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Explore our Music facilities with Guildhall students

Guildhall has prepared me for a career in music therapy from searching for jobs to having brilliant work experience from the placements they chose for me

Emma Barber
MA Music Therapy

Emma Barber
Guildhall had a crucial role in my success. The very high quality orchestral projects and masterclasses prepared me for professional life

Joao Seara
BMus Double Bass

Joao Seara
Studying at the Guildhall School has been a life-changing and unforgettable adventure

Rebekah Carpio
MMus Clarinet (Orchestral Artistry)

Rebekah Carpio
Working in pairs during the MA has helped me developer a deeper understanding of how opera composers work and how to spark their imaginations with a libretto.

Zoe Palmer (writer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Zoe Palmer (writer)
The relationship between the Barbican, BBC, and Guildhall is absolutely invaluable as it provides opportunities for students that cannot be found elsewhere.

Emiko Edwards
MPerf Piano

Emiko Edwards
Writing music for theatre has been a highlight of my time at Guildhall, as it has allowed me to explore an art form in which I have a great amount of interest and to work towards a professional finished product.

Alexander Hall
BMus Composition

Alexander Hall
Barbican is a key partner of Guildhall, and we can often get artists who perform there to do a masterclass or project with us, and we often do performances at Barbican events.

Ieva Vaitiekunaite
BMus Electronic Music

Ieva Vaitiekunaite
Whether it is in sit-in rehearsals, side-by-side projects or chamber orchestra sessions, the LSO players offer invaluable guidance and provide a glimpse of the exceptional standards we aspire towards.

Rees Webster
MPerf Oboe (Orchestral Artistry)

Rees Webster
I was excited to cover a role in the UK premiere of Andrew Norman's 'A Trip to the Moon' in the Barbican, have a solo recital at LSO St Luke's and also to sing on the stage of Wigmore Hall.

Mirjam Mesak
MPerf Vocal Studies

Mirjam Mesak
I knew about the fantastic tutoring and resources, but the friendly and stimulating environment clinched it for me.

Eden Lonsdale
BMus Composition

Eden Lonsdale
I had the opportunity to play percussion with the Guildhall Studio Orchestra which gave me the chance to learn from, and play alongside, amazing senior players, as well as to perform with the incredible Liane Carroll.

Dave Adsett
BMus Jazz Drums

Dave Adsett
Guildhall is an institution that knows it has to be connected to the outside world - that's the key thing. It's not a bubble. It has roots in the city and in the world.

Jonathan Ferrucci
Artist Diploma Piano

Jonathan Ferrucci
One minute you could be playing in the Guildhall Studio Orchestra with jazz musicians, the next you could be playing in the opera pit, then the next minute you'll b e with actors doing the musical and then playing a symphony in the orchestra.

Millie Ashton
BMus Violin

Millie Ashton
The departmental philosophy of returning opera back to something that is essentially produced as part of a company is a really great thing.

Klara Kofen (writer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Klara Kofen (writer)
The quality of teaching is amazingly high. With the guidance and help that I've been given, I feel my work has got dramatically better over a short space of time.

Lucy Armstrong (composer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Lucy Armstrong (composer)
I set up a piano trio when I arrived, and we have weekly coaching with members of the Endellion Quartet and the faculty. It has been very rewarding.

Leo Popplewell
MMus Cello

Leo Popplewell
It seemed like this was a place to go and experience a complete world of art and performance and see what happened - a place that really encouraged you to make things that you want to make.

Vittorio Angelone
BMus Percussion

Vittorio Angelone
Home > Music > Principal study > Strings, Harp and Guitar > More information on the Harp Department

Harp Studies at the Guildhall School

harp@gsmd.ac.uk

The dynamic Harp Department at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama combines teaching of the highest calibre with a stimulating and extensive harp course, designed to give students all the skills they need to be confident, versatile professional musicians.  Enjoying an unrivalled position in the heart of the City of London, the Guildhall offers harpists the chance to study in the music capital of the world.  

Imogen Barford, Head of Harp, leads a team of distinguished professional harpists, including Charlotte Seale, Bryn Lewis, Helen Tunstall, Lucy Wakeford, Monika Stadler, Joy Smith, and Dr Andrew Lawrence-King, each with individual areas of expertise.  Their work in regular classes, masterclasses and workshops covers every aspect of harp-playing, and is enhanced by visits from guest harpists pre-eminent in the UK and abroad. 

Individual Tuition

Individual teaching is at the heart of the department, giving students the space and support to focus seriously and thoughtfully on every aspect of technique and musicianship.  The teacher and student work intensively to discover the easiest and most natural way of playing for each individual hand shape, allowing the student fully to realise their technical, musical and creative potential.  One-to-one weekly lessons on modern harp are given by Imogen Barford and Charlotte Seale, and advanced students can take some hours with Bryn Lewis, Helen Tunstall and Lucy Wakeford. Individual lessons on early harps are given by Joy Smith and Andrew Lawrence-King.

Performance Classes

All harp students take part in regular performance classes.  These cover aspects of performance, airing of work-in-progress, group feedback and learning to listen and help one another constructively.

Weekly Classes

These are given by harp department staff and visiting experts:

Orchestral Studies (given by Bryn Lewis, Principal Harp, London Symphony Orchestra)
Core repertoire, cadenzas, preparing parts, speed learning, playing in the orchestra and orchestral etiquette. Harpists benefit from formal links with the London Symphony Orchestra harp section, next door at the Barbican Centre, weekly repertoire sessions with the Wind, Brass and Percussion department, and sit-in opportunities with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Teaching Skills
All aspects of teaching the harp, including observing teachers.

Chamber Music
Thorough study and coaching of major works.

Contemporary Musicianship (given by Helen Tunstall, Principal Harp of the London Sinfonietta)

Practical Harmony, Jazz and Improvisation (given by Austrian Jazz harpist Monika Stadler)

Repertoire
Providing wide knowledge of the principal works in each genre, with particular regard to programme planning.

Enhanced Skills
Advanced technique
How to practise
Sight-reading, Memorising
Glissandi and Trills

Other Classes

Given by harp department staff and visiting experts, including:
History of the harp, introduction to early harps
Major works in context
How to get work: presentation, CVs, brochures
Creative career planning
Creative programme planning

Masterclasses and Seminars

Given regularly by distinguished visiting musicians from the UK and abroad. Recent visitors include:

  • Marie-Pierre Langlamet (France/Germany)
  • Sylvain Blassel (France)
  • Catherine Michel (France)
  • Nancy Allen (US)
  • Isabelle Perrin (France)
  • Anneleen Lenaerts (Belgium/Austria)
  • Alice Giles (Australia)
  • Erika Waardenburg (The Netherlands)
  • Sivan Magen (Israel)
  • Letizia Belmondo (Italy)
  • Petra Van Der Heide (The Netherlands)
  • Marisa Robles (UK/Spain)
  • Helga Storck (Germany/Poland)
  • Evelyn Huber (Germany)
  • Sioned Williams (UK)
  • Elinor Bennett (Wales)
  • Katherine Thomas (Wales)

Above: Marie Pierre Langlamet, Solo Harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and international solo and recording artist, gives a masterclass to harpist Elin Samuel in Milton Court Concert Hall.

Seminars are held regularly covering a huge variety of topics. Recent ones include Double and Triple Pedalling; The Single-Action Harp; Writing your own cadenzas; Orchestral Auditions; Using Social Media for Promotion; Mastering Trills; Rhetoric and Rhythm.

Below: Dr Masumi Nagasawa (Japan/The Netherlands) gives a seminar on the Single-Action harp.

Above: Andrew Lawrence-King Early Harp Masterclass

Early Harp with Joy Smith and Dr Andrew Lawrence-King

Postgraduate and undergraduate students can take Early Harp as an option. Postgraduates can take Early Harp as a full- or part-time course; undergraduates can take it as a full-time course, or as a second study; all harpists have opportunities to attend stylistic workshops with Dr Lawrence-King. All early harp options take place in collaboration with the Historical Performance Department.

Subjects taught include:

  • Single row (Medieval and Gothic) harps
  • Italian triple harp
  • Handel and the Welsh triple harp
  • Spanish cross-strung harp
  • Continuo
  • Irish wire-strung harps

Performance Opportunities and Venues

  • Solo concerts
  • symphony and chamber orchestras
  • chamber ensembles
  • harp ensemble
  • new music and early music ensembles
  • jazz orchestra, studio orchestra and big band
  • termly opera productions, including Baroque operas
  • contemporary music ensembles and Ubu Ensemble

Venues include the Barbican Centre, St John’s Smith Square, LSO St Lukes, Wigmore Hall, the Museum of London, the National Portrait Gallery, the Wallace Collection, St George’s Hanover Square, St Giles Cripplegate, St Sepulchre’s, St Olave’s, HM Treasury, St Benet’s, Christ Church Spitalfields as well as the in-house Music Hall, Silk Street Theatre, Lecture Recital Room, and the fantastic facilities of Milton Court.

Facilities

Guildhall School owns a wide array of harps, with instruments from the Middle Ages to the latest electro-acoustic harp. There are nine pedal harps, plus access to an antique Gothic Erard and a single-action Erard. The School also owns a Medieval harp, a Gothic Renaissance harp, a large Italian Baroque triple harp, and a Camac Blue electric harp. Students have exclusive use of the harp room for solo and group work, and another harp practice room is available in the Annexe. The library has been extensively stocked with music, CDs and books, and harpists also have access to an enormous private library of solo, ensemble and orchestral parts.

Programmes

All Harp Studies form part of the Guildhall School’s main courses: the 4-year undergraduate BMus and the postgraduate Guildhall Artist Masters programme in Performance. There are also individualised programmes of study and Socrates Erasmus exchanges with other European member conservatoires.

For more information, contact Imogen Barford. 

Above: Chantal Mathieu, works with student Alex Rider in the Silk Street Music Hall.

Recent news from the Harp Department

Read recent harp department news (PDF), including a news roundup and list of Harp events.