The Christmas Harp...

[fajrdrako]

I didn't put up a Christmas Tree this year. I decorated my harp instead. After all, it already has gold angels on it.

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Soooo pretty! Fancier than a tree, too. :-) Do you play at all? (I know it's a very hard instrument!)

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

Harp! (the herald angels sing...) :)

[loreleif.livejournal.com]

Hee! Very pretty, and inspired. And how did I not know you played harp?

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

It's *lovely*. Great idea!

[tudorpot.livejournal.com]

Most beautiful Christmas decoration I've seen. My tree is still bereft of decorations, perhaps I'll leave it that way.

[sparklebutch.livejournal.com]

You has a harp! So shiny.

You now has shinier harp.

[dargie.livejournal.com]

Oh how pretty! I had no idea you played.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

this is a nice variation on the prepared pianos a la John Cage :-)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Oh, how pretty!!!

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Pretty - our tree just went up

Okay this will sound rather bizarre I am showing this picture to my piano because it used to live with a harp (I'm being totally serious too)


PS I remembered to look - I even found the book I thought it was in but I couldn't find the mazy reference :(

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Soooo pretty!

thank you!

Fancier than a tree, too.

I like it because it's a little different.

Do you play at all? (I know it's a very hard instrument!)

I think mastering any instrument is mostly a matter of practice. I used to play a little - I had lessons in my teens - but the harp is rather old and has been mistreated earlier in its life, so I don't like to keep tuning it for fear it will all fall apart.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Maybe you never asked about? Though in truth I don't actually play the harp much, hardly at all. I haven't had lessons since I was a teenager and the harp isn't in great musical shape - not my fault, it was somewhat damaged when it came to me.

Still. When I do play it, once in an eon, it's quite pretty.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Glad you like it! I think it gives the place a festive feel.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Like the one in your icon? Trees with or without decorations are beautiful, perhaps my favourite symbol of life.

I'm glad you like my harp. The problem is finding space for a tree in my small apartment - this solves that problem, and is pretty to boot, and nicely unusual. I like it that the harp already has angels on its column.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You has a harp! So shiny.

I does, and it is.

You now has shinier harp.

It's all very exciting. I love celebrations.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't exactly play. That would be an exaggeration, and would imply I as musical, which I'm not. The harp is also very old and not in excellent shape. I wouldn't want it to explode while being tuned. I took lessons long, long ago, but mostly the harp is there to be silently beautiful. Most of the year it sits there without decorations, being an object of beauty in itself. At Christmas... it's fun to decorate it specially.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Why, what does John Cage do to pianos?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Glad you like it!

[halfspokenwords.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's lovely. And unlike a tree, it won't wither just in time to ring in the new year.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

our tree just went up

Lovely! I really do love Christmas trees - which makes it slightly ironic that I don't have one, but so it goes. I'm happy with my harp.

I am showing this picture to my piano because it used to live with a harp

How wonderful - was it a concert harp? Pianos and harps to together like bread and jam. Did you play?

I couldn't find the mazy reference :(

Well - the quest continues!

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Did you play?
Alas no
Both piano and harp belonged to an opera singer friend who died several years ago. We inherited the piano, more for safe keeping than anything else as though I can still pick out a tune or two that's about all I *can* do. I'm not honestly sure where the harp went but I like to believe it's making beautiful music for someone, somewhere.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That's true - it won't wither at all. At some point I'll take off the Christmas decorations, and it will still be a beautiful harp - I don't even have to put it in the trash after Christmas.

It doesn't have a nice pine smell, though.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

I believe it was John Cage who started experimenting with it, butby now many modern composers play with it. A piano can be prepared in many ways, most simply by putting somting metal against the strings inside. It can be something moving or static or an other type of material. It does alter the sound of the piano considerably. :-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

One of the saddest occasions of my life was when my father sold my mother's piano, which was a very beautiful thing. I'd always wanted lessons, but only got a few. Perhaps it is just as well: but I loved that piano with a passion.

The harp, being my own, stayed with me.

I'm not honestly sure where the harp went but I like to believe it's making beautiful music for someone, somewhere.

I'm sure it is! Sometimes I feel guilty for not playing my harp more, but I fear harming its old wood by tuning it repeatedly. It remains as something of exquisite beauty in my life.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

How interesting - and experimental.

[halfspokenwords.livejournal.com]

That's what air freshener is for? All in all, though, it seems like you're on to a good thing. :) That's a truly gorgeous harp.

We have a tree, though at the moment it's laying flat on the living room floor. The reason? ... We fail to have a tree stand.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

... We fail to have a tree stand.

Have you tried decorating it on its side? It would be... a novelty. All the decorations would hang sideways.

[halfspokenwords.livejournal.com]

You know, we just may have to. I suspect the cat would enjoy it.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

very experiemental. In the best sense of the word. "Normally" a piano is pretty straightforward, a key leads to a certain sound. Other string instruments like violins or guitars leave the musician with a room for manouvre the pianoplayer dowsn't have. Adding extras, manipulatint the string by, for example, waving spoons and forks trough them and then play the keys, or play the strings directly make the piano into a whole new instrument. (And yes, like all music it can end up nasty, but I've also seen mesmarising example of it.)

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Very inventive! I can't have a tree because my 15-pound barn cat likes to revert to his feline heritage and climb anything, especially anything that could be knocked over or cause damage, so I just decorate my windows and enjoy with sparklies.

Concerto for prepared harp - I can hear it now. Actually, it must be much easier to "prepare" a harp than a piano because you don't have to climb into the piano case to do it.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I like the discoveries of new and different ways to do things for the sake of artistic creativity. We need more of that.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I just decorate my windows and enjoy with sparklies.

That sounds lovely, too. I love Christmas decorations of all kinds.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you, glad you like it!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I can just imagine the happy little critter!

[filkferengi]

Resplendiferous!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think so - but then, I'm biased!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Shiny!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

As only a harp can be!