Lake County >> Linda Brown isn’t from a musical family, but you would never know it, given that she plays four different instruments: piano, flute, guitar and harp.
In third grade Brown learned the piano and her family never understood why that wasn’t enough. If she already knew one instrument, why did she need to pick up more? Of course, that didn’t deter her.
Surprisingly, Brown found her favored instrument, the harp, much later than the other three. Ten years ago when San Francisco-based Celtic group Triskela visited Lake County, Brown attended their performance. The sound and beauty of the harp drew her in and she set out immediately to learn the instrument. “As soon as I saw the harp in the concert that night, I knew I had to play,” Brown recalled. “I was able to find one of the members of that group and I took lessons from her for a few years.”
It’s hard to explain exactly why the instrument is so appealing. “There’s just something about the sound of a harp that’s kind of ethereal, maybe,” she said. “I just love the sound of it. I love to practice and I love to play.”
She hasn’t forgotten her musical roots, though. “Not that I don’t love the other instruments too, but I just fell in love with the harp,” Brown added.
10 years later and she’s graduated from student to teacher and instructs a small group of amateur harp players. She also plays regularly around the county in traditional music venues and settings such as the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake, the Farmers’ Market in Kelseyville and the numerous art galleries.
But Brown regularly performs in more unique settings as well. She takes her harp to hospice patients’ homes regularly and also performs harp music every Wednesday at Sutter Lakeside Hospital from 8:30 a.m. -10:30 a.m. She begins in the public sections of the building, the lobby and waiting room, then heads to the nurses station to see if any patients want to listen to her music. Usually one or two do.
“There actually is a growing movement to have harps in hospitals,” Brown said.
It all began when Brown and her church ministry played music at Evergreen Lakeport Healthcare. She saw how well it worked there and decided to branch out on her own. She contacted the hospital and began soothing patients, visitors and staff in September of last year. Her hospice playing has been growing since. Now, she performs each week and sometimes sees multiple patients in a day.
Brown has witnessed the positive effects of harp music on suffering medical patients. She recalled one incident when she played for a woman thrashing around her bed in discomfort. Brown played for 20 minutes and by the times she left, the woman was sound asleep.
“I always joke that my job is putting people to sleep,” she said with a laugh. “I’m not offended if people go to sleep while I’m playing. If they go to sleep, that’s great.”
The instrument is hardly a loud one, which is likely why it’s perfect for hospice settings. “The harp is very well suited for that type of thing,” Brown explained. “It’s beautiful without being overpowering or overwhelming.”
Brown plays the Celtic harp. Despite the name she doesn’t only play Celtic music. It’s a folk style of harp with levers instead of pedals. She picked the style for a couple of reasons: it was what Triskela was playing at their concert and it was significantly cheaper than a pedal harp, which run an average of 10 to 12 thousand dollars. But she’s not limited in what she can perform. “Any type [of music] I can make an arrangement for I can play on the harp,” Brown said. “You can do a lot of different things with it.”
Although she plays a number of instruments, Brown’s biggest influences are all harpists. They include Portia Diwa, a member of Triskela and the head of the harp program at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, and Lisa Lynne, a Celtic harpist and recording artist.
Playing the harp is so enjoyable, Brown fills her downtime with as much music as possible. “It’s just a very relaxing instrument,” she said. “Music’s pretty much my life. I don’t really watch TV because I enjoy music so much.”
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
