July 11, 2017 – Hong Kong – World Harp Congress
This may look like a simple photo of a mother, a daughter and a harp — but what I see is a new generation of dreaming.
Last week I was in Hong Kong at the World Harp Congress. After a lunchtime harp jam, this “DHC” electric harp was left near the stage. A little girl ran up to it, posed beside it and I saw her mother taking a photo.
This is the harp this little girl dreams of playing some day.
It’s the harp that I dreamed of, too.
This is the harp I saw in my mind’s eye more nearly 30 years ago as I sat on a cold New England porch on New Year’s Eve and imagined the future I wanted with the harp. There was no harp like this. I played a 6-foot-tall, 75-pound concert harp — and I knew I couldn’t have the future I wanted with it.
I wanted to travel. I wanted to write for symphonies – big, rhapsodic, rhythmic. I wanted to create one-woman shows. I needed mobility, flexibility, power – and an instrument I could physically become one with, easily put in a taxi, check as airplane luggage, travel around the world with.
I dreamed of a harp like this.
In the decades after that New Year’s Eve, I collaborated with the CAMAC harp company to bring that harp to life – my dream – their commitment to helping me achieve that dream – and it’s the harp that’s named after me, the “DHC.”
So when I saw this little girl taking her picture beside it, I saw in a flash – my dream come true … and hers just beginning.
That's when I saw my dream come true... and hers just beginning. Share on XMore and more I’m struck by this: that as we achieve our dreams, and share them, we open a door to someone else’s dream. We hand the baton of creative expression to waiting hands. Hands that are waiting for us. Hands that will take that dream further. Maybe further than we even imagined.
The baton of creative expression – handed from dream to dream.
And if we’re very lucky … we get to see it happen.
The baton of creative expression - handed from dream to dream. Share on X
That is so precious!
DHC, I have had the honor of introducing hundreds of children in elementary school to the harp when I was teaching since I had a harp in the classroom. The funds for the harp were provided by a dear family whose young daughter had brain cancer.She loved music and art and would be sure to attend school whenever possible on days those classes were on her schedule. When she tired, she was able to enter a room where a pup tent was set up for her to rest in, and on my break time, I’d bring the harp down to her tent and play for her as she dozed off. When she no longer came to school, I brought my own harp to her home and enjoyed watching her pluck strings to her liking.
The Speech Clinician in the school said every child she tested was able to label the harp in language assessments! In addition, two children from the school went on to take lessons and play the harp. One child with special behavioral needs shone bright with his talent playing with one finger. His reputation as school bully softened when staff, students, and his parents saw and heard the praise he received for his harp peace in the school spring talent show! With the help of another harpist, we were able to gift him with a prototype harp to use as he moved on into Middle School.
Every child that comes to my home loves playing the harp. The cause/effect principle is so strong….they are immediately reinforced.
I hope the little girl you wrote about is able to fulfill her dream of playing. I was 40 years old when my dream was fulfilled when I rented a harp just to try it. The rest is history. I’m far from a professional performer, but the passion and sharing lives strong. Best Wishes to All.
I just returned from Denver, CO. from the Harp in Worship conference. I had intended to travel to Dave Kolacney’s harp store to see if there was something for a little girl, whose Mom works for the college where I work. She has been VERY focused on learning to play the harp since she heard me play for the College Christmas dinner. Mom says she is a little “delayed”. When trying to rent a harp locally, there seemed to be roadblocks at every turn. Dave did not have what I was looking for, but a woman who rode with us, spoke up – she had one for sale! And we made a deal! Little girl can rent from ME! Yes, she has a willing teacher. I was so frustrated withe music teachers who HAVE harps to rent, but didn’t want to make it easy for her and her mother! Thank you, God! And Debra – I got classes from Frank Voltz, Too!