harping around

On Sunday I played in a Christmas concert in Sioux Falls.  This is a special Christmas concert because it is harps -- only harps, all harps.

There were 39 harps and harpists total.

Usually I feel special lugging my harp around because nobody else has one.  This time when I marched in with my harp, I felt...I don't know, like a zebra suddenly surrounded by zebras.  It's come home to its kin, but it doesn't stand out anymore.

Well, maybe my harp cover stood out:  Yes, it's a first-class sleeping bag.  Looks rather like a stocking cap, doesn't it?  Festive.

I was apprehensive in the days leading up to the concert.  When I tried to play in this same concert two years ago, I got a dreadful case of pneumonia.  I have also landed in the ditch twice with my harp.  So, I was particularly glad to end up on a stage this time and not in a bed or a ditch.

Kidding and covers aside, it was a wonderful experience.  The strains of "Silent Night" on thirty-nine harps is lovely, even more so when you get to play it with fellow harpists.  In keeping with the Thanksgiving spirit, it made me want to go home and thank Mom and Dad for getting a beautiful cherry-wood 34-string Regency lever harp for their 15-year-old.  It bumped all the way from Pennsylvania to Nebraska on a Greyhound bus eight years ago, and I have played it happily ever after.