Growing up in Northeastern Ohio with an Italian mother meant that Christmas was a time for bringing out the vinyl Mario Lanza record. This amazing tenor of a by-gone era could really belt out those classic Christmas songs. If I close my eyes, I can still experience the smell of Christmas cookies baking, the sight of frost on the windows and the sound of Mario Lanza nailing the high note in “O Holy Night.” In 2004 when my youngest brother was dying, he took great comfort in listening to the CD version of this same album, especially one particular song called “Guardian Angels.” The lyrics tell of an angel with shining wings, standing at the bedside, ready to lead one to Paradise. This song was played at his funeral in December of that same year. The melody haunted me until I finally sat down to work it out on the harp. Each time I played through the piece, I found myself wondering who had written such a comforting melody. A Google search revealed that the composer was none other than Arthur “Harpo” Marx.

I was truly impressed and set about writing out my own version for solo harp. Not only do I include the piece when playing in public, but this piece is the sheet music download featured on my website for the month of December. If you care to hear my version, there is an mp3 recording on my home page. Please visit www.ParadiseHarpMusic.com

Maryjean has played harp professionally for 25 years and is a member of St. Stephen, OCA in Longwood, Florida. She is the owner of ParadiseHarpMusic , a membership website for harpists.

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 [Christmas Memories Inspire Orthodox Christian Harpist]

Comments (2)

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So beautiful
written by Angel brock, December 05, 2008

Mary Jean, your article was so beautiful! And, go figure, the beautiful piece was written by Harpo Marx! It just proves that all of us, created in God's image are multi-faceted and talented! Of course there is a lot to be said for humor, as well, truly, "the best medicine"! Love, Angel

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written by Maryjean Zarick, December 12, 2008

Angel:
Most people know Harpo as a clown, but harpists know that he was the real talent in the family. Although he started out teaching himself the harp, he did eventually take lessons. While I was in college in the 1970's I had the extreme privilege of taking a lesson with Harpo's former teacher, the well know concert harpist, Mildred Dilling.

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