Bios - 1998

Mary Elizabeth Walters

Hi, my name is Mary Elizabeth Walters. I am seven, and in the First Grade. I first learned about harps in the Walt Disney movie Fantasia. I was 3. I used to take a different kind of music--Kindermusic. I have a glockenspiel, but I don't play it often anymore.

I started playing the harp when I was 5. I started with a small 22 string lap harp from Musicmakers. I just got a new 31-string gothic harp custom made for me by Jim Walker in West Virgina. It has a special narrow soundboard so I can reach around it. My harp's beautiful. I love my harp. I love playing music. My favorite thing about harps is the music. My favorite piece is "Jesus Loves Me". I like performing in public. I am in recitals. I played for the Sunday School breakfast last Sunday.

I like practicing. I practice 2 times every day. I go to school and have Bible lesson. Bible lesson is my favorite part of the day. We do lots of fun activities. We make hats and can listen to tapes and we have a pet hamster and his name is Boo Boo. I like helping my Mom in the garden. When I ride (horses) it is a lot of fun and I am learning how to jump. When I have friends over at my birthday I played the harp.

Just A Member Of The Band - byChristina De Fusco

My name is Christina DeFusco, but everyone calls me Chrissy. I am in Mrs. Walker's 3rd grade in Maryland. I started taking harp lessons eight months ago. My teacher is Mrs. Lynne Barnes, a Celtic harper and music teacher. She teaches my older brother and two older sisters, too. I started taking piano lessons in the first grade from her, but I wanted to play Celtic/ Irish music like everyone else in my family. So Mrs. Barnes first taught me how to play the bodhran.

You can see by the picture we have a family band. Between the four of us we play about 20 instruments. AJ plays bagpipe, bodhran, tinwhistle, trumpet and mountain dulcimer. Amanda plays harp, piano and guitar. Elizabeth plays flute, tinwhistle, recorder, hognosed psaltery, guitar, and wants to learn the hammered dulcimer. I play piano, bodhran, harp and I got a bowed psaltery for Christmas. We started playing as a group about 2 years ago. The harp that I play is a kit from Musicmakers that my sister Amanda and my father made 3 years ago. Last Christmas Amanda got a new harp and I decided to try her old one. Lucky me, it's just my size.

We get to play together a lot. We also go to Scottish Highland Festivals with our teacher. Last year we played at the McHenry Highland Festival in McHenry, MD, and the Ligonier Highland Festival in Ligonier, PA. The best part of being in the band is that I don't have to be alone on stage. When we perform AJ does all the talking and Amanda is the one who counts off the beat and keeps us in time.

We play at nursing homes, school masses and concerts, and the county library children's hour. We also do Christmas parties and weddings. Right now we are starting to learn some new music for a concert we will do with Mrs. Barnes and some of her other students in the spring. I'm real excited about that.

I really like the harp because it's so pretty to look at and sounds like bells when you play it. When I only played the piano I couldn't play in the group because I couldn't carry the piano in Mom's van. Then they game the rhythm instruments but I still wasn't happy. Now that I play the harp I really feel like just a member of the band.

Return to Table of Contents