In an era when blaring guitars, pounding drums and bizarre videos rule the musical worlds of teen audiences, many people would have been surprised to find well over 100 Avonworth middle and high school students seated on a stage floor, spellbound at the playing of two young ladies who expanded their listeners’ cultural tastes to appreciate the sounds of a harp.

Arranged through English and GATE teacher Deborah Frauenholz, the hour-long assembly last Monday featured Gretchen Van Hoesen, principal harpist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and two of her students, Dana Schneider, a senior at Seneca Valley High School, and Sophia Suuha Lee, a student at North Allegheny’s Carson Middle School.

The visiting musicians played selections that demonstrated the basic methods of playing the harp, from the touching of the strings to the use of the foot pedals.

Van Hoesen, who has been with the PSO since 1977, explained the structure of the instrument and answered questions that ranged from how much a harp costs (the one on stage: nearly $30,000) to where her harp was constructed (Chicago).

Music teacher Rege Vrana’s students had just completed a unit where they studied string instruments. One of his students, Fidelia Nawar, said, "I have never experienced the harp and I thought that the music that was played was extraordinary."

Photo by Tom Steiner for The Citizen