Can't Believe Your Leaving

Saturday, August 10, 2013  Sunny and Hot

Yesterday I played in the Main Hospital Lobby.  I haven't been there in a few weeks, so it was good to be back with the awesome volunteers.  They complained a little, but when I told them I had been at Assisted Living and Infusion, they all agreed the need is greater in those places.  I love playing in the Lobby.  You get such a variety of people coming and going.  There is always a "meeting" going on somewhere in the Lobby.  It's a great space to take care of business.

One thing I notice when I play there is my need to focus more.  I don't think I ever get through one tune, without someone walking up to the Harp and making conversation.  I am not sure how to get better at it, once my concentration is broken.  Most people are so friendly and want to chat about the Harp and the IPAD is another conversation in itself.  Yesterday I was playing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", and a woman came up and asked if I was Irish.  The conversation blossomed from there and in the middle of her giving me her lineage, she instructed me to continue playing, hahahaha NOT

This setting is quite different than Bedside Harping.  There are other distractions for sure...the beeping machines, staff and family members, smells and emotions....but nothing is focused directly on the Harpist.  We are left to watch the Patient and adjust the music accordingly, while all this is going on around us.  It is a different kind of distraction.

The other thing I notice when I play in the Lobby is the lighting and my Harp Strings.  My strings disappear into the floor, making it difficult to see them as separate strings.  They actually make a mat that you can put under your Harp so that you have a solid background against your strings.  In the Bedside setting, the rooms are usually low-light and I have column lighting that helps with that.  It's very subtle but lights up the top of the strings.

While playing in the Lobby, there is always someone I know that passes by.  That's the beauty of living in the area since 1977 and having 7 kids....you know a lot of people!  Yesterday it was my Hairdresser on her way to visit her new Grandson, born on Tuesday....so she had a phone full of pics...awsome.  Not long after that it was my Daughter's Mother-in-Law....we spent 40 minutes talking about our Grandchildren and by that time a storm was building so I needed to get my Harp in the Car....I was done for the day.

As I was leaving past the desk of Volunteers, they threw their hands up and said, "what?  can't believe you are leaving, you hardly played any of our favorites"   ......