3 minute read
Personal best
PERSONAL BEST
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
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Inspired by Minnie Mouse, Séléné Luyet says playing the harp transports her to another world.
Words Lucy Jolin Photography Joe McGorty
My harp teacher once played me her version of Queen’s We Are The Champions. It sounded amazing. If I was going to play cover versions, I’d definitely go for Queen
T
he harp holds a very special place in the pantheon of musical instruments. Its beautiful, ethereal notes have often been a soundtrack to the most profound of human experiences: religion, myth, love. But for Séléné Luyet (Le Cerf, Year 10), a fascination with the instrument started in a somewhat more prosaic setting: in front of the TV watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon.
“I remember very clearly seeing Minnie Mouse playing the harp and I told my mother that I wanted to do that!” she remembers. “I was only about three years old at the time and she told me that my hands were too little. But she promised that if I still wanted to play by the time I was seven, she would get me a harp.”
Séléné’s passion for the harp didn’t abate, and on her seventh birthday, her mother fulfilled her promise. She was still too small for the standard harp – which stands around 180cm tall – so she played a child-size version.
She soon found out that the harp is a challenging instrument in many different ways. “It was difficult to start with, and it became more difficult when I grew enough to play a full-size harp – it has pedals, which the child-sized ones don’t,” she says. “You have to use your feet to press the pedals and you have to pluck the strings with your hands at the same time. But it’s worth it, because it’s such a beautiful instrument and makes such a wonderful sound.”
Transporting a 36kg-harp – for comparison, about the same weight as a full, five-gallon container of water – is a feat in itself. “I’m always a bit nervous when we have to put it in the back of the car!” says Séléné. This substantial instrument breaks easily: harp strings, in particular, are fragile, even though they are made of steel. So, a good harp player also needs tender but strong hands that can stretch to create those heavenly chords.
“It took a little while for me to get that strength,” says Séléné, who has now been playing for nine years. “There have been many occasions where I’ve had to work very hard at a piece in order to get it right. Playing an instrument like this – or any instrument – teaches you patience. You have to do it again and again to do it perfectly, but it’s worth all the effort. It’s particularly fun to play an instrument which is a little bit unusual. You should always follow your passion and don’t listen to people who say you shouldn’t take something up because it’s out of the norm, or too difficult.”
Although most of the pieces she plays are classical – her favourite piece is François-Joseph Naderman’s Sonata No. 3 – but she also enjoys jazz and has a particular fondness for Queen. “My harp teacher once played me her version of We Are The Champions, which I absolutely loved,” she says. “It sounded amazing. If I was going to play cover versions, I’d definitely go for Queen.”
For Séléné – who admits to being “a little shy” – the joy of playing the harp is a very personal one. “I used to be an ice skater, and that’s very much all about performance,” she says. “But I’m not confident enough to play the harp in public. It will always be a part of my life, but it probably won’t be my career.
