My Music

Early Years

Music has always been a part of our family. Mom used to play the madolin and bango/madolin. Dad used to play the piano by ear, and the guitar. Dad is still one of the favorites at church in the special music area. He sits down at the organ and plays by ear. It's amazing how he can make almost any hymn sound like John Philip Sousa wrote it. Dad is the only adult who gets applause when he does special muic. My Grandfather Harper was an energetic singer, and I always loved when he led the singing at our church. Whenever he wasn't done with a song (even though everyone else was), he would just take up another verse, or repeat the chorus. My Grandmother Harper was an accomplished pianist, able to play any kind of music by ear, and she could sight read even the hardest of written music. All the Harper kids played musical instruments. My Grandmother Koppenhaver also played the piano.

My oldest brother Bruce plays the piano and guitar. After retiring from the U.S. Air Force, he returned to our home area, and our home church. He plays piano for all the services. I love to watch him play, even while I'm at the keyboards next to him.

My next older brother Jim played the trumpet while he was in high school and college. I don't think he touches it much any more. :-{

So, it was just natural that I would also follow the musical tradition of the family. As a kid in elementary school, I took piano lessons from our pastor's wife. She would often return my lesson money to my mother because I hadn't learned anything. Yes, I had a hard time getting excited about practicing. I also took trumpet lessons, but they fell along the path of good intentions, too.

Teen Years

Then when I got into high school, I decided that I wanted to be in the band, so I learned to play the Sousaphone (tuba). We got an organ at home, so I began taking lessons on that, too. I also learned to play the string bass for the concert band.

I had learned to enjoy music so much that I decided to become a Music Education major in college. I studied Music Ed at Barrington College in Rhode Island for two years before I dropped out of college. But during that time, I learned a lot of music theory, piano, organ, strings, and percussion. Also I sang in the college choir both years, and a college quartet one year.

During the youth revival which hit Millersburg in 1969 and the following few years, I played and sang with The Ignition System, and then for six and a half years with The Vigilaires. For most of that time, I also arranged the music for the quartet. When we weren't out singing on Sundays, I would play for church, to give the regular pianist a break.

Today

When Bruce retired from the Air Force, he took over playing the piano at church. I played the organ. When a new couple joined the church, and I found out that she played the organ, I took turns with her playing that. Then I bought a Yamaha SY-55 keyboard. Now I could sit at the back of the church, play the Yamaha and run the sound system when nobody else was there to do that. When we got enough people trained to run the system, I moved the keyboard up front. I bought a Yamaha SY-85 keyboard, three other synthesizers, sequencers, a mixing board, several powered speakers, and volume pedals. I MIDIed all of it together so that I can play any variety of strings, organs, pianos, woodwinds, brass, etc. Now we have Bruce on the piano, me next to him on the plethora of stuff, and Donna on the other side of the church on the organ. We have a great time providing the music for the services, and setting the mood for worship, praise, prayer, etc.

In December 1999, our pastor asked me to take charge of the music for the Sunday services. It took a load off his shoulders, and I began to make some changes in our music, mixing in some more Praise and Worship songs, and projecting the words on the front wall of the church. In January 2000, I was named the Minister of Music for our church.

About once a month, I provide the special music for the morning and evening services. Sometimes I do hymn arrangements on the keyboards. Other times I sing. I also have a 4 track recorder, so I like to create my own soundtracks on the keyboards, sequencers, synthesizers, and recorder. I also enjoy stacking my voice on the recorder to give myself a three part vocal background for my solo work. Hey, I couldn't ask for three better people to back me up. After all, we're all in agreement! :-} And the newest piece of equipment for our music program at the church is a Mini-Disk recorder. It's great for storing and playing sound tracks.

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&copy 2000 Harold Harper, Millersburg, PA
hharper@epix.net
This page was updated on November 3, 2000