Harp Day

The main character in my work-in-progress is a high school girl who hopes to attend college as a harp major. Yesterday, I went to Harp Day at Michigan State University. It's a recruiting event to attract prospective harp majors to the MSU College of Music and also a chance for local harpists to get together. Attendees can sign up to get a lesson with Dr. Chen Yu Huang, take a master class and participate in Harp Jam. I went as an observer.

I had a chance to hear two of MSU's freshman harp students perform. It was like my character came to life and played for me. I chatted with a high school student from Grand Rapids who hopes to attend MSU as a harp major. "You're writing a book about me?" (direct quote) I asked several young players why they chose harp as an instrument, and their answers were close to what I’d written for my main character.

The Master Class provided ample material for the harp lesson in my novel. The revised version will likely come to next month's critique group. I enjoyed the variety of music students brought to the master class. I was impressed by the students’ talent and skill.

I also got to hear the fabulous Modern Harp Quartet. If you click through the website, you can hear excerpts from several of their pieces.

I came home inspired, perhaps more as a writer than a harpist. But that’s what I am, a writer. 

Harp

The protagonist of my work-in-progress has a giant, impractical dream. She wants to attend the Julliard School as a harp major. Will she get there? Probably not, but my character will become a harp major at some college or conservatory. Many of the students I tutor dream impossible dreams as well.

As I worked on my manuscript, I realized I didn’t know much about the harp, so I contacted a local harpist and asked if I could hire her as a consultant. She agreed and told me I should take harp lessons as well. She offered to lend me a small folk harp for practicing. In the two lessons I’ve had so far, I’ve learned far more than I expected.

Here’s a progress report:

• It would have been better if I’d learned to read bass clef as a child. I’m getting better.
• My rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is often recognizable.
• Sometimes when I see notes on the treble staff, my fingers still feel imaginary clarinet keys. (I played clarinet for about ten years.)
• The arthritis in my left thumb makes it lazy.
• Jeremy and his friends love to remind me to practice.
• Most importantly, I’m learning which questions to ask my teacher to improve my manuscript. 

Old Brick

In August, I blogged (link, link) about the methods anthropologists use to determine the age of ancient ceramics.  

Here is an article about a brick from Roman times that turned up at Fort Vancouver. The brick may have been part of a cobblestone street or Roman ruin in Great Britain. Historians speculate that during Colonial times, the brick was recycled for use as ballast in an English ship that traveled to British Columbia. The brick is adorned with the paw prints of an ancient Roman cat that stepped in the wet clay about 2000 years ago.

Color My World

My current project takes place in the distant past, so I’ve been investigating the fashions of the time. Everyone knows styles change, but colors have too. In previous eras, the range of available colors for clothing was limited because fabric was dyed with natural substances instead of chemical pigments. Here’s a timeline of the development of fabric colors. Further research taught me that during some periods of history, colors like Tyrian Purple or Imperial Yellow were limited to people of high status or rank. In addition, the names of colors have changed with time. This article explains the name of Thomas Lawrence’s famous painting, Pinkie, Homer’s “wine red sea” and the origin of the term brunette.

Great Research Site

There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know – and much of it pertains to my work-in-progress. Fortunately, I stumbled across the How Stuff Works website. What a wealth of information! The articles cover a broad range of topics and are easy to understand. Check it out; it’s worth a click.