How to make a harpist happy...

first of all... I can't believe more people didn't venture a guess at when I was in love with my scotty dog headband!  lol  

second of all... I can't believe there are no cliff-divers among you... or anyone who has fallen from the top of a frat house (or jumped on a dare).

anyway...

I have an 8-year old daughter... Baby X.  She has played the harp since she was 4 years old.  She started asking for a harp when she was 3.  I tried to convince her that the piano might be a better starting-out choice.  (where in the heck was I going to find a harp teacher for a three-year old?  or a miniature harp? were among the questions racing through my mind).  We played this "putting it off" game for a year.  Then one day when she was 4, she looked at me with her big blue eyes and, very seriously and sincerely, said, "Mommy, I really just want to play the harp."  And she sighed... the cutest sigh.  I was sold.

I found a harp teacher who is amazing with kids.  She directed me to a small harp-like instrument called a harpsicle.  And Baby X started taking harp lessons with her little purple harpsicle.

She really enjoyed her lessons, loved her teacher and was pretty good about practicing regularly.  She played in her first recital when she was 5.

She isn't a prodigy, but she loves it.  It has been a very healing and expanding experience for her to play the harp.  It is a real part of who she is now.  

For the past year and a half, her teacher has been talking about how she is really ready for a "real" harp.  A "REAL" harp.  HARP.  I think I knew this day was coming, but ... never really thought we get to it!  lol   They are big.  They are spendy.  Oh-so-spendy.  Oh-so-big.  We'd been keeping a loose eye on the used market... but, honestly, these things are not like crockpots; they are not so easy to find on craigslist.  Once you get one, you kinda hang on to it... for, like, life.  And the whole economic downturn... well, pretty much everyone understands that issue ;-)

Patience is a virtue.  I am not really known for my virtuosity.  Or is it virtuousness?  but finally all the stars lined up perfectly with the planets and the bank account and the crockpots used harp market... and the flexibility of the seller ;-)  And I now have a VERY happy girl!  As of today, Baby X is now the proud player of a beautiful REAL harp!  Not a big, gigantic concert pedal harp... but a bona fide Celtic real harp whose name is Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn and Baby X... one happy harpist!