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Noël Wan

@nywharp

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💕 classical harp’s alt-princess
🏅@astralartists @usaihc
📚 faculty @fsuharp @musicfsu @curtisinstitute
🇹🇼🇨🇦🇺🇸

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some reluctant yet obligatory self-promotion (did I need to include so many photos of myself? probably not 🤨):

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be exclusively offering online lessons through Aspire International, a new platform founded by the legendary trumpeter David Hickman. Lesson spots are limited—basically, dependent on how much time I have each month. I’ll also be periodically offering general masterclasses and workshops on various TBA topics. Fear not! I will dutifully announced those events here as they are scheduled.

Follow the link in bio to request a lesson. Note: if you’re interested in applying to Curtis or FSU, please contact me via email about a trial lesson.

Also joining me at Aspire are my illustrious colleagues Yolanda Kondonassis, Gillian Benet Sella, Hannah Cope Johnson, and Elisabeth Plank, so you have many other options… 🪉🪉🪉🪉🪉

#harp #harplessons #classicalmusician by @nywharp

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2 months ago

anyone else have pets that hang out too much while you’re practicing?

#harp #harpist #harfe #arpa #harpe #musicalcats #tuxedocats #classicalmusicians #classicalmusic #funnycatvideos #fomocat #practicalharpist #harpistlife #musicianslife by @nywharp

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3 years ago

most of you know the news by now, so I’m just sharing a photo of a classic Noel face at the USAIHC (credit: James Brosher) plus the super generous Facebook post from Jana Boušková because it nearly made me cry. 🥲

I try not to rely on external validation as the impetus for my artistic choices, but getting some affirmation feels pretty damn good.

To all who have sent messages: thank you for the love and support. I feel so lucky to have amazing friends and colleagues all around the world. ☺️

Wishing lots of success to all the contestants and especially to those who plan on returning for the next competition! 💪🏼🎶 by @nywharp

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4 years ago

Harp friends (and those in Philadelphia and Tallahassee)! I feel compelled to do a better job of letting people where to find me, so…

@phillyharp is hosting LES FLEURS DU MAL this Saturday 🥀, plus I’ll be giving a masterclass earlier in the afternoon

Next Tuesday at FSU, I get to play one of my dream chamber pieces (Currier’s Night Time) with my lovely colleague Anya Wilkening. Thanks to Iain Quinn for inviting us to participate in this year’s Kaleidoscope concert.

Finally, I am scheduled to give a Zoom masterclass next Saturday, which will focus on developing an informed and nuanced sense of phrasing across different styles (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc.). If you or a student of yours would like the opportunity to work with me, please register through the Aspire website (link below). Auditor spots are also available. by @nywharp

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5 days ago

late to the game (but fashionably so)—happy 200th issue to @harpcolumn!

it was an honor to be featured—exactly 4 years ago—on the cover of the 176th issue (Sept-Oct 2022) after I won the @usaihc

Harp Column is such an important resource for harpists around world, and its interviews with some of the most prominent and exciting harpists on stages past and present do the important work of inspiring professional and young harpists alike to expand and advance our field.

(If you ever wanted to know which cars have been tested and approved by harpists: Harp Column has dedicated entire issues to this)

#practicalharpist by @nywharp

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10 days ago

As a teacher, I encounter a lot of harpists who are also double-jointed and struggle to develop really good control and strength in their technique.

It’s essential to work on that little curve, especially in the third and fourth fingers (find the natural bend and pluck downward into the palm).

Being double-jointed has its upsides (great flexibility!) but it also creates a fundamental weakness that’s important to mitigate early in one’s technical development and to maintain throughout a lifetime of playing the harp 😌

#harp #hypermobility #classicalmusician by @nywharp

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13 days ago

Today, I finally ripped my expired I-Pass off my windshield and went to Publix to buy a SunPass.

9 years ago, I ordered an I-Pass transponder when I was hired to teach at the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's College. I had just turned 23 and was starting my second year of my DMA (so, clueless), and for the first time in my life, I had to commute 3 hours for work.

A classmate had advised that an I-Pass would save me a significant amount of money on the toll highways that cross Illinois and Indiana.

Every week, I would wake up at 4 AM and leave Urbana, IL at 4:30—crossing from Central to Eastern Time—so I could arrive in time for my Sometimes, I’d show up, but the student wouldn’t; if I was lucky, I’d get an email with an explanation. In the winter, whiteouts from the lake effect made for some precarious commutes.

In my first year, I would drive the 3 hours back to Illinois after teaching 6-7 hours of non-stop lessons. In the second year, more students enrolled (which meant more income), but it meant staying overnight in South Bend, which I covered out of pocket. Keep in mind that the university was paying me $35 per lesson—criminally low even for 2017. Between these two adjunct teaching jobs, I was making ~$8k per year.

9 years later, things have gotten better in ways that 23-year-old me couldn’t have imagined. I have two good jobs that compensate me fairly and the means and time to do creative work that I care about. I still wake up at 4 AM (sometimes 3:30) to commute to work, but now it's only 6 times a semester to fly to Philadelphia to teach Curtis (!) students.

Since moving to Florida, the I-Pass on my windshield has been a daily reminder of the financially lean and emotionally difficult times—days when I felt very unsure whether I could survive being a musician or when sheer exhaustion made it extremely challenging to love playing the harp.

Even though I won't have the visual reminder anymore, I will continue to tell my students to a) advocate for decent pay in music and b) to not feel shame or failure for seeking work outside music. The music industry and its institutions have zero compunctions about exploiting passion and rewarding it with taken in Tallahassee, Florida by @nywharp

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16 days ago

Today I said to my students: performing a piece in public for the first time is like getting married.

We’ve been taught to think of the very first performance as that big moment - the culmination of all your hard work.

That’s not at all true.

The first performance marks the real start of the journey. You get to spend a lifetime getting to know that piece better and better—discovering new things about it, getting frustrated by its challenges, and allowing it to change you as a musician and sometimes even as a person.

I’ve been working on this Puccini transcription for only a year, but each time I practice it before a performance I hear it differently. And that’s a good thing.

Next Sunday at 4:00 PM, I’ll be playing it in @oldfirstconcerts as part of my latest program LES FLEURS DU MAL, which brings music by Rachmaninoff, Puccini, Wagner, Callender, Norgard, and more into Charles Baudelaire’s decaying, decadent poetic world. 🥀🪉

#harp #classicalmusic #classicalmusicians #puccini #lesfleursdumal by @nywharp

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a month ago

I rarely work on covers because who has time for that, but I may have wasted my entire Sunday morning making this instead of practicing Sebastian Currier 🫢

While I was stuck at the Philly airport on Friday, I spent most of my time listening to Erin LeCount’s two EPs and was struck by similarities between Tom Monger’s playing in Florence and the Machine records and the harp-y sounds on “Marble Arch.” A lot of pop writing for harp tends to fall under the category of “chill vibes arpeggios and glissandi”, so it’s refreshing to hear harp (whether real or MIDI) being used in a more strident and striking context.

It feels really similar to certain types of harp writing in contemporary classical music, which I really love.

@erinlecount if you ever want to perform Marble Arch with a live harpist, call me

#harp #cover by @nywharp

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a month ago

I felt inspired to write this after the past few weeks of talking to a bunch of my students at FSU and Curtis. 👩🏻‍🏫🤩

As someone who chose not to attend a conservatory in a metro area, I had a really rough time getting my own career off the ground. Everyone in my age group lost 3-4 years of prime professional development years because of the pandemic and its ripple effect in the arts.

Plus, I received very little industry guidance in my 20s (there’s barely any for harpists who want to have solo careers) and basically relied on being smart about everything I applied for—not all of which worked out btw. I’m hoping to change this for my students and get them ready earlier in their professional journeys.

Keep in mind that I’m only 32—so many would consider me to still be early career. However, in the absence of support from institutions, those of us who have gotten lucky with jobs & care deeply about the future of music will find ways to support each other’s work.

#classicalmusic #classicalmusician #hottakes #mentorship by @nywharp

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a month ago

**not just a harpist problem**

subdivide for accuracy, feel larger rhythmic phrases for groove

because no one should be busy counting every beat when there’s music to be made
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📣 concert alert 📣

I’ll be in #sanfrancisco in two weeks! 🥀 Catch LES FLEURS DU MAL at Old First Church on Sunday, Sept 20 at 4:00 PM (thx to @bac_harp for presenting me!)

I’ll also be giving a masterclass at @sfconservmusic on Saturday, Sept 19 at 5:00 PM 👩🏻‍🏫

#harp #classicalmusic #rhythm #practicetips taken in Tallahassee, Florida by @nywharp

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a month ago

#legday but for harpists

I absolutely love practicing this section for many reasons (mostly harmonic 😇) & the pedaling is absolutely worth it

Debussy’s Prelude no. 4 “Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir” (Baudelaire)

#harp #classicalmusic #debussy #baudelaire by @nywharp

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2 months ago