09/24/2002
Reprinted with permission from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

By Patti Ghezzi

ATLANTA - Inside a room filled with violins, keyboards and other traditional public school instruments, eight students take turns playing harps.

Elisabeth Remy, principal harpist for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, leads them in two-finger scales. She instructs them in the technique required to coax a crisp, clear sound from the strings.

"Keep your thumbs up and your palms rounded," she says, "like you're trying to hold a ball."

Roselyn Lewis, a veteran music teacher at Brown Middle School in Atlanta, sees Remy's presence as more than just a chance for children to learn an instrument.

"This can be their ticket to college," she said.

Remy and her harp arrived three years ago at the historic West End school. She started with two students and hopes to form a youth ensemble similar to a Richmond group she once saw perform.

Today, Remy has about eight students and will add 14 more sixth-graders later this month. She gives free lessons two afternoons a week.

"They all want to learn so much," Remy said. "Their fingers have never worked this way before, and to see their faces light up when they get it is just amazing."

Harps are rare sights in public schools, said Lynnelle Ediger-Kordazaia, a harpist for the Richmond Philharmonic and director of the American Youth Harp Ensemble, one of the oldest public school harp programs in the country.

"For a long time, because of the expense, it has been something of an elite instrument to play," she said.

The instrument's novelty has led to opportunities for the Richmond students, most of whom come from urban schools. All have gotten full or partial college scholarships to continue playing, Ediger-Kordazaia said. Students have performed at Carnegie Hall and traveled to France.

Nationally, a few school districts, such as Detroit, have similar programs, and Ediger-Kordazaia has fielded calls recently from musicians in Connecticut and New York who want to start programs.

"Being able to play the harp is still very unique," she said.

At Brown Middle School, Mason Morton was one of the first students to try the harp. He started composing songs after just a few lessons. Now a student at North Atlanta High School, he is in the Atlanta Symphony's talent development program and has a harp at his home for practicing.

DeMario Ward, 12, was intimidated the first time he sat before a harp and rested it on his right shoulder.

"It was awkward," said DeMario, who previously played the snare drum. "It was hard, but each time I played I got a little better and a little better."

Buying enough harps has been the biggest obstacle.

Two of the harps used for the program belong to Remy. Lewis, a legendary music teacher who also introduced Brown students to opera and African drums, raised money for four more harps, with donations from the Brown PTSA, Hank and Billye Aaron, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and her dentist, Marla Coleman Holloway. Each harp costs about $3,600.

The Atlanta school district is buying two pedal harps, which cost about $8,500 each.

Billye Aaron, who with her husband runs the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, said children need more avenues to find out what talents they have. "I saw it as a great way to invest in a child who is musically talented," she said.

Lewis said the program needs 20 harps.

In picking students for harp lessons, she looks for more than just musical talent. "I look for risk-takers," Lewis said.

Bonnie Williamson, principal at Brown Middle School, said students were game as soon as they saw Remy pulling her harp down the hall. "Middle school children like things that are different," she said. "Some of them had never seen a harp, so there was a curiosity."

Chandra Moore, 13, plans to earn money someday playing the harp at weddings and other functions. She likes long fingernails but is willing to trim them before her harp lessons.

"If you try to play with long fingernails, it makes an echo," she said.

Chandra surprised her mother last year with her unusual request.

"She came to me and said, 'I want to play the harp, it makes such beautiful music,' " recalled her mother, Margaret Moore. "Now I'll do anything I can to support her."

Martina Davenport, 12, said she was intrigued with the instrument's grandeur.

"I wanted to play a big instrument," she said. "I was scared at first though. I thought it was going to fall on me."


©2002 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Reprinted with permission from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Further reproduction, retransmission or distribution of these materials without the prior written consent of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and any copyright holder identified in the material's copyright notice, is prohibited.


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THE ARTHUR M. BLANK FAMILY FOUNDATION

History: Established in 1995 by Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation supports programs that create opportunities for young people, enhance their self-esteem, and increase their awareness of cultural and community issues. Most grants go to youth-development projects that involve arts, athletics, the environment, after-school activities, or promoting tolerance. It also makes grants to improve the organizational effectiveness of such groups and to preserve green space in the Atlanta metropolitan area, as well as some discretionary grants.