TzwenK!
That is the sound of a low E harp string breaking. In the middle of a song. In the middle of a program. In the middle of the busiest harp season of the year.
Christmas 2013, I was playing O Come, O Come, Emanuel in front of an audience of seniors, when the melodious carol was interrupted by that rattlesnake sound.
It is not a sound I like to hear.
The song was in E minor so the broken string was the foundation for the final chord. Fortunately, I still had 35 out of my 36 strings at my command so I faked the ending around the absence. I don’t think the audience noticed–the melody was intact. But I heard it, the snap, the hesitation and the final cord wobble without its foundation.
I’m admit my attitude wobbled a little as well.
I was able to replace the string the next day and fortunately, I have multiple harps so while the broken string settled in, I was able to play the other one.
The definition of hypocrisy is pretending to posses something that you don’t really hold, like making a fist with nothing inside it or sounding a chord without the tonic note foundation.
As I shelve my Christmas music and open a new year, I think back to that snapping sound and the unfounded chord because Christmas is not intended for the two months leading up to December 25. It is intended to effect the ten months that follow. It is meant to ground the music of our lives. Emmanuel. God with us.
So as Christmas goes back in the box, I am praying for grace to keep Christ as part of our music. When Emmanuel is our tonic, we have a reason to rejoice–even when a string snaps.
“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Has come to thee, O Israel.”