I know we have ongoing struggles with our mate the harp but there are times when solace can be found through music and through the harmonica especially. I lost a loved one 10 years ago and came across this orchestral piece of music which I found moving and played some harp over it.
It kind of gave expression to my feelings at the time and was helpful.
Are there times when the harp has picked you up or helped you in particular circumstance of your life or given you an amazing feel good experience?
I own a crazy amount of harps.....mostly marine bands bought on ebay and customized ones.......harps are my constant companion wherever I roam......and grey owl......youre awesome player
Playing harp with bands on a regular basis helped me cope with frequently distressing work experiences during my 38 year career in child/adolescent mental health, runaway and homeless youth services, and child welfare casework.
Playing harp helped me express feelings after the passing of each of my parents.
Making music playing harp has been an emotional outlet for me that let me say things musically that I couldn't express using words. Harp is an instrument that is directly linked to your breath and being.
Playing harp with bands, improvising in the moment, is an incredible peak experience.
When you are in the zone, thinking music, it is awesome! ----------
Phew, I thought it was just me! Nicely put Doug. When I play guitar it can put me in a calm place but the harp is different somehow and I like what you said ' its linked to your breath and being' That's it. You not only breathe music out but you breath music in.
If I'm uptight then playing harp calms me down. In a band or jam context the exhilaration of playing beyond what you think you are capable of is intoxicating.
Lots of people know John Steinbeck's thoughts on the harp from "Grapes of Wrath", but for those who don't (and just to enjoy it again anyhow) -
“A harmonica is easy to carry. Take it out of your hip pocket. Knock it against your palm to shake out the dirt and pocket fuzz and bits of tobacco. Now it’s ready. You can do anything with a harmonica: thin reedy single tone or chords, or melody with rhythm chords. You can mold the music with curved hands, making it wail and cry like bagpipes, making it full and round like an organ, making it as sharp and bitter as the reed pipes of the hills. And you play and put it back into your pocket. It’s always with you.”
Last Edited by johnleewfan on Jul 29, 2018 12:17 PM
Yes, I read that novel when I was not quite 16 and I recall I took note of the piece about Harmonica. I wasn’t particularly interested in Harmonica at the time but I think it probably softened me up to the idea.
To your OP though, GReyowl, I immediately thought of a time I was in Brisbane and had just been speaking to my wife on the phone, about our almost 3yo daughter and what happened when she’d gone to the doctor that day. Basically nothing, which did nothing to allay my concern about what I’d observed the day before I’d left home. I recall going out to the balcony of my hotel room and taking the harp to play ‘it hurts me too’ and observing the similarities and differences with ‘come on in my kitchen’. It was somehow calming in a situation where I felt powerless to act, thousands of miles from home and full of fears.
I recall standing, some years later, at a bedside looking at the scene remaining after an attempted suicide; the vodka bottle, the pill foils, the bric a brac of a person’s life, who had just been taken away in an ambulance. I was alone, sleep deprived, and it was all rather affecting looking around the room. I was simultaneously angry and sad and I blew the absolute crap out of an A harp as I stood there, as some kind of salute to the energy which had occupied that room over the previous days. I think I broke the harp. I’m not sure I felt all that much better but it was an outlet and probably better from a neighbour’s perspective than roaring.
