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Roselyn
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Executive Director
In the News!
WABE Interviews Harp Program
Follow the link below to listen to the interview with Wanda Yang
Tempko that aired Monday, December 15th
2006 PATHFINDERS HONOREES: Arts
http://www.tbstoryline.com/pathfinder.html
Roselyn Lewis and Elizabeth Remy - founders, Urban Youth Harp
Ensemble
Their loves of music lead to the creation of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble; a
program for at-risk students in an urban environment designed to expose them to
the harp and develop a premier performance ensemble. Now an after school
program, it is one of only three programs of this nature in the United States.
Making Beautiful Music
Do you mind if we pause for a story with a really happy ending?
On Saturday, I witnessed the following scene: four eighth-grade boys - all African American - on a stage playing flawlessly (at least to an untrained ear) Bouree, by J.S. Bach. Their instruments: harps. Harps!
The Urban Youth Harp Ensemble started in 2000 at Brown Middle School, an Atlanta Public School on the West End. The program had two students, a borrowed harp, a devoted, longtime music teacher and a principal harpist for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra who wanted to share her passion with schoolchildren.
Today, the program has 11 harps and 26 students.
The program’s first student, now in high school, was not at Saturday’s concert. Why? He was playing his harp at a wedding … and getting paid.
The harp is a notoriously difficult instrument to play. These students are learning from Elisabeth Remy. She’s a professional harpist, instructor at several colleges, marathon runner etc. Yet she comes out and teaches these kids. Scholarships from Hank and Billye Aaron’s I Have A Dream Foundation allow some of the kids to have harps in their homes so they can practice. This summer, the students will get intensive instruction at a camp in the North Georgia mountains.
Remy doesn’t get paid a dime, neither does Roselyn Lewis, the Atlanta music teacher who runs the nonprofit organization in addition to her full-time job at Brown Middle School.
An endeavor like this takes a huge commitment on the part of Lewis, Remy, the kids’ parents and the kids. When I wrote about this story for the AJC a few years ago, I didn’t know if the ensemble would survive. So many pieces need to fall into place.
On Saturday, I was thrilled to see those young harpists up on stage performing for their parents and supporters. I’ve never seen so much pride in one room.
Harp Camp for Young is Strung with Talent
Patti Ghezzi
-
Staff
|Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rabun Gap --- With his back to a window overlooking the North Georgia mountains, Rico Mathis raised his elbows, straightened his shoulders and strummed the harp before him.
The 13-year-old winced when he hit a sour note. But his teacher, Elisabeth Remy Johnson, didn't.
"That was 10 million times better than the last time," said Remy Johnson, principal harpist for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Rico and other kids in the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble ---founded five years ago by Johnson and Atlanta Public Schools music teacher Roselyn Lewis --- spent last week at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School as part of an annual harp camp. The students were able to devote more time to the instrument in a week than they might in a semester during the school year.
Even a used harp costs at least $2,500. Three of the program's 23 students, who range in age from about 12 to 17, have a harp at home paid for by baseball great Hank Aaron's Chasing the Dream Foundation.
Most rely on after-school lessons at Brown Middle School in Atlanta's West End neighborhood, where they play one of the ensemble's 11 harps. At home, they play the "air harp" and use a keyboard to learn melodies.
At harp camp --- an $18,000 program funded by donations from the Arthur Blank Family Foundation and others --- the students get intensive instruction, often one on one with Remy Johnson and other experienced harpists.
Known among her students as a taskmaster, Remy Johnson seizes on any chance to point out what they're doing well. At the weeklong camp, which ended Friday, she found plenty of opportunities to point out weaknesses.
"Elbows up!"
"I want to see really good fingering from everybody."
"Don't rush!
Her main focus was teaching the youngsters to read music rather than memorize each tune. The ensemble's repertoire includes classical selections by Bach and the crowd-pleasing pop number "Stand by Me."
Grace Grier, whose two children attended this year's camp, said playing the harp has helped Dawn, 11, and Stephen, 14, build confidence and learn discipline. She hopes Stephen will stick with the harp in the face of peer pressure. "He has a passion, but he doesn't want his peers to know about it," Grier said.
The harp's reputation as an instrument for girls and women is a stereotype the youth ensemble is helping to dispel. Ten of this year's 19 campers were boys.
DeMario Ward, 15, said he learned at camp to read music more proficiently. When the North Atlanta High School sophomore tells his friends he plays the harp, he gets funny looks. "To them it's a big shock," he said. "You really don't see many males playing the harp."
One of the ensemble's first two participants is now in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's talent development program. And several more are planning to audition this year, including 15-year-old Martina Davenport, who will get to take one of Remy Johnson's harps home for practice.
At camp, students learned the history of the instrument, which is one of the world's oldest, and got advice on how to practice. For example, Remy Johnson warned them not to practice the gliss --- the familiar harp sound created by running a finger quickly across the strings --- too often. "You'll get blisters."
Devon Boyd, 13, said playing the instrument is hard, but he likes the novelty.
"We stay to it, because it's such an unusual talent," Devon said.
"To sit down at the harp and be able to strum it, it's amazing. It's such a
soothing sound."