A Different Musical Direction

I recognize that I mostly blog about food and little else.  I hope that if you are reading my blog, you won't mind that I am going to take a different direction with this particular one.  After all, my blog is called the "Life and Times of Jodels" and not "The Road to Rawsomeness".

On Saturday, I went to the symphony with Rick, Cris, Danen and Ben.  I hadn't been to they symphony in so long.  It was a pleasure to be able to go.  The program was a bit unconventional and it didn't feel like the pieces went together, Bach's Piano Concerto and a couple of Stravinsky pieces.  Stravinsky's grandson was in the audience.  I had a few take-aways that were worth noting.  One of my take-aways was that if you close your eyes and absorb all of the rustling about in symphony hall (people opening wrappers, talking, moving in their seat, etc.), the music almost starts to sound like a vinyl LP.  I thought that was pretty cool.  My other take-away, and the point of this blog, is that playing the harp is something I want to do.  

I think I have considered playing the harp before, but I was never in a position to do so.  I remembered someone saying that pianists have a much easier time learning how to play the harp than most.  I did some research yesterday and found out a bit more about the instrument.  I found a teacher in town who also rents harps.  I've emailed her and already received a response back.  I'm hoping to get together with her at some point and figure out where to start.  Apparently there are several different harps, but for the purpose of this blog - let's say there are 2, a pedal harp (the type used in symphonies) and a lever harp.  It turns out that most beginners learn how to play on a lever harp.  It's great that I can rent a harp before making a commitment to purchase one since lever harps range in price from $2,000-$4,000 and pedal harps range from $15,000 to $60,000.  I'm pretty excited about my new interest.  We'll see how it goes. 

I did more reading up on facts and one factoid is that unlike most instruments that don't sound great when a beginner is learning (read violin), the harp always sounds great.  

Who knows?  Maybe in a couple of years, I'll be ready to play "for hire" at weddings.