Harp Column Blogs: Kimberly Rowe

I can't believe it's been since April that I posted something on this site. Maybe it's because I have been spending all my waking hours preparing my student harp ensemble for their long-awaited trip to Paris, which we just returned from. We came, we saw, we played! It was no easy task getting six teen-age harpists prepared for a trip of this magnitude, but we did it and they sounded amazing and I'm very proud of them. Here are some things I learned:

1. Keeping track of a group of 14 people on the Paris metro during rush hour is much harder than you might otherwise think.

2. Bottled cokes at most Paris restaurants cost about $5 and teenagers will order one at each meal unless you tell them not to.

3. Flip-flops are not appropriate travel footwear, and the number of times a teenager will wear them is in direct proportion to the number of times you tell them not to.

4. Bad things happen in threes. For example,  when a student falls down an entire flight of old-fashioned spiral steps, another cuts herself on a razor, and a third is detained by a department store security guard on false accusations of shoplifting, you know things can only get better.

5. Despite shrieks of "Eeewwww!", five out of six teenagers prefer steak tartare and fois gras when given the opportunity to try them.

6. With enough planning, hard work, and prepartion, students can do anything you ask of them and more.

We are indebted to the folks at Camac harps for allowing us to give a concert at their Paris showroom on June 25. A special thanks to french harpist Myriam Serfass and her students for teaming up with us for the concert. Many, many thanks to Ghislaine Petit-Volta who gave my students a whopping nearly four-hour masterclass in her home. If you are ever in Paris, I highly recommend looking  up Ghislaine for a lesson.

And finally, heart-felt thanks to my students and their parents for making this trip happen through fund-raising efforts, hard work, and great playing!

I listened last night to the graduation recital of Curtis Institute of Music student Piper Runnion-Bareford. Awesome! Piper played the Britten Suite, the Bach Fugue in A minor (arr. by Grandjany), Salzedo's Variations on a Theme in Ancient Style, and the Debussy Dances and Mozart Concerto with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra. Wow---a huge program!!!

Piper played great! My personal favorite was the Bach. I have to confess that the Salzedo Variations always bring up nervous memories of my own performance of the piece at my graduation recital a long time ago! (It's a great piece but frankly I could do without the trill variation...).

Anyway, all of us here in Philadelphia are extremely proud of Piper and wish her the best. Way to go Piper!

I just got back from our ninth Beginning in the Middle seminar! I can't believe we have been doing this for going on ten years! Some of the adult harpists who came this year had just started playing in 1998, and now they are proficient harpists. It really is amazing to watch them year after year and see thier progress. We had 38 harpists play in our Beginning in the Middle harp ensemble concert! Here they all are:


We also had another great faculty, and special guest Roslyn Rensch, who wrote the book "Harps and Harpists." Here they all are, plus a few guests:

(Back row left to right: Leah Riddick; Patricia Wooster, Alison Reese, Marissa Knaub, Kimberly Rowe, Mary Jane D'Arville; front row left to right: Robbin Gordon-Cartier, Amy Roberts, Kim Robertson, Molly Hahn, Ray Pool)

I can't wait for next year, our tenth year! Hope to see you there.

KIM