Lessons from a Harp Reunion - PHH 168

It also straightened out a lot of my practice habits. You may have heard me talk before about how I was a terrible practicer as a kid. Well, when I went to Maine, I knew my job was to practice and my teacher told me I needed to practice at least four hours a day, which was, quite frankly, about four hours more than I did on some days when I was at home. So I knew what I had to do and so I did it. And I my own personal practice plan, which is not one I would recommend at this point, but worked for me at the time. I practiced from 8 in the morning until noon straight. I know that's not ideal, but that's what I did. Oh, I would stand up and take breaks, but that was my practice time because I knew I could get that in. Then I had the rest of the day free unless I had a lesson. But that was my job and that was what I did.

Welcome to the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I'm Ann Sullivan, a harpist on a mission to empower every harpist to experience more harp happiness. Over my decades long harp journey, I've had lots of successes and more than a few failures. And I know firsthand what it's like to feel that playing the harp the way you want may not be possible for you. Now, I play and teach all over the world, and I know what most harpists are never taught the secrets to gaining the skills and confidence you need to play the harp with beauty, freedom and joy. That's what the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast is all about. Showing you simple steps to help you play the music you want the way you want. If you're an experienced harpist looking for that next level, or a harp newbie anxious to avoid the pitfalls, or a harpist who just wants more fulfillment and a little encouragement, you're in the right place, my friend. So let's get started.

First, I want to let you in on something special. I think the most important thing you can do for your harp playing is to develop the habits that lead to success. Whatever that looks like for you. All of us want to learn how to play the harp beautifully, how to play with confidence, and enjoy making music. And if you really want to learn those things, videos are great. But live learning is essential. You need to be able to ask questions and get answers. You can't do that with just a video, which is what makes the Miharp Mastery community so special. My Harp Mastery membership is for those who really want an online experience that lets them learn at their own pace and learn what they want and be able to learn live from expert coaches every single week. Plus, you get to connect with other harpists in the community who have the same desires for their playing. This is not only a powerful learning platform, but it's also the most generous community of harpists and anywhere on the planet. They're harpists with a positive outlook, a growth mindset, and a spirit of support for their fellow harpists on the journey with them. We're ready for you. Join Us just go to harpmastery.comjoinnow. that's harpmastery.com join now. Welcome to the show. Today, I'm doing something just a little different on the podcast. I don't usually talk about what's happening in my life because this podcast is not all about me. It's really all about you and me and our harp playing. That means I talk about what I think is important for you to be able to enjoy your harp playing at every step of your harp journey. But a few weeks ago, I participated in an event that reminded me about some essential truths, concepts that have made the difference for me in my harp journey, and which I think may make a difference in yours as well. That event was the first and likely the only reunion of harpists who attended the Salcedo Summer Harp Colony in Camden, Maine. In terms of numbers, the alumni who attended the event represented a tiny fraction of the harpists who studied there between its founding in 1931 and the early 2000s when the program ended. But for those of us who were there, the reunion was an event like no other. So today I want to tell you a little about the colony itself, about what studying there was like, about the impact it had on me as a young student, and most importantly, the powerful lessons I learned, or perhaps relearned is a better word, at the reunion. These lessons aren't exclusive to classical music harp players or those who use the Salzato technique. They are for us all. And I guarantee you will enjoy learning a little about this unique harp experience, one that no longer exists and will, I'm sure, never be replicated. I would like to also state clearly that although I am no spring chicken, I never studied with Carlos Salzado. I did study with his pupils for almost all of my harp life, including my summers in Camden. I just wanted to be clear about that in case you try to put a timeline together in your head as you listen. While my student days in Camden were a long time ago, the lessons that I learned there stick with me to this day. And not just the lessons about harp playing and Harp practice and studying the harp, but also the lessons that I learned about teaching. What I learned there became the foundation for my own teaching when I began teaching as a young professional and to this very day. And there's a legacy, a tradition, a mindset that I continue to use in my own teaching that was formed not only in Camden, Maine, but also from the wonderful instruction that I had from my own teachers the rest of the time. And this is something that I want to share with as many other teachers as I can. This is the motivation behind my teacher accreditation course that is happening this coming Saturday. That is if you're listening to this podcast when it comes out. It's happening Saturday on August 12th. And it's just a one day seminar. But in this seminar, I'll be doing three workshops and teaching the teachers, teaching you as a harp teacher, how I have chosen to serve my students. These are the systems that I developed from the teaching principles that I learned throughout my harp life. And these principles became the system that I use in my gold circle teaching in our certified coaching program. And it's what we use to help our students in these programs get where they want to go faster and have more fun doing it. So this accreditation course is a first ever. I'm teaching it, as I said Saturday, August 12th. It's a, you know, a six hour, ish kind of, kind of course. And I won't just be sharing the systems that I use in terms of, you know, this is what it is. I will be giving you all the tools that you need to implement this for yourself and your own teaching, including not only the workbooks from the three different workshops that we're doing as part of the seminar, but also my document vault. I will take all of the documents that we use to guide students and ourselves through this system and give them to you for your own use so that you can adapt them, tweak them, whatever you like, but you've got the system right there. By the time you finish that seminar on Saturday, you'll have everything ready to go to implement these systems in your teaching when it starts up very soon as we get toward the fall. So that's my teacher accreditation seminar. And of course we have some extra bonuses for you too, not just the coursework. So I want you to be sure to check out the webpage and register right away so we can get you signed up and get everything started. As I said, it's happening in just a few days. Saturday, August 12, the webpage you can find either going to heartmastery.com looking under upcoming events or you can use the link in the show notes. Either way, that'll get you to the page where you can read more about it and register. And as I said, this is about sharing what I learned, sharing the systems that I use so that we can add to the total of harp happiness in the world. So, harp teachers, be sure to join me on Saturday. I look forward to seeing you there. Now, I need to describe to you what studying at the summer harp colony in Maine was like. If you've ever been to a harp conference, a harp gathering, any sort of. Maybe a harp camp. That's not what this was like. This was a truly unique experience, at least as far as I know. I've always found it a little bit difficult to explain to people because even when I tell them exactly what happened in the harp colony, they don't really have a way to grasp it. So I was really glad that my husband was able to come with me to this reunion because once he was there and in the town and understanding on the spot what it was like, it all became clear to him. So I will do my best to describe it to you.

In the very simplest terms. It was this. The teacher had a summer house and you went and you stayed in the town where the house was and you took two lessons a week. That's it. That's all. I know it doesn't sound like much, and I know it doesn't sound like the kinds of intense experiences that we have for harpist now. It certainly doesn't sound anything like a harp mastery retreat, for instance. But harpists flocked to Camden, Maine, where Salzado had a summer house so that they could study with him. And this meant two lessons a week, and it sometimes meant harp ensemble. But there wasn't a ton in the way of group activities. Oh, sometimes there were picnics on the beach, sometimes there were outings other ways. But really you were there to practice and to take lessons. When I went, Salzada was no longer teaching. He had already passed. And I was studying with Alice Shalafou and her niece Jeanne Chalafou, both Salzado students and living. They were summering and teaching at the Salzado house. So the first summer I went, I was 15. It was after my junior year in high school. And my teacher sent me there because I needed some work on my technique. My technique was not coming together. And she knew that in this intense environment and with these amazing teachers, my technique would straighten itself out. Oh, and it did. But it also straightened out A lot of my practice habits. You may have heard me talk before about how I was a terrible practicer as a kid. Well, when I went to Maine, I knew my job was to practice, and my teacher told me I needed to practice at least four hours a day, which was, quite frankly, about four hours more than I did on some days when I was at home. So I knew what I had to do, and so I did it. And I. My own personal practice plan, which is not one I would recommend at this point, but worked for me at the time. I practiced from 8 in the morning until noon straight. I know that's not ideal, but that's what I did. Oh, I would stand up and take breaks, but that was my practice time because I knew I could get that in. Then I had the rest of the day free, unless I had a lesson. And sometimes I might go back and play a little bit more because my friends would sort of inadvertently or unknowingly guilt me into it when they would still be practicing. But that was my job, and that was what I did. When we went to stay there, we rented a room from a family in the town. The first fam. The first family that I stayed with, the dad was a lobsterman, and he was gone almost all the time, as was his teenage son who was working on the boat. And I actually rented the. The son's room. And that was where I stayed, and that was where my harp was. That was where I practiced. That was my home away from home. The second year, I had a different house that I rented a room in and stayed there. But the thing was, we were there to practice, so there wasn't a lot of socialization. You didn't know everyone who was there at the same time as you, because you knew the people who had lessons before and after you, because you'd see them at the house. If you had roommates with you in the house, you would see them too. And on those occasional, you know, okay, we're going to go to the movies night, or, you know, somebody would know somebody else who was there, and there would be a few of you who would go to dinner or go for a hike up Mount Batty or something. But it was not the social experience that you might be thinking of. We were there to practice. We were there to learn. Back in Salzado's day, there was a. An entirely different aesthetic. The premise was the same. You still practiced and you learned. But Salzido imposed his personality naturally over everything that was there. And the. The story still goes that you could Always tell when a harpist was in town because the harpist had to be dressed. You know, heels, hose, hats, gloves, whatever. When they were walking through this little seaside town, they were dressed. And somebody at the reunion shared a story of being in town one day when Salzato was driving through and she was in kind of, you know, normal casual clothes. She saw him coming around the corner and she quick ducked behind a car so that he wouldn't see her in her casual clothes. She always had the feeling that he actually did see her, but he was polite enough not to mention it when she went for her next lesson. So when I was there, of course, that wasn't part of the Harp Colony experience. We were, you know, dressed in, like, normal clothes.

But there was still something really special. And because the harpists who were there stayed in homes in the town, the town itself was invested in the Harp Colony in a really unusual pairing of townies and harpies. So it. There was a true sense of community in a different kind of way. And it was quite obviously really special. So a couple of years ago, three harpists, Paula Page, Nancy Lendrum and Kim Rowe, all alumnae of the Harp Colony, got together and decided wouldn't it be fun to have a reunion of as many harpists who could come as possible who had attended the Harp Colony, Whether it was in Salzedo's years, and I think there were actually four of those harpists in attendance or later when the Shalafuz were teaching. To just come together and remember this is something that hadn't happened before. We didn't have classes, we didn't have those group activities that bond harpists immediately. What we did have was the connection to the place, the connection to the teachers, and the connection that it forged just from having the common bond of this really unique experience. So while there were, I think, about 70 harpists from all over the world who came and participated in this reunion, these harpists, many of us, had been at the colony at the same time and didn't even know it. But there was a retrospective of pictures from the. The years that most of the years anyway, that the colony was in existence. Yeah, we always had a class picture. But the thing was that if you weren't in Camden the day that the picture was taken, if that wasn't a week when you were there and you weren't around for the picture, even though you at the studying at the school, you weren't in the picture.

So it was sort of interesting to see all those pictures. We would gather around this slideshow and say, oh, look, there's my teacher. Oh, look, there's this person. There's this person. Hey, look at you. Weren't you cute back then? You know? So we had fun looking at those pictures and discovering who was at the reunion that maybe we've come to be friends with now, but didn't realize that we were in Camden at the same time. A really unusual experience and really kind of fun. So this reunion brought these harpists together for a weekend of socializing and playing. There were two concerts. There was a Saturday evening recital which featured some of the solo works of Carlos Salzato performed by people obviously who had studied at the summer Harp Colony. And there was an ensemble concert on the Sunday afternoon. I participated in that. There were 20 of us who played, and these were ensemble works of Salzato. The ensemble was conducted by Paula Page. And, you know, we had some rehearsals and just put together the. The concert over the weekend. And that was a ton of fun. I mean, I love playing in harp ensemble. The blend of harps, it's just such a great thing. It's like this giant harp orchestra. And. And there was one piece in particular, Fresheur, which is French for zephyrs. You know, like light, warm breezes. And we played this as an ensemble. Salzado wrote it for either solo harp or any number of harps in unison. So everyone is playing the same part for this. And it's all these beautiful, breezy glissandos. And it's just. It's a fun piece anyway, very atmospheric. And to play it with 20 harps all together playing the same thing in an outdoor amphitheater, because that's where our Sunday concert rather was. And it was hot. Yeah, but that kind of sound is just magical. Harp ensemble special. You could get to do the dynamics, you know, not like in an orchestra where you're always fighting to be heard. You get to be part of the sound in a special way. And of course, an ensemble, it's not like a solo performance. Right. The pressure's kind of off because everybody's working together so you can really enjoy the experience. So the ensemble concert was the. The featured event on the Sunday. The Saturday evening concert in the Opera House in Rockport was also a lot of fun. It was a great weekend, fabulously fun. Lots of wonderful people, lots of wonderful harp music and a great atmosphere. And if you would like to find out about exactly what happened at that weekend and see a number of pictures of the ensemble concert on Sunday, I have linked in the show notes to an article in the Penobscot Bay Pilot newspaper. It's an online article. There are lots of pictures there. You can see me in the ensemble. I'm second from the end in the front row, sitting next to Doug Rioth. So there are plenty of pictures. Lots more information about the whole idea of the harp colony and what went on this particular, particular weekend. But I want to share with you now a couple of things that were so important to me. Takeaways, things that surprised me a little bit, or just the things that this weekend brought home to me in a particularly impactful way. And that's what I want to share with you right now. All these things came home to me in a new way at the Saturday evening concert at the Rockport Opera House. The Salzado harp duo played along with soloists Doug Rioff and Joan Rayburn, Holland and Judy Loman. All masters of the instruments, all of them. And obviously, I've attended a lot of harp concerts in my life, but this one made a really special impression. And it wasn't just the really superb playing of the performers. It wasn't just listening to that music that we all studied. First of all, the audience itself was special. The harpists who had been part of the harp colony, along with me. This certainly included a lot of harp friends and friends of the harp, maybe people I didn't know. The audience was also filled with a lot of people from the town. In fact, we had a special moment of recognition for the people in the audience who did house harpists in their homes in the past when they had come to come to Camden. So, you know, these were people who helped. Who helped that harp colony grow, helped sustain it, and certainly helped all the young harpists who came through that school. And of course, they weren't all teenagers studying the harp. There were some who were younger, and there were many adults who came to study there as well. But it was such an important component of the school that you stayed in a home with someone's family, and without those families, it would not have happened. It would not have been the same. But everyone coming together in the beautiful opera house, there was a special energy, this sort of celebration and this celebratory atmosphere in the audience really brought home a truth that we sometimes ignore, that playing the harp truly isn't about perfection. That's not what any of us were there for. I mean, there was wonderful playing, but that wasn't what it was about. We weren't there in the audience to critique the performers. We were there to connect with them. And I think that that's something that we miss on a daily basis. We think about performances as the moments when we are going to be judged, when we have to represent ourselves at our best. But there were so many things about that performance that really embodied the idea that making music, especially making music live in a venue like that, is about connection, not correction. It's about authenticity, not about showmanship, not about illusion, not about anything that might go wrong or right. It's about a shared moment, a shared moment in music. It's about the experience, not about the performance. And that changes everything. I mean, we harpists learn to be critical. We're critical of ourselves in our practice and in our performance. And as teachers, we bring that same perspicacity, if you like, that same really incisive judgment to our teaching to help our students. But critical isn't where we want to live. Criticism, even when it's constructive, isn't what music is about. We want to live in appreciation, in appreciation and in gratitude. Gratitude for our teachers, our colleagues, the instrument, the music that we get to play.

The concert that I heard that Saturday night was so filled with wonderful music, generous performance and true mastery. Performers who were. Who were giving us their music with a sense of ease and skill, artistry, humility, humor even, and love. Not chilly reverence for the music that was on the printed page, but really warm affection for the music that they were playing and the sense that they were there to share their love of that music with us. It's never been more apparent to me than it was that evening. And that's the sort of experience that I would wish for all of you. I also want to share one other thought. If you weren't one of the lucky people able to be at that concert or at that reunion, or you feel like you're missing out, perhaps, on not having been able to study in a special environment like that, I. I want to offer you this. We are still connected, and we all have a connection to those roots, a connection to the great harpists of the past. For instance, I didn't study with Salzido. I studied with a student of his. So I'm two musical generations removed from him. But Salzetto studied with Alphonse Hasselman, one of the greats of French harp music. So I'm only three generations removed from him. I mean, Hasselman sounds like, you know, he's a master from the distant past. I mean, he was born in 1845, died in 1912. So, yeah, he's. He's a little ways back there, but I'm a, I don't know, great, great, grand pupil, something like that. And guess what? Because you're listening to me, you're connected as well. You are perhaps only one more generation removed. Maybe you're even a generation closer than I am. You never know, but you're connected. You're part of this world, too. And I want you to remember that. That those experiences that perhaps you didn't get to participate in personally, they're still a part of you. And you can savor them, even if it has to be from a distance, knowing that you are part of that world and part of that community and part. That's part of what I am so grateful for. Not just my teachers and the opportunities that I've had, not only to study, but also to teach and to play and to perform and to talk about this wonderful instrument. I am incredibly grateful. And that weekend in Camden brought that home to me.

But it's something that I'm able to bring back with me from there and something I want to be sure that you know that I am so grateful for you, too, and for this opportunity to talk to you about this instrument that we love so much.

So that's just a little bit about the lessons that I learned from this wonderful event in Camden. I'm also very thankful to the organizers, Kim and Nancy and Paula, who put this all together and worked so hard to make everything just as special as it was because. But it was a terrific effort, an amazing weekend, and a wonderful, wonderful time for me, for sure. Do check out the article in the newspaper that I have linked to in the show notes. I think you'll enjoy it. Plenty of pictures to see. Oh, and including. There's a picture in that article also of one of Salzado's ensembles, a Salzado ensemble that he was conducting himself in that very same amphitheater in, I think, 19, 1946. So kind of fun to see what his ensemble looked like and what ours looked like. So do check that out. And thank you for letting me share some of these reminiscences with you.

Next week on the podcast, we'll get back to something a little bit more prosaic and practical. We're going to get to polyrhythms. We're going to talk about everybody's favorite polyrhythm, or maybe it's the bane of your existence, I don't know. But playing two against three, when you have notes in one hand, three notes in the other, and somehow they have to mesh together. Well, we'll talk about the right way and in fact the easiest way to master it. That's what we'll be doing next week on the podcast. Uh, remember that we have the Teachers Accreditation course that's coming up on this Saturday, August 10th, so don't forget to to join us for that. If you are a harp teacher, I'd love to have you there. I will be sharing everything that I have systematized that makes our Gold Circle and certified coaching programs so manageable and so successful. So the link to join that course is also in the show. Notes. Thank you for letting me talk about all of this. I certainly hope you enjoyed it and I certainly look forward to seeing you again on this podcast next week. Remember, until then, every day is a day you can add more harp happiness to the universe, to your world, and to your spirit. And all you have to do is play. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I release a new episode every Monday morning so you can hit your practice week running. Until then, remember to practice your harp happiness and every day. See you next time.