Healing with the Harp
Donation protected
I was 9 years old when I started playing the harp. By the time I was 13 years old, I was playing professionally. I appeared as soloist with a number of symphony orchestras in my younger days, including an appearance with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra when I was 17.
I continued as a professional harpist after graduating from the University of Washington, relocating in the Sacramento, CA area where, on top of a full time job in public relations, I taught harp at CSU, Chico and to high school students in Davis, Sacramento and Stockton, CA, performed in backup orchestras at Lake Tahoe and Reno for headliners such as the Carpenters, Steve and Edie, the Osmonds Bro's, and others and played in various orchestras, including the Sacramento Symphony.
I had a desire to use my harp to help people suffering serious illnesses, but music therapy was a very new field at the time, and I was unable to find any program near Sacramento through which I could become a qualified music therapist.
My professional life has taken many twists and turns; when I hit a glass ceiling in public relations, I became a real estate broker. From there I attended law school and became a real estate attorney in my late 30's. My music career was put on the shelf due to lack of time. Twenty-six years later, however, I find myself desperately wanting to return my focus to music and to become a music therapist, now that many programs for certification have been established.
In 1988, when I was sworn in as an attorney, I sold the harp I won in 1968 in a competition hosted by the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company; the harp needed to be tuned and played daily to maintain its beautiful tone, and I had no time to do so. In 1997 I inherited my mother's harp many years earlier than expected, and sold that in 1998 for the same reason.
Now, I need to find a used pedal harp, sign up for and complete a music therapy certification program, create a non-profit corporation, get my fingers back in playing shape and learn about 50 new compositions appropriate for therapy. Concurrently with using the harp for music therapy, I also want to start a program for elementary schools, demonstrating the harp and bringing some music back into our public schools, hoping to influence some young lives to pursue music as a major part of their activities. I simultaneously want to create a program to play the harp at nursing and convalescent homes, helping to ease the suffering of elderly patients.
I also plan to take on a few young harp students. For the therapy and school programs I will need a smaller harp that I can easily load in my car by myself. That would also be the harp I would use to teach beginning harp students, as the small, lever harps are far less expensive than pedal harps and are perfect for beginners.
During our country's recent economic crisis, I lost everything I had worked a lifetime to achieve, and I am starting again from scratch at the age of 65. I am fortunate that I have many talents and skills; my harp playing talent was second to very few; it is time to revive it and once again use my talent to bring comfort and enjoyment to as many people as possible.
Once the non-profit organization is formed and running, I will be writing grant proposals, seeking funds to keep the various planned programs going, but I need the seed money to get started. Any donation, no matter how small, will be appreciated. For anyone donating $25.00 or more and supplying a mailing address, I will send a CD containing the Senior Recital I performed at the University of Washington in June of 1972 as a way of saying thank you. There is more than an hour of beautiful harp music covering a wide range of styles, and includes several harp solo pieces as well as a harp/cello/ flute trio and the Introduction and Allegro by Maurice Ravel, in which I am accompanied by chamber orchestra. That gorgeous composition is the piece I played when I won my harp in 1968, and I consider it my "signature" piece.
I am no longer young and pretty, but, I am mostlyhealthy and there is still magic in my fingers with which I can make beautiful music, and that is all that is important,
I continued as a professional harpist after graduating from the University of Washington, relocating in the Sacramento, CA area where, on top of a full time job in public relations, I taught harp at CSU, Chico and to high school students in Davis, Sacramento and Stockton, CA, performed in backup orchestras at Lake Tahoe and Reno for headliners such as the Carpenters, Steve and Edie, the Osmonds Bro's, and others and played in various orchestras, including the Sacramento Symphony.
I had a desire to use my harp to help people suffering serious illnesses, but music therapy was a very new field at the time, and I was unable to find any program near Sacramento through which I could become a qualified music therapist.
My professional life has taken many twists and turns; when I hit a glass ceiling in public relations, I became a real estate broker. From there I attended law school and became a real estate attorney in my late 30's. My music career was put on the shelf due to lack of time. Twenty-six years later, however, I find myself desperately wanting to return my focus to music and to become a music therapist, now that many programs for certification have been established.
In 1988, when I was sworn in as an attorney, I sold the harp I won in 1968 in a competition hosted by the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company; the harp needed to be tuned and played daily to maintain its beautiful tone, and I had no time to do so. In 1997 I inherited my mother's harp many years earlier than expected, and sold that in 1998 for the same reason.
Now, I need to find a used pedal harp, sign up for and complete a music therapy certification program, create a non-profit corporation, get my fingers back in playing shape and learn about 50 new compositions appropriate for therapy. Concurrently with using the harp for music therapy, I also want to start a program for elementary schools, demonstrating the harp and bringing some music back into our public schools, hoping to influence some young lives to pursue music as a major part of their activities. I simultaneously want to create a program to play the harp at nursing and convalescent homes, helping to ease the suffering of elderly patients.
I also plan to take on a few young harp students. For the therapy and school programs I will need a smaller harp that I can easily load in my car by myself. That would also be the harp I would use to teach beginning harp students, as the small, lever harps are far less expensive than pedal harps and are perfect for beginners.
During our country's recent economic crisis, I lost everything I had worked a lifetime to achieve, and I am starting again from scratch at the age of 65. I am fortunate that I have many talents and skills; my harp playing talent was second to very few; it is time to revive it and once again use my talent to bring comfort and enjoyment to as many people as possible.
Once the non-profit organization is formed and running, I will be writing grant proposals, seeking funds to keep the various planned programs going, but I need the seed money to get started. Any donation, no matter how small, will be appreciated. For anyone donating $25.00 or more and supplying a mailing address, I will send a CD containing the Senior Recital I performed at the University of Washington in June of 1972 as a way of saying thank you. There is more than an hour of beautiful harp music covering a wide range of styles, and includes several harp solo pieces as well as a harp/cello/ flute trio and the Introduction and Allegro by Maurice Ravel, in which I am accompanied by chamber orchestra. That gorgeous composition is the piece I played when I won my harp in 1968, and I consider it my "signature" piece.
I am no longer young and pretty, but, I am mostlyhealthy and there is still magic in my fingers with which I can make beautiful music, and that is all that is important,
Organizer
Julie Gustavson
Organizer
Citrus Heights, CA
