Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Staircase

No matter how much research I do beforehand, every now and then, I end up facing a flight of stairs alone. I don't know if all harpists dread stairs, but I do! Many harpists in NYC don't mind, because they have harp movers to move their harp, but what about those jobs you have where you don't have a mover?

I approach the top or bottom of a staircase and one of two things happen: An overly anxious man runs and insists on helping me. But it's not really help...they want to do it themselves but don't realize how cumbersome (not heavy) the harp actually is, and they don't know how to take directions. My heart starts racing and I start running my mouth insisting that they stop. I can't sit watching my harp being thrown in the air! If I had a limitless supply of harps, it would be fine, but I don't. So, it's either that, or nobody offers to help. People watch and ignore. Both are equally frustrating. What's the solution? I wish I could carry my little brother in my back pocket because he's a very well trained harp mover! After all these years, I'm STILL working it out...

2 comments:

Soledad de Pas said...

yeah! harp movers! ! !

for me is dificult to tell them in my not-own-language how to take the harp! ...they look at me like i m crazy and i just smile and try again!

lol

S;

itinerant_musician said...

I think the thing is to have someone offer help that actually LISTENS to your instructions and doesn't pretend hes a know-it-all super man. Then it is actual help.

I wish I could carry my harp in my pocket :P like one of those "just add water" and *poof* tara! a harp!

*sigh*