Glenn Korff School of Music purchases 2 harps with support from donor
calendar icon24 Oct 2018 user iconBy Kathe C. Andersen
Lincoln, Neb.--The Glenn Korff School of Music is building its harp program thanks to the recent purchase of two Lyon & Healy harps, one of which was purchased with support from a generous donor.
Dona Hurst, of Lincoln, Neb., gave a gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation last year to support the purchase of a harp. During a trip to the Lyon & Healy factory in Chicago last May to pick out the harp, the Glenn Korff School of Music also purchased a second harp.
Lecturer Mary Bircher helped facilitate the gift following a conversation with Glenn Korff School of Music Director Sergio H. Ruiz about the harp program.
“I was talking to Sergio about the fact that our harp was from 1960, and we needed a new harp,” Bircher said. “We had a harp event in Omaha called Harpenings last October, and I just put out the word that we were building a harp department and to contact me for information. About a week later, I got a call from a family that has supported harps in Omaha for many years, and he called me and said, ‘I think my Mom might want to buy a harp.’”
Hurst’s grandson, Zach, plays the harp, but was unable to study it at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He graduated from Nebraska in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
“I was thinking there would be other people who would love to have further education on the harp,” Hurst said.
Ruiz said Hurst was making an investment in music education.
“I would, first, just say thank you to Dona Hurst,” he said. “I’m always amazed at people’s generosity and their generosity to invest in something that is their passion. Their family loves the harp, and it’s great to see that passion come to life. This gift will help generations of musicians. I don’t think people realize how far-reaching their gifts can be. It reaches one person, who goes out into the music profession and says, ‘When I was at UNL, we did this work with a harpist and had this interdisciplinary collaboration.’ You don’t realize how that one gift opens doors for students.”
Bircher, Ruiz and Hurst, along with Hurst’s son, Lou, and grandson, Zach, and two Glenn Korff School of Music harp students, Melissa Srb and Kelly Callahan, made the trip to Chicago to pick out the harps at the Lyon & Healy factory last May.
“It made it very special to have the students be part of the process,” Ruiz said. “That was one of my favorite things about the trip, along with seeing the generations of the donor’s family. That was very special to see that.”
Melissa Srb, is a music education and harp student from Lincoln. She said the trip was a bonding experience for everyone.
“It was absolutely incredible,” she said of the trip to the Lyon & Healy factory. “It was like being a little kid in a candy store.”
Bircher said, “It’s always exciting choosing harps. I’ve had the opportunity to choose two harps for the Omaha Symphony over the past 30 years, and I’ve chosen my own harps and for students. We wanted a professional quality instrument. We wanted the best harp that we could afford, which set us at the Style 30. We wanted a harp that was bright at the top, but had a really big, rich bass. You just want a really good sounding instrument that’s very responsive.”
Srb has played the new harp often this fall.
“I get to play the new harp every day. I get to take it to orchestra rehearsal, which is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” she said. “There is nothing like playing a new instrument. It not only sounds good, but it also is a beautiful instrument. It is simple, but yet very elegant. My favorite stain is actually the mahogany color, which is this harp. Playing it feels like butter. The instrument is so receptive, and the sound is rich and full. It actually makes me want to practice more.”
Srb started playing the harp in 5th grade.
“I originally started on the violin in 4th grade, but my mom picked up that I plucked the instrument more than I used the bow,” she said. “So my mom actually came up with the idea of the harp. I didn’t want to do it at first because I didn’t want to get up early for orchestra rehearsal before school. My mom finally talked me into it, and I loved playing it. I wanted my own harp because, at the time, I was renting from the school. I had to make a commitment to my parents that I would practice every day that summer for three hours a day. I kept that commitment, and my parents bought me my own harp when I was in 6th grade.”
Srb said she enjoys playing the harp because it makes her unique.
“There are not a lot of us, like there are with violins or other string instruments,” Srb said. “It provides me with lots of playing opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise get. It definitely draws attention to you when you play such a large and unique instrument, but it has always been one of my favorite things about the instrument.”
Bircher said she started playing the harp like a lot of people after seeing the instrument being played in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.
“I saw somebody play, and the harp is such a visual instrument, it just captures your attention and imagination,” she said.
When she signed up to play an instrument in 5th grade, harp was one of the options, so she selected it. The school district had purchased about 10 Lyon & Healy student model lever harps.
“There was no harp teacher, so the woodwind teacher had a book, and he just looked at the book with me and said, ‘Well, I think this is what you’re supposed to do,’” she said.
After attending the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina, she fell in love with orchestra playing.
“I came back, and I got a serious harp teacher,” she said. “And that sort of changed my whole life. I was going to be an English major or something because I loved to read and write, but then I decided I wanted to go into music. I got bit by the bug really hard at that Eastern Music Festival, and then my focus was music.”
Bircher has performed as principal harpist of the Omaha Symphony and the Omaha Symphony Chamber Orchestra since 1981. She has also performed with the Baltimore Symphony, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Des Moines Metro Opera and the Colorado Music Festival, among others.
She is excited about building the harp program in the Korff School, thanks to the purchase of these two harps.
“I’m just excited because I’ve done a lot of things over my career, but the one thing I’ve never had the opportunity to do is to teach in a serious music department, where I really had a chance to feel like I could make more of an impact,” Bircher said. “So this is really nice for me to just get to do this.”
One thing she stresses in teaching is helping students play in a relaxed manner.
“One of my big things in teaching is I’ve gone through some physical issues myself,” she said. “It’s difficult. It’s a big instrument. I’ve learned through trial and error and through lots of help from people how to play in a really relaxed manner. So I try to stress that to my students. And having a good instrument makes a huge difference in that because these instruments just ring. I can really see how they benefit the studio in so many ways—even more than I had even thought.”
Bircher is grateful to Hurst for the gift.
“I sincerely thank her,” Bircher said. “I thank her for the students, and I thank her for giving me this opportunity. I can already see that this gift is going to mean so much more than I had anticipated. I see it in the students’ eyes. I see it in the way they walk. I see it in other faculty members asking about the harp—just the visibility of it. It’s way more than just the harp.”
Srb said the gift has already made a difference for students.
“It was amazing to see such a love for an instrument that she doesn’t even play,” she said. “I cannot thank her enough for this generous gift. It not only aids me, but also students in years to come. Just having it these first few months of school in orchestra has made an amazing difference. I can’t wait for her to hear the new harp being put to use.”
Hurst said music is an important part of her life, and she instilled that love of music in her children.
“Music is just part of life,” she said. “I cannot picture life without music.”
Bircher said, “We’re really excited about this. I think Dona has been really instrumental in starting a harp program at Nebraska that will endure for many, many years and affect many, many people.”