My harp session turned into a Disney movie
July 23, 2020 7:47 PM   Subscribe

Harpist playing outdoors receives an unexpected visit from a new fan.
posted by merriment (47 comments total) 48 users marked this as a favorite
 
Nature is healing. We are the harpist.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:11 PM on July 23, 2020 [5 favorites]


Fantastic and unexpected payoff!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:25 PM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


I regret not realizing there was a fan/fawn pun to be made until after I'd already posted. Alas!
posted by merriment at 8:32 PM on July 23, 2020 [10 favorites]


That was beautiful and lovely and thank you so much for posting this!
posted by hippybear at 8:39 PM on July 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


I am a big fan of deer videos, but I don't think I've seen a deer act like that one did: totally intrigued and filled with a dawning and incredulous delight.

I'm not sure I've seen a deer express that much positive emotion. I didn't really believe they had much positive emotion, in fact.
posted by jamjam at 8:43 PM on July 23, 2020 [16 favorites]


Harp + Paul Simon melody = deer hypnotism
posted by hippybear at 8:52 PM on July 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


the floofy tail waaaaaaaaaaag


thank you.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:17 PM on July 23, 2020 [6 favorites]


...never seen a deer express that much positive emotion...
Errybody know, deer squad got mad positivity bro. Vibin'
posted by bartleby at 9:47 PM on July 23, 2020 [13 favorites]


Given the framing, I'm guessing that the deer arrival was not unexpected. Cute though.
posted by tavella at 9:49 PM on July 23, 2020 [4 favorites]


Musically, deer prefer percussion to strings.
posted by bartleby at 9:50 PM on July 23, 2020 [8 favorites]


Now cows, they prefer the brass section. Wait for it.
posted by bartleby at 9:57 PM on July 23, 2020 [18 favorites]


L'après-midi d'un faon.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:09 PM on July 23, 2020 [8 favorites]


Oh dear.
posted by suetanvil at 10:19 PM on July 23, 2020 [3 favorites]


Harpists themselves are a different story. In the wild, they wander the southwestern deserts in sororal pairs, sticking mostly to classic 80's metal.
Urban ferals will be found wherever someone leaves a full on harp lying around a jobsite.
posted by bartleby at 10:26 PM on July 23, 2020 [7 favorites]


Elephants are always pleased when a human comes along to play one of their pianos for them. Can't play themselves, feet are too big for the keys. Not sure why they all bought pianos in the first place.
posted by bartleby at 10:42 PM on July 23, 2020 [16 favorites]


bartleby you are doing strong work here and i thank you.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:47 PM on July 23, 2020 [9 favorites]


Um... to you that's a piano, but to the elephant that's Uncle Fred
posted by zompist at 10:59 PM on July 23, 2020 [11 favorites]


Cows love a polka!
posted by TheWaves at 3:51 AM on July 24, 2020 [3 favorites]


Given the framing, I'm guessing that the deer arrival was not unexpected. Cute though.

I think it was a surprise to all involved; the real video is a full cover, sans deer. Naomi SV just wanted a pretty forest backdrop for a video, got a free hypnotized deer.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 3:58 AM on July 24, 2020 [16 favorites]


This is lovely! I think perhaps the deer was intrigued by a human standing stock-still (apart from her hands) for such a long time, as much as by the music.

This reminded me of the famous old BBC recording of cellist Beatrice Hanson playing with a nightingale, which was recreated recently.
posted by Fuchsoid at 4:19 AM on July 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


That was wonderful. You know how there are Horse Girls? I was a Deer Girl, who daydreamed about walking into a forest and meeting a deer that would be my friend. I'd ride on her like a horse and we'd have all sorts of adventures. As I grew up I kind of lost that fancy, realizing that deer weren't interested in being buds.

Perhaps there is still hope. Perhaps I just need to know how to interest them. perhaps I should have taken up the harp instead of the banjo.
posted by Gray Duck at 4:44 AM on July 24, 2020 [13 favorites]


you need a deering banjo, Gray Duck.
posted by scruss at 4:54 AM on July 24, 2020 [4 favorites]


I like her cover of the Grateful Dead's Ripple. Appropriate attire too.
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 5:18 AM on July 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


The world would be improved by having pianos big enough for elephants to play with their trunks, even if the piano just had an octave or two. An electric keyboard wouldn't even be hideously expensive.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:42 AM on July 24, 2020 [3 favorites]


Given the framing, I'm guessing that the deer arrival was not unexpected. Cute though.

I’ve heard wild deer are famously predictable and often turn up exactly in frame.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:15 AM on July 24, 2020 [8 favorites]


Tears of laughter from the final second and the irony of the song she was playing; that last, empty beautiful green silence was perfect.
posted by effluvia at 6:19 AM on July 24, 2020


However, do not buy the deer an unsolicited banjo. That's just weird.

This is really cool and great to watch, but my first thought was "Good lord, the harp is almost as big as she is".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:23 AM on July 24, 2020 [9 favorites]


Wanted to make a "tickling the ivories" joke about the piano/elephant, but it's probably in questionable taste.
posted by Standeck at 6:30 AM on July 24, 2020 [4 favorites]


Is this where we post deer songs? Because here is a song about Dem Deer.
posted by gnutron at 6:42 AM on July 24, 2020


needs moar rock n' roll.

a-whop-bop-a-lou-bop, a-whop-Bam-bi!
posted by chavenet at 6:50 AM on July 24, 2020 [4 favorites]


When I play the piano my little dog will run up and sit atop the back of my sofa and just watch and listen. Also, if I have my French doors open, dogs on the block will bark after songs. I have a little musical "bow" I play to let them know I know I hear them: B♭ - G - B♭ - G - B♭ - G. You're the only humans that know about that.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:12 AM on July 24, 2020 [19 favorites]


Tusk tusk, Standeck!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:22 AM on July 24, 2020


pianos big enough for elephants to play with their trunks
I imagine they'll do better than the horses?
Because...tsk tsk, this lil dude appears to be the equine team's best challenger to Rhoda Scott so far and...No.
Play him out, Murphy
Go back to helping your hooman keep tempo.
posted by bartleby at 8:30 AM on July 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


I’ve heard wild deer are famously predictable and often turn up exactly in frame.

They are, actually? My dad is a hunter, and puts up tree-blinds near the trails deer will use year after year, and even when he's not hunting them they often have a regular schedule as to when they turn up in his yard and field.

However, it's possible the off-center framing was just meant to be artistic and I was being unduly cynical.
posted by tavella at 8:58 AM on July 24, 2020


I swear every time I blinked the deer was closer.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:09 AM on July 24, 2020 [9 favorites]


The world would be improved by having pianos big enough for elephants to play with their trunks

Bugger that. We need pianos big enough to play with their feet, with keys surfaced in poacher teeth.
posted by flabdablet at 9:16 AM on July 24, 2020 [20 favorites]


This is really cool and great to watch, but my first thought was "Good lord, that harpist is about to get Lyme disease. Run away before it's too late!"
posted by Bella Donna at 10:17 AM on July 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


My big revelation was there are harp slings apparently. Who knew?
posted by GuyZero at 10:57 AM on July 24, 2020


There have always been harp slings as is demonstrated by the old saying: “Harp slings, eternal on the human breast.”
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 1:57 PM on July 24, 2020 [19 favorites]


I loved this. The deer’s behavior is so interesting!
posted by obfuscation at 2:30 PM on July 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


I think deer a super cute.

I also think "tick check time" any time I am somewhere that I see them.
posted by srboisvert at 5:42 PM on July 24, 2020 [4 favorites]


Harpists themselves are a different story. In the wild, they wander the southwestern deserts in sororal pairs, sticking mostly to classic 80's metal.
Urban ferals will be found wherever someone leaves a full on harp lying around a jobsite.


Man if you've got an electric harp and you're playing AC/DC you aren't putting distortion on it you are missing an opportunity.

Actually in that video their harps sound unexpectedly like electric piano.
posted by atoxyl at 1:54 PM on July 26, 2020


I came across that video awhile back and was just entranced.

Personally, my own favorite musical human and animal interaction was when I sat on the back steps of my then apartment building some years back and would play the guitar to William Brown's Mississippi Blues. Which is, thanks to Stefan Grossman, a song almost every young aspiring country blues guitarist knows.

And at least one house finch once -- for when I played that song, this house finch -- and they are with their long liquid trills the premiere songbirds of Seattle -- would wax rhapsodic and sing his little heart out. It was so delightful to sit and play and listen to him sing.

After awhile I realized that it was the turn around, which is the passage with which William Brown begins the song, that seemed to really set him off. I could play that over and over and he would go on and on. Such was a bit of a mystical with a small 'm' experience of which I had several and I treasure those memories.
posted by y2karl at 7:23 AM on August 7, 2020 [3 favorites]


House finch song
posted by y2karl at 7:36 AM on August 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I don't know if I've ever heard a house finch in person before, but I immediately recognized the bird's theme from Peter and the Wolf!
posted by moonmilk at 8:33 AM on August 7, 2020


Check out this jazz duo
posted by flabdablet at 10:06 AM on August 7, 2020


I don't know if I've ever heard a house finch in person before...

I was about to say you likely have not. But by prudently consulting Google before typing so, I came to find out they are now both bi-coastal and Hawaiian. I am not at all comfortable about the ecological consequences of the introduction to the Islands but I am sure the birds will disagree. So, you may yet have the opportunity to hear them. And as their songs are even more musical and complex than the sample given, it will be your pleasure.
posted by y2karl at 3:30 PM on August 7, 2020


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