Harpists find their place in the School of Music with reputation, festival, faculty

Opera lovers, ballet seekers and orchestra attendees are often familiar with the sound of the harp. But occasionally, the string instrument can be as relevant to daily life as the background of a Bjork song rotating on an iTunes playlist. \nThe release of Bjork's album "Vespertine" inspired junior Clare Canzoneri to take on the harp. Encouraged by her aunt's previous endeavors to try the instrument and motivated by "Vespertine" harpist Zeena Parkins, Canzoneri said she started taking classes the second semester of her freshman year.\n"I really love the way the harp sounds," Canzoneri said. "It's a beautiful, elegant instrument." \nGraduate student in the harp department Marina Roznitovsky-Reznik said she agrees. \n"I love the harp for its uniqueness and beautiful sound," Roznitovsky-Reznik said in an e-mail. "It is a harmonic instrument, which allows you to play a wide variety of music, styles, textures and accompaniments rather than melodies only." \nSusann McDonald is the only professor in the IU harp department and a former chair of Julliard's harp department. McDonald was the first American to receive the prestigious Premier Prix de Harpe. According to the School of Music's Web site, McDonald also serves as the artistic director of the World Harp Congress and is honorary president of the Association Internationale des Harpistes in Paris.\n"The IU harp department has the largest number of harp majors, 20 to 25 gifted young harpists from throughout the world," McDonald said. \nIU also holds an international competition for harpists in July, which serves as a good measuring stick of how well IU students perform on an international scale, McDonald said.\n"The USA International Harp Competition, perhaps the most prestigious harp competition in the world, is based here," McDonald said. "It attracts large numbers of gifted harpists every three years, and serves as a springboard for concert careers and instant international recognition. Our IU students have been among the top prize winners." \nRoznito said she finds the program challenging in terms of time management and the amount of effort required.\n"Many of us stay at school all day," Roznitovsky-Reznik said. "In general, time is a constant enemy and lack of sleep is not an unusual thing." \nHaving only one professor in the program also serves as an obstacle.\n"I feel not anyone can handle being here and fit in this system," Roznitovsky-Reznik said. "Being one of more than 20 students of one extraordinary professor doesn't give you too much personal attention. One needs to be very prepared for each lesson, as there's no time to waste, having one 50-minute lesson per week."\nIf students don't come prepared, they're scheduled less frequently, and are guided by the assistant professor, Elzbieta Szmyt. Szmyt is director of the Pre-College Harp Program as well.\nRegardless of the quality of the program, it's in the nature of being a music major to have an uncertain future; different students deal with this uncertainty in different manner.\nCanzoneri, not being a music major, but being involved in the harp community in Bloomington, said she is aware of what often happens after graduation.\n"Many I know are auditioning all over the country for orchestra jobs, or have weekend gigs, for example, at weddings," she said.\nJunior Maggie Grove, on the other hand, said she has specific goals for herself.\n"I think a lot of the harpists here want to play in orchestras or have solo or recording careers after they graduate, but my goal actually is to be a studio harpist for movie soundtracks," Grove said. "My plan is to stay here at IU until I get my masters and then go to London and study with Skaila Kanga, the head harp professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. I have no idea what will happen after that, but I'm determined not to give up until I've gotten where I want to be."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Christine Jang at chrjang@indiana.edu.