Last week we opened the fourth show, The Gypsy Baron - the third (and last) show for me. It’s also a strange one for me, because it’s the one that the orchestra plays the most in, but I play the least. I probably play no more than 15 minutes of the entire thing. Really, Strauss II? Kind of silly, don’t you think?
Usually at intermission, while I’m tuning, people in the audience come up and want to talk to me. Usually they say things like “Oh, you sound lovely!” or, “I just love the harp!” or, “You all are doing such a wonderful job!”
Today in between acts of The Gypsy Baron, an elderly man came up to me and said, “You know, no one expects the harp to be in tune."
…….
To which I cleverly (feebly) responded, "Well…. I… do…?”
I should have said “OH GOOD, SO I CAN THROW OUT MY TUNER AND TUNING KEY AND NEVER BOTHER WITH THEM AGAIN? YES!”
Our conductor is a very nice man, but I think he expects me to at least try to keep my harp in tune.
(The old man came back at the end of the show and told me that the harp and the whole show sounded great. He said that the harp added much more than a piano. He talked to me for a while before his wife dragged him away. It was very sweet.)