Elite elegance: Harpist Bethany Wheeler reaching higher and higher with heavenly sounds

By Diana Nollen

HIAWATHA - In December, Bethany Wheeler, 19, and her parents, Lu and Jeff, bought her the equivalent of a new car. It's jet black and sounds heavenly when Wheeler revs it up.

She expects it to take her far.

In June, she will take her new concert-grand harp to Washington, D.C., where she will participate in the National Symphony Orchestra's Summer Music Institute. The Iowa Arts Council says she is the first Iowan accepted for this prestigious training.

Wheeler is among about 70 students, ages 15 to 20, selected nationwide on the basis of their online applications and audition recordings of solos and required musical passages.

All participants aspire to careers as professional musicians. From June 28 to July 26, 2010, they will have private lessons with National Symphony members, attend classes and lectures, and rehearse for a series of free Kennedy Center concerts.

The institute covers room and board, but the participants pay their own travel expenses. Wheeler won't be putting her 80-pound baby in the belly of an airplane. She'll be driving to Washington with her instrument and its auxiliary gear.

She paid half the cost of her harp, but declined to say its exact cost.

“Harps are comparable to a new car - $15,000 to $50,000,” she says. “Some are ridiculous, as much as $150,000.”

What's the most challenging aspect of playing the harp?

“Moving it,” exclaims her mom, saying they have to arrive at performances an hour early to set up and tune.

So besides toting an instrument that's big and heavy, Wheeler has to take along tuning equipment, pliers and hammers, “in case the metal discs in the moving parts malfunction.”

She also has to tote a spare set of strings.

“During my last two performances, I had strings break because of the drastic change in temperature,” she says. “This time of year is very volatile. (The harp) is like a barometer. I had six strings break in three weeks. Normally, I can go six or seven months without a break. As they age, they will break, and at certain times of the year.”

Wheeler began playing harp in 2001 at age 10, after seeing other people play the elegant instrument.

“Something about it intrigued me,” she says. Along the way, the joys unfolded.

“It's very satisfying to physically touch the strings and be so connected to the sound,” she says. “I pull the strings and it happens. It's a much more intimate music-making process for me.

“It's a lovely instrument. I can enjoy making the music and audiences can enjoy receiving the music.”

She started with a 36-string lever harp that's about half the size of her new 47-string pedal harp.

“It only has 11 fewer strings, but those strings make a huge size difference,” she says.

Her first instrument was piano, which she began at age 6 and continues to study, play and teach. She also plays flute.

Starting with piano lessons eased her way to the harp.

“Piano experience helps,” she says. “Technically, they're different instruments, but by knowing how to read music, I could focus on the physical aspects. You have to build up strength in your arms. If you're not consistent in practicing, you feel it in your shoulders. It's a good idea to work out other muscles to prevent injury.”

Wheeler has just finished her freshman year at Coe College and is transferring to Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, to pursue a degree in harp performance.

“I want to get a high enough degree to teach college, play in orchestras and teach privately,” she says.

Wheeler has been studying since eighth grade with Gretchen Brumwell of Cedar Rapids, principal harpist for Orchestra Iowa, and has been playing the past four years at weddings, funerals, visitations, dinners, open houses and holiday events, as well as with the Symphony School's advanced harp ensemble and the Coe College orchestra.

“She's got a wonderful work ethic, a dedication that's above and beyond what most students her age have,” Brumwell says. “She's got natural talent, but is willing to put in the work to take that as far as it will take her.”

Wheeler grew up in a musical household. Her mom also plays harp “as a hobby,” so they have several harps, as well as a grand piano, in their Hiawatha home. Wheeler's brother, Matthew, 22, recently graduated from Coe with a degree in music. Both were home-schooled, which their mom says gave them the flexibility to pursue various musical opportunities.

“The great thing about home schooling is that you can see what their talent is and set aside time for that,” says Lu Wheeler, 47.

Academics didn't get brushed aside, she quickly adds, but when Bethany and Matthew needed to focus on their music, they could.

Mother and daughter are both excited about what lies ahead.

“I didn't go to Coe thinking ‘I have to get out of here,'” Bethany says. “I love my teacher here, but we both agreed being able to study with Yolanda Kondonassis was an experience I couldn't pass up. (Oberlin) has a total of five undergrad harp students. It's pretty prestigious.”

“I'm really excited for her to be able to go away for the next three years,” Lu says. “Coe was a very good experience, too.”

On the Net

Website: For more information on Bethany Wheeler, go to www.bethanyandherharp.com