Fritz and Belva Williams of Palmerton brought their old instruments to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center and performed during the Christmas Open House.

Fritz played clarinet in high school but his hands were hurt and he could no longer play because of the placement of the keys.

He was self-taught on the ocarina and other old instruments including three versions of the Baroque recorder.

Sound travels around the inside of the ocarina, he explained, and gives it a different sound.

Belva plays folk harps, which are not used in orchestras where harps with pedals are used.

She has both the small one she brought to the Nature Center and a large one.

“They are lovely instruments,” Fritz said. He added that they both like to talk about their music.

The couple met when Belva played in a harp circle in central Pennsylvania. The circle featured a great deal of Celtic music.

One of the men in the circle crafted harps.

“We had a harpsichord and he fixed it for us,” said Fritz.

He said Benjamin Franklin made a glass harmonica believed to be the sound of angels.

Another man in the harp circle played “Jesus Loves Me,” on the harmonica.

Fritz, who asked if he could learn to play the harmonica, was told to sit on the porch until he could play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

“Your muscles learn,” Fritz said.”I decided I could play other instruments, so I got the recorders.”

Belva also has a lap string dulcimer.

“She can play 12 minutes of Chopin by memory,” Fritz said. “It’s fun to tell people about our instruments. They are part of our lives.”

“We grew up here in Palmerton when the Zinc Company was a powerhouse,” he said.

Then, they moved out of the area for 50 years.

“Belva got our first recorder with two books of Green Stamps, Fritz said, adding he built a harpischord from a kit.

(See photo page A2.)