Aphantasia, 2

I was fortunate to start piano lessons before the age of four. Perhaps about age seven or eight, I attended a concert with my parents and saw and heard a Grand Harp for the first time. I wanted to play a harp! Every year I would tell my parents, “I’d really like a harp for my birthday,” having no concept of course about how expensive or how large a Grand Harp really was. By the time I was approaching my eleventh birthday, I really thought I might get a smaller version. I got a vibraharp instead. You know, and instrument that looks something like a marimba but is made of mental and is electric. Played with mallets, two in each hand often, it has a damper pedal just like that on a piano. I looked at this and tried very hard NOT to look disappointed. “It sounds something like a harp,” my father said. “Besides, it folds up, which makes it much more portable than a big harp.” (He was nothing if not practical!) More tomorrow.