By Sarah Beckett

On August 9th I arrived at the beautiful Low Farm in Suffolk to begin my stay at Ibacus International Harp Course. I was immediately welcomed by the tutors, Charlotte Seale and Imogen Barford, and the wonderful Victoria who looked after us and fed us like royalty.

On our first day we performed briefly for each other to give Imogen, Charlotte, and everyone else an indication of our strengths and weaknesses. We quickly got to know each other around the harps and over meals, particularly when we were taken to the local village by a horse-drawn carriage. It was driven by the fantastic John who chatted to us all, gave us a brief history of the village and his own business (the horse taking us on our way had been in War Horse) and promised faithfully to bring himself, 12 friends and a dog to our end-of-course concert.

Our days were filled with workshops, group classes, private lessons and practice time, as well as breaks and social activities. The small classes allowed us to work with a tutor and 3 other students, and were invaluable in helping us to improve both our performance and technique. Students were invited to 'teach' another student which made the classes more interactive and also helped us spot problem areas. Having raised countless elbows and prodded countless backs I am certainly more aware of how I play!

The workshops covered a wide range of topics, from professional tips to memorisation, and we enjoyed a baroque workshop with Joy Smith who brought many different instruments for us to try, from triple harps to electric harps. We looked at playing both baroque and medieval melodies in different styles and were taught unusual accompanying effects and techniques.

Ibacus attracted a wide variety of harpists, from students at conservatoires to members of the National Youth Orchestra.  Whenever students gather and work intensively on similar projects there is always a risk of competitiveness, but Ibacus could not have been more different. Regardless of a student’s initial standard or rate of improvement, the atmosphere was always supportive and helpful.  We would frequently help each other out in our own time, and I learned invaluable tips from students who have studied the same piece before.

Credit must of course go to Imogen and Charlotte, who not only imparted huge quantities of advice and wisdom but also helped to foster this wonderful environment. It is truly impressive to help people understand exactly what they need to improve without ever being demoralising or patronising, but they managed it with ease, and this certainly contributed to the levels of progress achieved in just 6 days.

For a concert on the final day, we polished one particular piece. For many of us, performance was a particular concern - we could all play the piece in question perfectly as long as we were sure no-one was listening. If, however, we realised that people were in fact listening or (horror of horrors) actually LOOKING at us, the performance rather went out of the window and instead it became a desperate fight for survival as we hoped against hope that we wouldn't fall off the strings or end up with entirely the wrong pedal setting. Throughout the week we practised performing and announcing, and were given lots of advice on memorisation, expression, and how to cover up and keep going when it all goes horrendously wrong.

The evening before our concert we had been witness to a wonderful recital by Lucy Wakeford, and we were all feeling inspired by this. Practising began the next day with even more focus, but also a calmness - we had realised firsthand that the performance is of utmost importance to the audience, and so we mustn't sacrifice that to berate ourselves over the odd questionable chord.

The final day was a jumble of last-minute cramming; peaceful chatting; harp rearranging; and the very awkward moment when you're not sure you've ever practised playing in your concert dress. The concert itself went swimmingly - our solo pieces were showcased by ensemble performances of Roger's 'Some Enchanted Evening' and Ortiz's 'Danza de Luzma' and a trio performance of 'Take Five', arranged by Fontane Liang. Everyone played beautifully, and the progress we had made in a mere 6 days was startlingly evident. As the final chords were played, the audience burst into applause (in the case of our parents, rapturous though slightly biased applause) and we all bowed delightedly as we realised how much we'd accomplished.

Ibacus was an incredible experience for all involved. I've made new friends, achieved technical progress, and above all I now feel confident in my playing. I understand how to practise and how to project what I'm feeling in the music across to the audience in my performance so they can share in it too. I'd recommend Ibacus to any harp student who wants to learn and improve.