With no particular inspiration other than he liked the sound of the instrument, and that one was plunked down in his Western North Carolina home, Dr. Lewis Gaskin plucked the strings of his daughter's forsaken harp. She's an oil and mineral rights lawyer in South Africa and the harp was way too big for the overhead bin.

After a few minutes of playing, Gaskin's hunch about his ability was confirmed. He would need lessons.

Fortunately for Appalachian State University and UNC-Greensboro, the teacher Gaskin found was Jacquelyn Bartlett, who teaches at both institutions. She logs 35,000 miles per year in a Toyota RAV-4 teaching, performing and mentoring. The vehicle's worn tires are testament to her devotion to music and to the need to pay the bills. For the past 10 years she's been raising four kids by herself.

The need for paying customers is why I figured Bartlett took Gaskin on as a student. When he walked into her studio a couple of years ago, he was 70 years old.

"That made him my second-oldest student," Bartlett said. "When he arrived, I was already teaching a woman who was 76."

Because of such a late start, Gaskin's harping will not be his gift to the world. So he asked Bartlett what he could do help young people who wanted to become harpists. She had an answer. Appalachian State and UNC-Greensboro each needed concert harps -- a lot to ask, Bartlett figured, from a man whose own harp is used. A concert harp costs $30,000 and she wanted two. Still, she asked.

ASU and UNC-Greensboro are getting their harps, and then some. Gaskin, and his wife Pat have established three substantial harp endowments for the two schools. The schools are prohibited from disclosing the amount, but representatives told me the gift takes their programs to a higher level.

For UNC-Greensboro, already the best music school in the state and highly regarded nationally, the endowment will allow it to become one of the few universities that can field a full student orchestra. For ASU, the endowment will help get its name on the music map. It will advertise its newly minted harp program in international journals and trade publications that were previously unreachable.

More important, the endowment will provide students with music reference libraries, conference and seminar funds, guest artists, instructors and a concert-quality harp. And it will do so for many years.

I asked Gaskin why he contributed generously to universities he has no personal connection with. None of his family members have attended either ASU or UNC-Greensboro.

"I like the harp," he said.

Understatement is the man's forte.

There is one more factor. The endowment is also a testimonial to two music teachers. One is Jane Morehead, a former Meredith College instructor who taught Gaskin's daughter much more than playing the harp. The other is Bartlett.

"Playing the harp is among the hardest things I've ever done," Gaskin said. This comes from a guy who is a pianist and who aced med school. "It's amazing how good Jackie's students are given how difficult the harp is to play."

Apparently Bartlett's teaching is also inspirational. I asked Gaskin straight up if he would have given his groundbreaking endowment to UNC-Greensboro, ASU and thus people of North Carolina, were it not for her commitment to music and her students.

After some characteristic silence and thought, Gaskin deadpanned a reply: "No, I don't think I would have."