Re: A Social Instrument

Lauren Rene Hotchkiss (laurhot@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 23 Aug 1996 16:38:49 -0700

Ham and Rita:
>
>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!!"

H&R,
This seems to point out the danger of false assumptions. It could
mean that these people assume they play the piano when they are really
closet flugelhornists (sp?). I agree, though, that the harp is always
a lovely instrument to hear,regardless of the player's level of
accomplishment (unlike the violin and many other instruments). Another
really neat difference I've found between the harp and any other
instrument I've ever played is the social network. Harpers just seem
to be the nicest people on the planet. I'm not sure if its because
we're such a small bunch, and need to congregate like fish in a school,
or whether nice people just tend to learn to play the harp and then
congregate, all I know is that the more I get into this community the
better I like it.

Lauren

PS- now that I'm on a month-long quarter break from school I'm looking
forward to getting together with more of you local harpers (SF East Bay
Area).