A New Beginning

I find myself in a time of transitions. My children are older and not at home. My husband has retired. My parents are both gone. My home will be on the market in a couple of months and we will be moving into a smaller space.  All of these transitions have lead to introspection and a desire to change direction. And that is where my Harp Story begins.

Why harp?  It's true that I have always like hearing harp, but no more so than my other favorite instruments, cello and bassoon. Part of my decision to pursue harp was logical. I had to downsize my home, and sell my rarely used piano since it took up so much space. Even though I only played it a few times a year lately, without it, my house seemed empty. I don't mean empty as in removing clutter for selling your house. I guess I mean that I felt empty. Just knowing my piano was there throughout my life brought me comfort - as I might play it whenever the mood struck.  

In researching what replacement instrument would be best for someone who could (passably) play the piano, I decided on these options:  bowed psaltery, zither, and harp.  The bowed psaltery was out - many YouTube videos showed me that the sound could be piercing. It wasn't the calming music I wanted to hear, even though I loved the setup of the strings that so resembled a piano.  Still, if you like violin and the idea of using a bow, it might be a good option for you!

T K O'Brien "Lap Harp" or Zither

I came to believe that the zither (sometimes called lap harp) might be the best option. Even a beautiful model wasn't much over $100, and then I could determine if I liked the feeling of plucking strings before making a major investment.  So, I bought the very lovely T K O'Brien Custom Lap Harp in walnut. It took me all of 5 minutes to realize that I do like plucking strings!

I played it for a few days, and even arranged some music for it, which was a little challenging since it has just 16 strings and is tuned in the key of G.  At this point, I had already decided to pursue harp, but thought I might play around with my current instrument for awhile. However, when I began to watch instructional harp videos, I realized that this might be a mistake. The way I was holding my hands and fingers was all wrong, and I began to wonder if I might develop counterproductive habits. So I set the zither aside and did a lot of research on harps.  And the zither did teach me one important thing:  I needed to be able to create sharps and flats on my instrument. Coming from piano, I would be very frustrated without them!

At this point, I felt that I was moving in a new direction, and I knew which way I was going.