An Interview with DHC

I recently got an email from a student asking for an interview.  It went kind of like this:

Dear Deborah Henson-Conant,n
I am a first-year music student. I have a CD of yours which you signed to me and I received through my first harp teacher, who told me you would be a great role model.

Through school, we are discovering ourselves musically, asking “what am I as a musician and why do I play music?” We were asked to choose a musician we would like to emulate to interview. I was wondering if you would be available sometime soon for an interview … I can send the questions to you ahead of time so you can consider your answers.

I knew I might be too busy for a one-on-one interview, so last weekend I sat down with Jeila Irdmusa, my artist liason, and answered the questions in my studio.  

Here are the questions, and the answers are in the videos. (And, by the way, I’m wearing my super-rhinestone earrings in the videos because I was about to hold my “Fancy Dress Virtual Meet & Greet” for my new online course)

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1. “Can you describe your first experience with the Harp?” (click the image below to link to the video on YouTube, then hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this page)

2. “How do you describe your genre/style of music?” (click the image below to link to the video on YouTube, then hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this page)

3. What was your educational process with the Harp? (click the image below to link to the video on YouTube, then hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this page)

4. Did you play an instrument before the harp? (click the image below to link to the video on YouTube, then hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this page)

5. What obstacles did you encounter being not a “stereotypical” harpist?
(click the image below to link to the video on YouTube, then hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this page)

6. Given your success, what advice could you offer to someone aspiring to succeed in this field? (click the image below to link to the video on YouTube, then hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this page)

… any questions?