Anna Hirons

Junior Anna Hirons had always loved the sound of the cello, so when the opportunity to play the instrument presented itself when she was in fourth grade at Rockland Elementary School, she decided to play. Around the same time, her mom began to take harp lessons, and she “soon jumped on board.” After taking lessons and picking up the harp, she “fell in love with the instrument.” For seven years now, Hirons has played both instruments. She plays for the school’s Symphony Orchestra and band, and is playing for the fall musical, “Pippin,” in the pit orchestra.

Whether she plays the cello or the harp for a specific song depends on if the harp has a prevalent part. On average, she will play “one or two pieces every two concerts,” explained orchestra teacher Mr. Jeremy Marino. Though she enjoys playing both instruments, she prefers the harp: “I like the uniqueness of the harp, and it just comes easier to me.”

Outside of school, she takes lessons from a private teacher and plays in the Chicago Harp Ensemble, a group run by her teacher and two other professional harpists. The group ranges from elementary school to high school students, and they cover mostly jazz or classical music for their two concerts a year. “There are many practices leading up to the concerts, and they are always very fun and positive environments,” Hirons elaborated.

In addition to the Chicago Harp Ensemble, Hirons plays with the North Suburban Wind Ensemble, a group that “is made up of many professional musicians who are mostly teachers of their instrument.” She considers it an honor to be able to play with them.

One of her favorite memories during her harp career is when she got to “form a harp duo with a good friend.” They were given the opportunity to perform in different events around the Lake County area.

For LHS, she participates in different competitions through the school, like the one run by the Illinois Music Educators Association (ILMEA). One of her favorite experiences from playing with the school was when she played the harp with the LHS Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall in April of 2017.

Playing the harp for school performances adds a new element to pieces: “There are moments where it’s just super great to have that color that [a song] was meant to have,” stated Mr. Marino. “It just adds an extra element that the composer wanted.”

The school will on average have one harp player every four years, according to Mr. Marino; he also expressed they were “very lucky to have a harp player.” Mr. Dustin Helvie, the head of the Fine Arts Department and director of the pit orchestra, conveyed “Anna is an outstanding musician and student. She adds a wonderful timbre to each ensemble.”

Hirons feels some pressure being the only harpist at the school, but there are several benefits: “It’s a little stressful [that] all of the harp needs are on one person. But I like it; it reduces the competition, so that’s good.”

As the only harpist, there is a lot of demand from her to play in multiple performances. She stated that her workload is “at its peak right now” with learning music for the musical, preparing for ILMEA auditions, and getting ready for both orchestra and band’s winter and spring concerts.

“It’s kind of hard because for harpists, we have to get our music way ahead of time so that we can adjust it for the harp because there aren’t a lot of harp parts,” she explained. “I have a lot of music for a long period of time and it eventually dwindles down.”

For Hirons, music is her “main focus” in life. She sees music and playing instruments as “a different way to express yourself, and it’s a lot different than any sport or anything that you could do.”

Her favorite part of playing the harp is the ability to play more contemporary songs that she enjoys: “I like when I’m able to learn new songs — like songs that I recognize — on my own. So not necessarily classical music that [I] have to learn, but more popular songs that I can pick up easier,” she expressed. “As I improve, I can play the songs I recognize easier.”

Beyond high school, she doesn’t plan on becoming a professional musician, but rather wants to go into business or meteorology. However, she wants to continue playing music and join some orchestra groups in college.