“Can you tell me the difference between a harpsichord and a piano?” I hear a tour guide ask her group. No one knew the answer but I could feel the Hermione and blurt the answer. Instead, I transported myself back 12 years into the past to recall when I first learned the answer to this question.

Music has been and continues to be a huge part of my life since the age of four. I showed interest in the violin but I was too hyper to sit still for lessons. Once I turned eight, however, the cello called to me and has been my companion ever since. Just as Menichi was a patron of the arts for Michelangelo, my parents and grandparents have similarly stimulated my talents. The moment I returned to as I stood in front of these ridiculously old yet well preserved harpsichords was when I was eight and was sitting on the floor of my first educational Renaissance chamber concert. I remember gazing at instruments that were, at the time, older than I could comprehend and making sounds I never dreamed of hearing. Renaissance era music played on era instruments is magical. It is the closest we will ever be to transporting ourselves through time to the Renaissance; because music– art and literature– has that power.

The difference between a harpsichord and a piano isn’t immediately noticeable, not when they are not playing anyway. A harpsichord produces its sound by plucking the string when the key is pressed, in contrast to a piano hammer striking the string. A harpsichord sound is more appropriate for accompanying quartets and other small ensembles- it is lighter and airier than the piano, which is so loud it stands on its own. The piano has textures of sound that are so dark and mysterious that they can’t possibly portray harpsichord music the way it was intended to be played.

My moment of absolute geek was when I stood in front of the cellos. As soon as I saw them, I was transported to that same baroque concert. It was there I also played a cello with gut strings. The differences between my crappy student cello and this two hundred year old piece of artwork was incredible. Yes, I was only eight, but the ease the instrument spoke and the purity of the sound has left its mark on me. I felt sadness that the instruments were behind glass– the violincello of the “Medici” quintet, 1690, deserves to be played. When something is no longer used for its intended purpose, there is a sort of melancholy that I perceive to be around the object. Yes, there those objects that deserve to be appreciated, but the quality of music that must be appreciated is not only its physical beauty, but also the movement– the way the gut strings resonate in the hollow cavern of the 500 year old body.

I could ramble for a few hours and many of my thoughts are incomplete (like the music I try to write), so I shall leave you with this. When we recreate the past through appreciation of art, literature, and music, we are allowing the past to make its mark on us, allowing the same emotions of wonder to resonate through time and space. Our souls are touched by the artists, composers, and authors of the past.