A typical concert harp has 48 strings, stands more than six feet tall and weighs around 85 pounds. With all of the intricate details on the wood, a harp is a majestic instrument. Nineteen lined up together on a stage is breathtaking.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, Ball State University's harp ensemble will be performing in Sursa Hall.
The show has an international theme, said harp performance professor Elizabeth Richter. The ensemble will play songs from a variety of countries such as Brazil, Ireland, England, Austria, Japan and America.
While most harpists play solo or in a group of other instruments, Richter said there are many benefits from playing in an ensemble with strictly harpists.
"Each person has to listen to the group," she said. "Each person has to count and really develop an internal sense of rhythm and a sense of how to blend."
It can also be a good experience for younger or beginning students, Richter said. Unlike harp ensembles at other universities, Ball State's harp ensemble is not limited to the majors. Richter's other students and graduate student Grace Bauson's two students are welcomed into the ensemble, which Richter said creates the perfect non-threatening environment for beginners because if they make a mistake, there are many other harpists playing the same part who can cover it.
Because they allow younger students in the ensemble, Ball State's harp ensemble is one of the largest in the area.
Sunday's performance will begin with all 19 harpists playing together and will eventually decrease to the six majors as the songs get more difficult. Then students will be added back on again so the group can finish together.
Many of the harp majors have come from out of state, such as Valerie Trivano, a freshman from Houston. Like the others, she came to Ball State especially to work with Richter.
"I really was very excited to get the technical background that she has and also working with her I also discovered how musical she is," Trivano said. "I enjoyed her musicality so I knew that coming here I would get a very well-rounded harp education."
Trivano was inspired to play the harp at a very young age. When she was four years old she saw the movie "Fantasia" and asked her mother if she could play the harp. It wasn't until two years later that she actually began playing the instrument.
"I love how people come up to me and even if I played something really simple they're like, ‘That was amazing. I don't know how you do that. That's so hard," Trivano said. "It's kind of interesting when people are like ‘is that hard to play?' But I've done it for so long I really don't know if it's really that hard."
Trivano's story of how she began mirrors that of other harpists. Third year graduate student Grace Bauson was inspired by her aunt and Richter became interested in playing because of a friend. The people may change, but the three agree that soon after they started playing they fell in love with the harp.
Richter did not begin playing until she was 17 years old. She originally played piano but then started learning a few songs on harp from a friend. The sound the harp created was what first attracted her to it, she said.
"The tone is really beautiful and each individual person who plays creates an individual sound," Richter said.
Because a harpist plays the strings directly with their hands, dynamics and styles can change according to how soft or hard they pluck the strings.
Creating the melodic sound takes work. One of the most difficult aspects of playing the harp is the coordination it takes, Richter said. A harpist uses both hands to pluck the strings, both feet to move the pedals and reads in both bass and treble clefs.
Though most play the traditional concert harp, some younger students begin on smaller harps. There are also smaller harps such as the lap harp or folk harp.
"Even the smallest harp can make a beautiful sound," Richter said.
She brings this belief into her teaching. She focuses on trying to get even those who may play the smallest harp to relax and play with confidence, she said.
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