Tracing lessons back to one of the harp’s great pedagogues.

When you look back through your family’s genealogy, you see that you got a lot more from your roots than your last name; you find common traits and characteristics that are passed down from generation to generation. The same can be said for your harp lineage. Combing back through your harp heritage can tell you a lot about your musical self. We’ve traced one harp line back to perhaps the most charismatic master of the modern harp—Carlos Salzedo.

Heidi Lehwalder studied with Salzedo beginning at age 10. Despite her youth, he had a profound impact on her playing and, eventually, her teaching. Through her many professorships and international masterclasses, she in turn has instructed many of the up-and-coming professional harpists of our world.

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When asked to name the most important lesson she learned from Salzedo, Heidi’s answer was simple. “Discipline. Stick with something no matter what, and go beyond what you think is possible,” she says. “Everything he did was with such precision. Photography, décor, and all of his other interests rose to the incredibly high standards he held for his students and his own playing. Because of him, I had discipline in spades as a young harpist; I had to have it to study with him.”

Salzedo was far from a one-dimensional teacher, though. “He still had an amazing sense of humor, however. He told me while learning the Fauré Impromptu to, ‘Make sure you always say thank you when you get a harmonic.’ I think of that often during performances. He somehow managed to be very funny, while remaining driven and keeping his standards impossibly high. Whether it was harp playing or over-the-top house cleaning, he taught me to be the very best in everything.”

Any student who has watched Lehwalder fuss over a small piece of paper on the carpet and then immediately sit down to play Scintillation from memory, despite not having performed it in years, knows that Salzedo’s lessons stuck.

As a teacher, Lehwalder passes on the wisdom she gleaned from Salzedo to her students. “There are so many things I learned from Salzedo that I emphasize in my own teaching. Interpretation, musicianship, and holding your students to high standards are all critical. Even though I was only 10 when I began lessons with Salzedo, I understood everything he explained to me about colors, phrasing, and tone. Clarity in teaching and good communication are both skills I’ve taken from him. Because he was ill when I was studying with him, I absorbed everything he said. I wanted to remember every word because I knew we didn’t have much more time together.”

Lehwalder and Salzedo only had two years of lessons. He died the day after their last lesson. She recalls, “The day before he died he told me, ‘Little girl, you have to carry on.’ I think he knew this was going to be our last day together. After he was gone, I didn’t know where to go. I felt that no teacher could equal what I had with him. I still very much miss him. I want to ask him questions like, ‘Why this fingering. Why that phrasing?’ I so respect his artistry and his impact on my playing. To me, he was the sun. Everything that developed in my career stemmed, in some way, from what I learned from him.”

Listening to Lehwalder talk about her time with Salzedo, you can hear the warmth and love that he passed on to her through their lessons. Years after her teacher’s death, Lehwalder’s own teaching came to reflect the fundamental lessons Salzedo taught her of discipline, love, and humor. Ruth Mar studied with Lehwalder at the University of Washington as a graduate student. She says Salzedo’s influence was apparent in every aspect of Lehwalder’s teaching.

“Studying with Heidi was a unique and musically enriching experience—and never boring!” Mar says. “I would often have long lessons or lessons during that ‘mid-afternoon slump’ time, but Heidi managed to be full of life despite the time of day. I’d often come out of a lesson more energized than beforehand. She also told great anecdotes from her life as a concert artist and student of some of her generation’s top musicians (not just harpists, either). Getting to hear personal accounts of her experiences working with people like Leonard Bernstein and Rudolph Serkin was inspiring.”

Like all good teachers, Lehwalder taught lessons to Mar that applied to much more than the harp. “(She) taught me to listen to and enjoy and broad range of art forms. She believed it makes you a better harpist and musician. I loved that there was a Michael Jackson poster in her harp studio at the University of Washington.”

Mar recalls perhaps the most important life lesson her teacher passed on to her, “Dream big and face your fears. Heidi always said, ‘If you’re nervous, smile bigger.’”

Often, a harpist who has studied with a great teacher dreams of walking in their mentor’s footsteps one day. Mar’s studio is earning quite the reputation, and, like all teachers, many of her precepts were borrowed from prior lessons. “I think I inherited a number of ‘isms’ from each of my teachers, which I now use in my own teaching. I’d say my ‘Heidi-isms’ are focused on getting a deep, rich sound. ‘Swoop into the strings,’ and ‘Imagine you’re pulling the sound out of the strings,’ are phrases I use often. I believe a great teacher possesses a combination of strong conviction in what is necessary for good technique and musicianship, but the willingness to help each student achieve those things in an individual way. Also, they must possess an ongoing desire to learn and to respect each student as a person.”

Continuing down the genealogical harp line, Mar’s middle school student Yoojoo Lim has felt not only the benefit of Salzedo’s trademark musicality and discipline, but also the energetic teaching that Lehwalder passed on to Mar. “Ruth helped me push myself. I remember it took me forever to perfect my pedals with “May Night,” but I eventually got it, and she was patient the whole time. She also helped me adjust my technique, since I was just switching from lever to pedal harp. She helped me outside of my lessons by introducing me to masterclasses, adjudications, concerts, and youth orchestra. Lessons with Ruth have always gone by so quickly. I think I was really able to just be myself around her because our personalities matched so well.”

So far, though, one lesson has stuck the most with Lim. “She taught me the importance of quality over quantity of practice. She showed me how adjusting rhythm, speed, and volume could make my practice more effective, along with the help of Post-It reminders!”

And like all good teachers, Mar teaches as much by example as by notes she makes in her students’ music. “I really look up to Ruth because of her active lifestyle. She’s always involved in the community, whether it’s her chamber group, church, or orchestra. I admire her involvement in the community, and it makes me want to work harder so I can be like that too. Ruth makes me want to improve so I can play music with other people like her.” •