AHJ, Vol. 2 No. 1, Spring 1969

lJnde1·standing
The Stt1dent
Harpist
by Marjorie Chauvel
This article by Miss Chauvel appeared first in the
May 1968 issue of The Instrumentalist, and is reprinted
with the permission of that publication.
Copyright 1968 by The Instrumentalist. Used by
permission.
The student harpist is often the enfant terrible
of the orchestra; the conductor can't
live with her, or without her. Perhaps I can
explain some of the reasons for the difficulties
and misunderstandings which arise
in dealing with the young orchestra harpist.
The professional harp teacher is frequently
asked by conductors and music educators
if the harp is really such a difficult instrument
to play. This question is usually
prompted by the repeated problems that
arise with the use of a young, inexperienced
harpist in an orchestra. Actually, it is probably
no more difficult than any other instrument,
but its problems are a little different
and not understood by many. Let us
discuss the problem of tension first. The
harp student, like others, experiences the
usual tension during performance; however,
its source is different than that of other instrumentalists.
The harp student rarely has
the opportunity to be exposed to and participate
in section training, and it is all too infrequent
that she has the chance to play
with other harpists. On the other hand, the
young violinist can go into the orchestra
and sit in the back of the section until, as
experience makes him more competent, he
is able to work up and assume more responsibility.
However, it is rare for a young
harpist to go into an orchestra where there
4
is another sitting in front, helping to train
her. Usually she is alone, exposed, and playing
in a solo capacity.
Another of the student harpist's problems
is her inability to count and lack of
knowledge of musical notation. Although
she has few notes to play, this does not necessarily
make her part any easier. Counting
for several hundred bars and suddenly
e~ec~ing oneself into a rhythm can be more
difficult than playing every bar. Frequently,
she is looking at a part that is completely
foreign to her, with unfamiliar musical notation,
which, if not properly explained,
can look like another language. There is
also a three-way visual problem. Most instrumentalists
can line up their music and
the conductor while barely having to look
at their instruments to play. But the harpist
has to look at her music, her instrument,
and finally, the conductor; not an easy task
when she is learning to feel intervals and
count. For years I was baffled by students
who would say that "the conductor keeps
telling me that I'm not looking at him and
I am!" I finally realized that they were
looking from the corner of their eye, but the
conductor had difficulty realizing this.
Another complaint about the young harpist
is that she plays too softly. There are
many reasons for this; it takes many years
before the harpist is capable of playing
loudly as a natural approach. First, the
timidness usually comes from a lack of confidence
and strength. The fingers need to
be trained for many years before sufficient
strength is built up in them, as well as in the
shoulder and back muscles. Until that time
playing too loudly would only result in ~
forced and, consequently bad tone. Like other
young musicians, the harpist frequently
thinks she can be heard simply because she
can hear herself. So the placement of the
harp within the orchestra is extremely important
for bringing out the tone. The best
position for the harp is as far forward as
possible and within the string section. Then
too, the orchestra directors, in elementary
schools particularly, must remember that a
small harp cannot possibly produce the tone
of a full-sized concert instrument. A good
way to surmount this problem is to use two
harps. It is also wise for the conductor to
tell the young harpist to play without worrying
about the possibility of playing a
AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL