The long wait is ended, and my Dream Autoharp, the d'Aigle Desert Rose 18 chord chromatic, is resting comfortably in her stand between the bookcase and my little electric fireplace in my studio. In the end, she did not get the chord bar layout that I selected, but the standard one. It was a surprise, but I found one song that I can play in my book that I wouldn't have been able to with my selection. And two that won't work. But one of those is "Red is the Rose", which is now one of my favorites on my mountain dulcimer, so all will be well. It's part of the challenge, learning to play with the limitations of the instrument. All instruments have limitations in one way or another, as do our dreams.
Zithers as a whole are nearly limitless, especially in their most well known form, the pianoforte. That's right. I said pianoforte, because that was the original name, and yes it is a zither. A hammered zither that can play both soft, piano, and loud, forte. This was an advancement of the original harpsichord design, which plucked the strings and therefore did not have as much variety in volume. But I digress. The important thing is I have an Autoharp again, and I can play it. I'm actually amused at how easy it was to pick up and start playing again, I even can pick a bit of melody of Ode to Joy. Delighted doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling. It's like coming home again, full of comfort, but also knowing I don't have to leave. My autoharp is here to stay, and I'm eager to work on more music and master the tunes that I was just beginning to learn a year ago. The camera is not here, but there will be pictures posted this weekend for sure.
I think I shall play her one more time before bed...
