Re: A Social Instrument

Ham & Rita (owhmltn@infi.net)
Fri, 23 Aug 1996 14:50:16 -0400 (EDT)

The big difference is the number of people who play harps compared to the
number that play the piano. Too many people assume they play the piano and
if you're intelligent, you realize that the person you're talking to might
be a better player than you. However, a harp is always lovely to listen to,
a delight to behold and very few people could say - "Oh, that's not how I
play that!!"

>I had an interesting insight yesterday. A friend came by for
>lunch, and, as I often do on such occasions, I played her a
>couple of the pieces I've learned most recently on my harp.
>This woman is an accomplished pianist/organist, but I wasn't
>shy at all about playing for her, and that got me thinking:
>when I played the piano for years and years, it never occurred
>to me to say to anyone, "Sit down and I'll play you the latest
>tune I learned on the piano."
>
>One big difference, I think, is that when you play a harp, you
>get to look at the people you're playing for, whereas on a
>keyboard instrument you often have your back to them. I realized
>that this makes a real difference in the way I feel about playing
>the two instruments. (On the other hand, I never offered to play
>new tunes that I learned on the guitar for people, either.)
>
> | Good people and evil people
> Peggy Rogers | suffer about equally,
> krogers@xmission.com | but good people enjoy it more.
> | --Robert Grudin
>
>