My pedal harp arrived at my door in Minneapolis, MN from Loveland, CO in 1996. Shortly after it arrived, I noticed the elbow joint (where the harp comes together) was cracked. This meant a trip to Lyon & Healy in Chicago for extensive repair. When we arrived at Lyon & Healy, the first thing the repair technician said was, “These 47 strings hold 2,000 pounds of pressure/tension so we’ll release all of the strings first thing and re-string your instrument after repairs are finished.”

I was reminded of this recently when the “D” string below middle C broke. It sounds like a bomb goes off in my living room when a string breaks! And it’s because of the pressure/tension that I just referred to. In other words, when a string breaks, it releases a lot of pressure and sounds loud!

Further, when a string breaks, it is always interesting to observe which one. This time it was “D” and this note is connected to the sacral chakra located right below the belly button. This is the energetic center of creativity and while I was waiting on the new string to arrive from Lyon & Healy, I noticed my creativity opening up with LOTS of new ideas! I guess this is what they call the silver lining of a harp string breaking! I’m not ready to announce any of the creative ideas that “came in” or that I’m working on, but please stay tuned for the new project(s)…!!