GCC senior brings pluck to performance
Holly Furman, 21, of Butler, will be pulling a few strings during the March 29 performance of the “Testimony of Life” cantata at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 420 N. Main St.
That’s because Furman, a senior at Grove City College, will be playing a 36-string Lyon and Healey Troubador harp during the cantata.
Furman, the daughter of Kimmy and Mark Boyce of Butler, has been playing the harp for 12 years and said she is looking forward to the cantata.
“I played a couple of chorale works at Grove City," said Furman, a music and performance major with a concentration in voice. “I play in an orchestra at school, and about a quarter of the works have harp parts. And if they do have a harp part, it’s a good one.”
“Usually they are really easy or extremely difficult,” said Furman, who is a member of Westminster Presbyterian.
“‘Testimony of Life’ has a lot of recurring themes for harp that come in different keys.” Furman said.
Furman who sits in a chair and pulls the harp toward her, plays the instrument with both hands.
“The left hand is the bass line of the harp,” Furman said. “The right is where all the intricate stuff happens.”
Furman said a harpist plucks the strings, made of either metal, gut and nylon, with the pads of the thumbs and first three fingers. The little finger on each hand is not used.
“There are four or five different schools of harp playing centering on the way you hold your hands and move from note to note,” she said. “I was taught it was better to sound good than to look good.”
“If you move your hands less, you can play quicker and hit more notes. You use your fingers to get the sound,” she said.
Although repetitive play can give a harpist carpal tunnel syndrome, Furman said, “The only thing that happens to me is my back starts to hurt. Basically, you are just sitting and enjoying playing the instrument.”
Furman said she hopes to begin practicing with the choir and the rest of the orchestra March 29.
Cantata director Barb Galloway called “Testimony of Life” a worship cantata inspired by the celebrated “lessons and carols” services most often associated with the Christmas season.
This liturgical framework is excellent for the sharing of Scripture, prayers, narrations and choral anthems, Galloway said.
Those in attendance will join the choir in singing four hymns. This musical presentation celebrates the life of Christ with an emphasis on his ministry, death and Resurrection.
Galloway said, “ I chose this cantata because of its message, the unique format, and it is well written and orchestrated. I was thrilled to find that the chamber orchestra included a harp. We had never been able to have Holly join us by playing her harp for a cantata before. We are excited to have her with us.”
The other members of the chamber orchestra are music students from Slippery Rock University, music teachers in the area, other musicians from the church and a student from Butler High School:
Piano: Joan Eisenreich; keyboard: Holly Steck; clarinet: Sam Eisenreich; bass clarinet: Kyle Strain; flute: Shanna Kelly; oboe: Zoey Povlick; percussion: Ashley Crawford; trumpet: Robert Kaup.
