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 Deer
Hollow is the name of our beautiful eleven acre property in rural
North Carolina. It is a place of healing, and we have actually created
a retreat center here called “Sacred Grove Retreat.”
In 1995 I (Marilyn) began playing the harp for people in hospice,
hospital and nursing homes. Since Karl was such a fine composer
I asked him to write music for me to play. He was not a harpist,
so he composed at the keyboard and I took it to the harp to rework
it. We would go back and forth several times until we were satisfied.
(This included the books “Quietude,”
“The Healing Harp,”
and Lullabies for Young and Old.”
As I began playing the music for hospice patients I saw amazing
benefits, such as a group of Alzheimer patients becoming quiet and
calm; a very old man in a coma becoming conscious for a few hours
in order to tell his family goodbye; an old woman who had wasted
away to 80 lbs. able to let go and make her transition. We offered
this music for sale at the first Liturgical Harp Conference held
in Charlotte in 1996. It sold like hot cakes, and we thought, “We
really have something here that people need.” The whole idea
and our nascent business began to grow. As I had other needs for
music, Karl came up with it, such as “Old
Favorite Hymns” which the people in nursing homes love
to hear. Also “Old Timey tunes”
for singing along. All of our music came out of a need in my harp
ministry. So it is my intention that this music fill a need for
other harp therapists.
When Karl built a 26 string lap harp for our daughter Kirsten,
we needed a teaching book for this size harp. Thus “Kirsten’s
harp book.” Then we wrote a second book of slightly harder
music, “My Ladye Arawynn’s
Harp Book.” Kirsten and her husband Scott needed a book
for beginning harp and recorder, thus “Efen
and Arawynn’s flute and harp book".
After Karl passed away in 1999, sadly there was no more new music
for us. (I am not a composer.) Marianna Nystrom contacted me for
permission to record her two harp arrangements of six of Karl’s
dreamy pieces. Not only did I give her permission, but I asked to
see the arrangements for possible publishing. They were great. She
sent me some of her original compositions for the harp ministry,
and I decided to publish four of them in the book “Snowfall.”
I am so glad to have some new compositions to offer our Deer Hollow
Music customers.
After Karl’s passing I no longer had the heart to play for
hospice. It was too painful for me. I began to concentrate on playing
my beautiful Venus pedal harp for weddings and concerts instead.
This part of my life began to expand greatly and I especially enjoyed
playing for weddings at Castle McCulloch in Greensboro.
For many years our family has performed Medieval and Renaissance
music on period instruments in costume for concerts, SCA events
(Society for Creative Anachronism) and Renaissance Faires. Several
brides at the castle who planned Medieval/Renaissance theme weddings
hired us, and we began marketing the group as “The
Merry Minstrels”—including my daughter Kirsten,
her husband Scott and my son Mark. Mark is a professional saxophonist,
so we offered brides the lovely combination of soprano sax and harp
duo. Mark now lives in Ithaca, NY therefore I now offer flute
and harp duo with my accomplished friend and musician, Debbie
Bonkowski.
What started out as a harp music web site is now also used for
wedding music bookings. It’s been a marvelous evolution over
and eight year period.
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