Skip to content

The Folk Harp, Innovative and Accessible

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Why the harp? Why not, answers Gillian Grassie, who says she was raised by “Quaker hippie parents in the woods without television.” While picking up the harp may not have been part of a master plan, Grassie has nonetheless embraced it with the mindset of any true innovator. 

The singer-songwriter effortlessly blends jazz, pop, folk and rock, and in the words of Music for America, “makes the harp sound like any string instrument that has been a part of pop and rock for the last 50 years.”

Grassie’s 21st century harp playing was on display at The Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas that takes place on Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Watch the video here:

Image courtesy of Meghan Brosnan

To learn more about The Nantucket Project and how to attend the 2013 event visit nantucketproject.com.

Follow Daniel Honan on Twitter @Daniel Honan

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
Related
A bearded man wearing glasses and a plaid shirt speaks with a microphone clipped to his collar in front of a purple background with white dots.
The Well
How Rainn Wilson discovered sacredness
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
▸
13 min
—
with
Rainn Wilson
Up Next