"I was fascinated with it," Monger said. "Within two weeks, I bought one."
With his own Autoharp, Monger said, he practiced and practiced and practiced. During that time, he developed his own style of playing that includes an unusual way of picking the strings. Most people just strum it, he said.
Monger also taught himself to play a repertoire of about 200 songs. Whenever he hears a song he likes, Monger said, he hurries home, looks up the tune on the Internet and tries to play it on the Autoharp.
"Sometimes I can play it and sometimes I can't," Monger said. "I just do it because I like it."
Besides playing at home, Monger also plays his Autoharp at nursing homes, festivals and churches. Most people, he says, find the music relaxing.
"It's just a nice sound," Monger said. "It suits my age group and maybe a little bit older."
For the past 15 years, he's played at Dayton
Days, and at least twice a year he plays at the Miller-Kite House in Elkton.
Casey Billhimer, one of Monger's fellow members of the Elkton Historical Society, said he didn't know the extent of Monger's talent until about five years ago.
"I didn't really think a lot of it until one of our [the historical society] board members heard him and suggested we ask him to play at our Christmas open house" at the Miller-Kite House, Billhimer said. Now, "he's one of the draws to the place in addition to everything else" that goes on at the house.
Monger also has four CDs that, he says, people will stop by and purchase every now and then.
Billhimer said he and his wife have one of Monger's CDs and it's one of their favorites.
"We have one of his CDs in our car. We have a six-disc CD changer in our car and that's one of them," Billhimer said. "He's very, very talented."
Editors Note: This story was originally published in the Daily News-Record.
