Teenage harpist takes next step with demanding performance
For a 17-year-old Slippery Rock High School student, Saturday's performance with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra marked a significant steppingstone in her musical career.
Emily Hayes, who has been taking harp lessons for more than a decade, said she was very much looking forward to taking that next step and playing her first professional orchestral show.
Emily, along with her longtime harp teacher Julia Scott, performed with the orchestra Saturday night during the piece “The Planets” by Gustav Holst, at the Butler Intermediate High School auditorium.
“The Planets” is about 40 musical pages long, and is a major challenge for a young harpist, said Scott, who is a guest lecturer in harp at Grove City College and also privately teaches Emily.
The 102-year-old piece contains seven movements, one for each planet, save for Earth and Pluto, which was still undiscovered when Holst wrote the piece. Each movement requires a different set of orchestral skills, Scott said, which she and Emily have been practicing for months.
Scott said the Mercury movement in particular is “very demanding” of the harp section, which “holds the orchestra together.”
“Her part and my part interlock,” she said. “There are two harps in two different keys, and the second harp part (which Emily plays), I think is a little more difficult than my own.”
She said as the movements become more difficult, Emily's skills have advanced to meet the task. She has jumped right in with no hesitation.
“It is a very high pressure part for her,” Scott said. “She has to be able to count and to focus and listen and be attentive at all times to be able to do this, so it's quite an achievement.”
Emily said she has performed professionally in the past, but never in a full orchestral setting, such as Saturday's performance.
Recently, Emily was named second chair in the Pennsylvania Music Educators' Association All-State Orchestra competition, and will be playing with the Pennsylvania All-State Orchestra in Harrisburg in April. She has spent three years as principal harpist of the Erie Junior Philharmonic, and was recently named principal harpist of the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.
She also performs locally in her home church in Harrisville, as well as for Erie Philharmonic Fundraisers in Erie, Scott said.
Emily said she began her musical career at the age of 4 playing piano, but after seeing an episode of “How It's Made” on TV that featured harps, she was “hooked.”“I went and saw a couple of concerts, and I'm sure my parents thought this was just a phase, but after asking for a harp so much, they finally got me one,” she said.She said Scott has been instructing her for 10 of the 11 years she has been playing the instrument, and she has seen her playing grow by leaps and bounds.“She is very bright, very hardworking,” Scott said. “She walked into my studio at Grove City College about 10 years ago, and we have been working together ever since. You go through life as a harp teacher just hoping for someone like her to walk through the door.”Scott said Emily's talent and work ethic is “amazing,” and “she has been growing as a musician continually during that time.”“I think the experience is invaluable,” Scott said. “Having the opportunity now to participate in a professional production gives her a clear idea of what it takes to play well under large amounts of pressure. It has been very fun to watch her learn.”Emily said she wishes to pursue professional music as a career, and has begun looking at colleges with strong music and orchestral programs, including Grove City College.“That is where my teacher teaches, so it is very close to me,” she said.
