An Improvisation on the Lyre

I bought an inexpensive Celtic lyre, to see if I would enjoy playing a harp-style instrument. It’s meditative and intuitive and I absolutely love it (something I had hoped to experience when I tried to learn the guitar, but the feeling never materialized.) With the lyre, there’s something so primal about holding it on my lap, plucking the strings, and trancing out to (or into) the pattern my fingers want to make.

I recorded this video last October, when the Bees were pollinating the Ivy and the Pomegranates were ripe on the tree. I have not taken any lessons — and I’m fairly certain I’m not holding it or plucking correctly — but this was a little ditty improvised in the moment. You can hear and see the Melissae buzzing around me as I’m playing.