We enjoyed a beautiful 85 degree day at Silver Dollar City’s Festival of Wonder this week. We were totally amazed by the earth harp. The harp strings were over 75 feet long stretched the full length of the auditorium above our heads. When the music played it was like being inside a giant cello, a very different perspective for experiencing the beautiful music of William Close & The Earth Harp Collective. William Close was a finalist of the 2012 season of America’s Got Talent and a creative genius that has invented over 100 musical instruments, four of which he played during the performance, including the star of the show, the earth harp. When he plays the earth harp he wears gloves covered in violin resin. He runs his hands along the strings until they vibrate. It was a glorious performance.
William Close explained that he would not play the strings on the outer edges because those were sympathetic strings. Sympathetic strings reinforce and prolong the sound by reflecting the sound of the played strings through synchronous vibration. In other words, non-played strings vibrate in sympathy to other strings being played. Isn’t that what kindness is; people reacting in sympathy to others and therefore, raising the vibration of love. When you do a kind act the act is reflected and further enhances all the people affected by the act. I’m in gratitude to all the people on the kindness journey. Together we can reinforce and further vibrate the effects of a kind act.
I was fortunate to sit next to a handicapped teen boy who was unable to express his words in comprehensible English. He seemed to enjoy the concert. During the concert he would grab my hand to hold it. I told his dismayed mom It was ok. At the end of the concert he went and hugged my husband with his worried mom looking on. I told him I needed a hug, too. I did that so his anxious mom would relax and enjoy that special moment where we accepted her son’s unconventional ways. She explained he is such a loving child. In that moment I knew what living kinder is all about, loving and hugging more and being each other’s sympathetic string.
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