a person to become like a harp.

[Jerusha Amado]

Julietta,

There is a wonderful eloquence in this post!

Jerusha

[susan-ash]

Was visiting a friend who had a small harp, and she handed it to me and told me to run my fingers over the strings…..it was wonderful.

[kay-lister]

Julietta – WONDERFULLY SAID!!

Kay

[Author]

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