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Ah, the difficulty of plugging in.

A year ago, my birthday present from my family was an electric pick-up for my harp Jocelyn which makes miking my harp as simple as plugging it in (although even that sometimes eludes me). I use it a lot. The quality of the Dusty Strings pick-up makes life simple for the sound men when I play for large events such as the Spring Concert at the Learner Theater or at The Grand Piano Extraveganza hosted by the Blue Gate Theater. But it also comes in very handy when playing for deaf senior citizens and activity directors who, like me, know little more about the mic system than the on and off switch.

On the Sunday before Christmas, I played the morning service at a small country Church. The Pastor invited me to not only provide special music but to actually give the message as I have done at several churches. Similar to my harp programs, I was planning to explain the harp, the music and myself while tying it all into the love of Christ. But as a courtesy to the older members of the congregation, I was going to use my pick-up and amplify the harp,

I plugged my harp into the antiquated sound board that was crammed into a cupboard on the side of the stage. I flipped the system’s ON switch. The harp rang in the country church like a bell choir on full blast. But when I tested the speaking microphone, it was as silent as the snow. I may have a loud mouth but not loud enough to give a 40 minute sermon to a slightly deaf audience without amplification!

My father, who once worked in sound, came and pointed out to me that the line in–where I was supposed to plug the harp–was on the back of the sound board. This was wedged against the wall. From the imprints in the carpet, the cabinet and the speakers resting on it hadn’t been moved since they were purchased 20 years ago.

A little appropriate grunting got the “line in” spots accessible and I moved the cables and set the volume. Now no sound came out of the speakers. The hand held mic was dead and the harp was only acoustic. The pastor, my father and I were on our knees around the cabinets. It might have looked like prayer except we were all craning our necks to see the sound board.

We double checked the cable connections. We switched it on and off. Finally, I went to the wall socket and found that the power plug had been knocked out of the outlet in moving the cabinet.

Simple. Check the plug.

With the power restored and the ancient sound system working perfectly, the pastor opened the service and the congregation got a good laugh.
When all else fails, try plugging in.