So you want to be a harp player? Just make sure you show up with $25,000, a three-wheeled dolly, a box of Band-Aids, and a tube of Super Glue.
“The thing I like best about the harp is being absolutely in control when you play,” Christina Brier said. “With the piano, you hit the key, which hits the hammer, which hits the string, and you hope it sounds right. With the harp, how you pull the strings is how it sounds.”
Brier will perform with the Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra during its Spring Classical Concert May 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hamilton Fine Arts Center in Sussex.
The junior Harp Performance major from Otter Lake, Mich., won the Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition in March of 2009. First prize was $500 cash and the opportunity to perform with the Orchestra. The musical selection that will feature Brier is the first movement of Gliere’s Harp Concerto.
Brier first expressed an interest in the harp at age 10. Her brother, Daniel, was a 14-year old violin player in the Milwaukee Youth Symphony, and his little sister thought the harp sounded “pretty.” Christina approached her father, Scott, now minister of music at Fostoria Baptist Church in Fostoria, Mich.
“He said, ‘No way, they’re so expensive,’ ” Brier said. “Then he said, ‘You should pray about it.’ ”
Those prayers were answered when a family friend gave the Briers a folk harp (a small harp with no pedals). Prayers were answered again a few years later when a great-aunt purchased a used harp for Christina as a gift. New harps can cost $15,000 to $25,000, Brier said.
“One of the advantages of harp over, say, violin is that people who play the violin have to constantly be adjusting their intonation and pitch,” Brier said. “With the harp, it’s already set. Being able to control the sound is the advantage of harp over piano—I’m horrible at piano, by the way. Another advantage is that there are good freelancing possibilities. I have played at weddings, receptions, restaurants … they will pay you $100 an hour just to play random stuff.”
One downside is that your fingers take quite a beating. Another is that you must find a vehicle large enough to transport a harp, then become adept at using a three-wheeled dolly to push it up and down stairs.
“I get really hard calluses,” Brier admitted. “I know other people whose fingers have blisters or they crack and bleed when they do a glissando (strumming all the strings in one motion). Some people use guitar picks, some wear Band-Aids, and some use Super Glue.”
Brier, who often plays at church and College functions, has begun to apply to graduate schools. She hopes to eventually land a job with an orchestra. First, however, she will be part of the Heritage Singers group that will travel the eastern half of the U.S. this summer.
“It should be a really interesting summer,” Brier said.
Tickets for the May 8 concert are $15 for adults, $12 for senior citizens and $6 for students. Click here to see the Orchestra website.
--Posted April 29, 2010