A shy child growing up in Newport News, Cynthia Campbell found her calling in the harp.
Now she is working to share the instrument with children throughout the Historic Triangle.
Campbell, the music teacher at Rawls Byrd Elementary School, started and leads instruction for the Williamsburg Youth Harp Society.
The project began as a component of the Rawls Byrd strings program, which was later adopted by Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, but has since become an independent nonprofit organization that offers classes and ensembles for students looking to pluck and play.
Campbell got her start through the string program in Newport News public schools. Her parents fostered a penchant for playing the piano, but it was a school music teacher who drove her up to Williamsburg to take lessons with a harpist in town.
Playing the harp made Campbell feel special, and spawned a career as a music educator.
“The great thing about it is I get paid for what I love. … The important thing is that your career is what you love to do,” she said.
To her, it became both a duty and a privilege to share the unique instrument with area youth, who would not have an opportunity to learn otherwise.
Campbell brought up the idea of a harp program to her then-boss at Rawls Byrd, who supported her endeavor and encouraged her to develop harp lessons for students. Resources were slow at first — 12 children had to share one leased harp.
Campbell was also volunteering many hours before and after school to teach students, and while she tried to have it become an official school activity, the focus of the district was elsewhere. In an effort to open up instruction to all students, including home-schooled children and those from York County, the group became a nonprofit about six years ago.
The new Williamsburg Youth Harp Society no longer offered free classes for students, but Campbell said partnerships in the community for free rehearsal and performance space has kept the cost down. It is currently $125 per semester, which includes 12 sessions.
The group also rents harps, and families whose beginner children are trying the instrument for the first time can rent without a charge.
Students can sign up once they have reached third grade, and do not have to have any prior musical experience.
“They’re like little sponges,” Campbell said of students at the beginner’s level.
By catching them young, she hopes to give them the opportunity to learn and develop a passion early on. For elementary students, Campbell said musical prowess can form the backbone of self-esteem, outside the perils of adolescent peer pressure.
“In middle school, it might not be so cool to play the violin or cello,” she said.
Once they have started, many of the society’s players have stuck with the harp into adulthood. One graduate of the program has gone on to earn her doctorate on the harp, and another is working on her master’s degree.
Others have pursued different avenues within the music world, in management rather than performance, but still keep the instrument a part of their lives.
Campbell encourages her students to develop as musicians who can play in ensembles and as soloists. In addition to regular recitals at the end of each semester, she urges students to have a repertoire of solo works in which they are proficient and comfortable presenting to an audience. Once they do, Campbell will pass along performance opportunities and send them out into the community.
“I want them to be the best they can be,” she said.
After 21 years of teaching string instruments to students, Campbell does not have plans to retire anytime soon. Even at the end of a long day of instruction, she finds a renewed sense of spirit when she sees her harp students for class.
“Their energy invigorates me,” Campbell said.
The next semester of classes start Sept. 16 for beginners.
For more information on the program and registration, visit the Williamsburg Youth Harp Society website or contact Campbell at [email protected].
