La Harpa

 

This ebony Salvi Apollo was the real highlight of Elisabeth's 16th birthday, so much so that it deserves a post of its own. Back before Christmas Elisabeth and others felt that it was time for a bigger harp. Her Camac Clio Extended soundboard sported only 44 strings and the concerto she wanted to learn required all 47. Her harp also was not producing a sound big enough to match the Lyceum Concert Orchestra in which she played. All of these things are sad, indeed, but not to the tune of an almost $30,000 investment sad. 

Come January, she was really putting up a fuss, to the point that she was almost ready to quit harp because she didn't feel that she could progress without a bigger one. We had anticipated her smaller harp sufficing until she came to the juncture of whether to pursue harp in college or not, but she had worked so hard at her instrument that the juncture was coming two years early. I asked what harp it was that she needed. She said a Salvi Apollo in ebony finish. This seemed a lot more reasonable than the Louis XIV that she has posted as her computer wallpaper and sometime profile pic to boot. I called the music store where we had bought her current harp to ask if they happened to have a trade-up program. I was told that they did not. I asked if they had any Salvi Apollos but with the ebony finish since they only listed natural wood on their website. She said that ebony was a special order finish to begin with, but that COVID had so many things backed up, it was at least eight months before anyone could get even a new harp, but it was much safer to plan for a year out. This did not sound very promising. I thanked her and hung up the phone. I called Lyon & Healy West, the harp capital west of the Mississippi that happens to be in Salt Lake, and was basically told the same thing. They could sell me any harp that they had on the floor, but they did not have any Ebony Salvi Apollos, and it would be about a year before a new one could be finished.

The next day I received a phone call from the first music store. She told me she had contacted the Chicago location just to see if they happened to have any Salvi Apollos. She was told that they had just had a cancellation for an ebony Salvi Apollo that would be ready to ship to Orem around the first week of April. (Elisabeth's 16th birthday would be April 6th.) She asked if I was interested. We were still quite unsure about how we could finance such a large purchase after a year of successively big purchases, so I asked her if I could call her back the next day. Even though it made no sense at all financially, we felt good about moving forward and so put down the 10% deposit to secure the harp.

In the meantime, it was obvious that we needed to sell Elisabeth's current harp to help pay for the new one, but she also had playing commitments strung out until March 26th. Over the next three months, without fail, every time Elisabeth went to the temple there was some movement on selling her harp, but each one fell through. After the third time it occurred to me that this was the Lord's way of telling her that He was aware of her, that things would work out, but that the time was not now. 

Elisabeth fulfilled her final harp commitment and the first week of April came. We weren't sure when our new harp would arrive, but we knew we needed to sell this old harp before it came. I posted it on Facebook and had a woman in Montana eager to look at it, but she had to figure out when she would drive 700 miles to come look at it. This would not be ideal because travel really wears on a harp, but it seemed like the most viable option. We were slated to go to St. George the Wednesday after General Conference. Elisabeth relisted the harp on our local classifieds, and that Monday we had someone contact us who, as it turned out, lives within a mile of our home. We scheduled to bring it to them on Saturday when we returned from St. George, and while we were down south we received word that the new harp would be arriving either Saturday or Monday, depending on the weather. 

I eagerly awaited a call on Monday and finally received it just as Elisabeth walked up the driveway from school, so she hopped in the car and off we went to pick it up. Incidentally, at the time we contracted for the harp we felt peace about making such a large purchase but were very much blind as to how we could go about purchasing it. In the interim, on the one hand, Justin got a new job, and on the other, the price for that harp went up $2,000. Thanks to this birthday miracle, Elisabeth now plays the same harp as both the principal and second harpists of the Utah Symphony, among other luminaries. She will still have to open doors on her own, but this harp will certainly not be closing any. Happy Birthday and Happy Harp Life, Elisabeth!!!