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Tell Me… Uh, Monday – My Harp!

Jun 21st, 2010 4 Comments

Last Wordless Wednesday I posted this photo:

Harp Strings

I meant to post my Tell Me Thursday about it on Thursday like I was supposed to, but didn’t have time. So it’s coming late… on Monday.

Those of you who have read my blog for a while know I play the harp and I have been saving for my own bigger harp. Well, a little over a week ago I had a wonderful surprise. Back in March, I was able to order the harp, but the company was backed up on orders and told me it would be 6 months before it would be done. So I was prepared to wait till September to get my harp, and I was praying hard for patience (and at the same time praying that somehow it could be finished earlier – say, August).

Well, the Lord loves to answer prayers and He answered that one far beyond my hopes. A week or so ago I was working on a sewing project in the basement, and I heard a lot of screwing, banging around, and general racket going on upstairs. I, however, was deeply engrossed in making a ribbon flower, and absently thought my mom and sister must be hanging pictures (which would be very odd and besides, there was far too much noise to be only picture-hanging. But you must understand, ribbon flowers take a lot of focus).

Well, my mom called me to come up and “let the cat in.” When I came up, Mom had a video camera in her hand. That meant something was up! I still was clueless and had no idea… I walked into the family room and there… was… I’m sure you can never guess. :-) Yep, my harp!!

Harp

Isn’t she a beauty? It sounds beautiful and I LOVE the deep, full bass notes. It’s been so much fun playing through all my old songs and hearing how much fuller they sound! Once again, a huge thank you to my friend, Raeanne, who let me play her little harp for nearly two years while I waited for this one… it was an immense blessing.

The Lord is good!

Wordless Wednesday – My Harp!

Jun 16th, 2010 2 Comments

Harp Strings

Review: My Favorite CDs

Feb 10th, 2010 1 Comment

I love music. I really do! I love playing it and I love listening to it. My sister is even more of a listener than I am probably. We get in the car and we’re not even out of the garage before she’s asking, “Can you turn on the music?”

Today I thought I would share with you some of my favorite collections of music to listen to. Ready? Here we go!

The Baroque Harp

This is a perfectly lovely CD by Judy Loman, a master harpist. If you saw my last post, you will know that my musical love is the harp. This CD has a marvelous selection of music, ranging from bright and cheerful to slow and soothing. I would listen to this every day, but my sister gets tired of it (she’s not as crazy about harp as I am :-) ). You can click on the album image there to buy the mp3 download of the album and you can also listen to samples! I just love the clear tones of the harp (some harp recordings sound tinny – not this one). Highly recommended and completely worth listening to!

What Wondrous Love

Unfortunately I do not have an image for this one. This is a beeeeautiful CD of hymns by the Eden String Quartet, a quartet made up of 4 sisters. Their music is truly uplifting. You turn it on and it really feels like you are being picked up and carried away. The music features the strings and a variety of other instruments play along on some songs, including penny whistle, guitar, and flute.

String Serenades

I got this CD from my dad. It’s kind of special, because it has all the string serenades that we heard when he took just me out for a concert and dinner. This is more “intense” music than the two previous CDs but it is beautiful as well. It includes string serenades by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Dvorak, which are the three we heard at the concert, as well as two others by Vaughan-Williams and Suk. All of them are very pretty. You might think a serenade would be all very quiet, soothing music, but this CD has it’s share of fast and, as I mentioned, intense music.

Music for Solo Harp

Please bear with me as I add one more harp CD. I only have two… so in the future, maybe you can expect to see more harp CD recommendations. :-) This is another fine collection of harp music. This one has more subdued selections, I would say, but certainly no less beautiful. I can only hope someday I will be able to play some of these pieces!

Tell Me Thursday – Harp Heaven

Feb 4th, 2010 8 Comments

Lyon & Healy Harp Showroom

I posted this photo yesterday for Wordless Wednesday. Amazing isn’t it? It’s not everyday you get to see a whole room FULL of harps.

PhotobucketLast weekend some friends of ours whom we had not seen in 3 years came up for a visit! Hannah, the older of the two, is an amazing harpist. I’d love to call myself a harpist – perhaps I can – but I have only been playing just over a year and am teaching myself. I have a small 27-string lever harp, which you can see to the right there. I am borrowing it from my incredibly generous friend, Raeanne, who is letting me use it until I can save up for my own harp.

Anyway, back to our guests. Friday morning we somewhat spontaneously decided to make the trip up to visit the Lyon & Healy harp factory. What a place! Perhaps it’s just that I am in love with harp that made it so wonderful, but this place is amazing. We toured the factory and got to see how the harps are made. Did you know it takes about a year to complete a harp?! Now I know why they are so painfully expensive. :-)

After touring the factory (no photography allowed – sorry!), we were taken to the harp showroom, which was my WW photo this week. Dozens of harps all lined up in every size, color and kind. We were given a “salesperson” and a little room to the side, and any of the harps we wanted to play, they would wheel in for us! And we could play as long as we wished (it was a good thing we got hungry for lunch or we would have been there a really long time! :-) ).

Hannah requested to play a pedal harp designed by Carlos Salzedo, a modern harpist. This is not my favorite harp from L & H for its looks, but of course I wasn’t going to NOT play it! The sound was just amazing and as you see from the pictures, it is HUGE, especially compared to what I am used to playing!

Playing the Salzedo Harp

If you are wondering the difference between a lever and pedal harp, lever harps have – guess – levers on them, which allow you to play your notes sharp or flat. Pedal harps use – surprise – pedals to play flats and sharps, and you work them with your feet which frees your hands. You can play more complex music on a pedal harp, and they are much larger with more strings (concert grands – what I am playing in the photo – have 47 strings).

Below is a photo of my favorite harp. I would probably have to save up my whole life to buy this, but it was amazing to play it even if just for a while!

Lyon & Healy Style 85 Harp

The harp I am currently saving for is a 36 string lever harp from Harps of Praise. Below is a picture of it:

Want to help me get my harp? Of course you do! :-) If your blog needs a fresh look or maybe you are just starting a blog…or maybe you just need a signature to end your posts or a button; head over to www.PrairieRoseDesigns.com. Or you can check out the Maidens of Virtue Shoppe. You can know you are helping the harp fund. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Wordless Wednesday – Harp Heaven

Feb 3rd, 2010 2 Comments

Lyon & Healy Harp Showroom

Come back tomorrow to read the Tell Me Thursday for this photo!

Another Year Has Gone

Jan 1st, 2009 2 Comments

2009 is here! It does seem as though every passing year goes by faster than the last one, doesn’t it? Looking back on 2008 I see many blessings and a few hard times that we’ve gone through.

We celebrated living in our “new house” for one year in February. It’s been wonderful. We live on six lovely acres, 3 of which are beautifully landscaped (by the previous owners). This brings its joys and its sorrows since we have to try to keep it looking nice and have a LOT of trees that always seem to need trimming. :-) We are surrounded on two sides by a golf course and in the winter season it’s beautiful because you can’t tell it’s a golf course. :-) This year Dad bought us snow shoes so we have enjoyed snow shoeing out there.

Also in February my grandparents (on my mom’s side) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary – what a blessing! We see less and less of that these days. My grandparents are a wonderful example to us of a strong marriage. In May we had a grand party and it was great to see so many people get up and honor my Opa and Oma (grandpa & grandma in Dutch) for their commitment to each other. We love them dearly and look forward to seeing many more years of marriage for them!

Oh, let’s see… what else? I turned 16 in April and had the pleasure of being bombarded with questions about if I am driving yet. :-) I am not – probably this year!

In 2007 my Nini (grandma in Chinese – Dad’s side) was diagnosed with colon cancer and went through a very trying series of events to get rid of it. This year we were so glad to see her recover and gain back strength. Praise the Lord!

Toward the fall we were saddened to lose Tara’s cat Scamper after a very long illness. We miss him a lot as our kitties are very dear to us. He was very sweet and lovable and we have many fun memories of him. Sweetest of all was that the night before we had to put him down, he climbed the stairs even though he could barely walk and climbed in bed with Tara for a snuggle, and did it again in the morning, though she had to pick him up because he couldn’t get up on the bed himself.

scamper 3

We enjoyed celebrating our nation’s independence with friends from church. Though our country is far from perfect, we are grateful for the liberties we enjoy.

harpIn August I was immensely blessed by my friend, Raeanne. I have for a long time wanted to play the harp but I didn’t think it would happen for a while (if ever) due to the expense. Raeanne is from our church and has played harp for several years and a few years ago upgraded from a small, 27 string harp to a larger one. When we were over at her house one day she offered to let me borrow her old one, as it was just sitting in her closet. I accepted. :-) I am so grateful for her generosity and for the opportunity to start learning much earlier than I would have if I had waited till I had saved enough to buy my own. Thank you, Raeanne!!

I’m sure there’s a LOT I am leaving out but this is getting rather long. I can’t forget to mention blessings such as, Dad still having a job when so many are losing theirs, blessings in our church – especially the babies that were born this year (including one born New Year’s Eve!), and homeschooling, etc.

I am looking forward to what God will do in 2009!