Harp Sounds from Heaven

Harp Sounds from Heaven

And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. [Revelation 14:2 - English Standard Version, 2001]

The Revelation passage

On the whole, here on earth harp sounds may not be terribly hard on the hearing, and the sight of harpists may be pleasant too.

If you are not much used to harp music and want to prepare yourself for "that kind of thing of heaven" to get an imagined advantage, there are many recordings of harp music today. If you play some of them and keep a sound measure of sane variation in mind too, you could eventually come to appreciate harp music by the finest harpists.

Many are taught from they are tots that heaven is a place for harpists playing delicate music, much rooted in the Revelation passage. However, note that the Revelation passage does not say whether its harpists are good, female, or well trained. You are free to believe heavenly harp sounds are sweet, but the harp sounds from heaven were "like a loud peal of thunder [NIV]". Too many seem to overlook that loud sounds may not be good for your hearing, and interpret it in conformity with many other high-flown hopes too. There could be dangers into all too much wishful thinking, apart from ensnaring but devious interpretations of what takes place on the other side, also called "Within".

Ask yourself the sooner the better: "Is it good for my hearing and wellbeing to be subjected to offensively loud peals of harping again and again for as long as I live her and in heaven? Must I endure such a lot? And as to harps, what are the actual kinds of harp in question?"

Good questions. Try to determine if you want cascades of loud harping over and over for as long as you have to endure.

Ministers, or "harpers on harps of heaven"

Freakish: "In heaven, due appreciation of heaven's loud music will be provided too."

Maybe. But since the Revelation passage was accepted and put into the Bible long before the modern pedal harp, maybe you should ask the minister: "The harps of heaven today, are they modern pedal harps? Are heaven's harps updated? Do they include electric harps? How is it?"

If the minister has no first-hand experience of it and no fair harp documentation either, how is it fit to react and respond to faith with a plot for its foundation? Take a step in advance and figure out for your yourself what best could serve the man of faith you ask, and compare how much the answer you get swerves from your first guess. That could be educative.

If we do not ask for quality evidence the sooner the better, we may be taken in for the lack of it and end up sore and finding that being discarded is not good - and that there is not much true relief in "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

There is much foolery around. Just check that you do not become the victim of it. For starts, maybe you want to update your knowledge of harps.

Modern harps and much older ones

To attune yourself to modern harp music, listen to harp music. There are many recordings of harp music today. If you play some of them and keep a sound measure of sane variation in mind too, you may also come to appreciate harp music by eminent harpists.

Harps were played in ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian harps varied greatly in form, size, and the number of their strings. They are represented in the ancient paintings with 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 20, 21 and 22 strings. There were small, portable (shoulder) harps and larger, arched (bow) harps (angular harp). The wall painting of three musicians on the top of the page is from 1422-11 BCE. Other depictions include one from the tomb of Amenemhet from about 1850 BCE. [Source: Egyptian Musical Instruments]

Harps may have been independently invented in many parts of the world in remote prehistory. Leaving the question of origins aside, various types of harps are found in Africa, Europe, North and South America and in Asia. In fact, in antiquity, harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all cultures.

The first primitive form of pedal harps was developed in the Tyrol region of Austria. The concert harp is a pedal harp. Modern harps include electric harps and laser harps.

Baroque and classical composers like Händel and Mozart wrote harp music, and there is a prominent harp part in "She's Leaving Home" by The Beatles in their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

There are differing schools of technique for playing the harp. And as it is said, beginner harp can sound a lot better than beginner violin.

"People become house builders through building houses, harp players through playing the harp. We grow to be just by doing things which are just." [Aristotle]