The harp program at Odessa High School is, for now, small but wiry.

Headed by Francesca Florance, the program has been in Ector County ISD since 1997 but has built from the elementary level up.

OHS now has six students, which may not seem like a lot, “but it works,” Florance said.

ECISD Fine Arts Director Aaron Hawley said Florance is in charge of all the district’s harp programs and she said she teaches 35 students on pedal and lever harps.

Odessa High School junior Natalie Marquez, 16, plays “the Water is Wide” during harp class Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at Odessa High School. (Jacob Ford|Odessa American)

The pedal harps are the large ones and the lever harps are a bit smaller, she said.

“I have 11 pedal harps and I want to say 15 lever harps, so I’ve got six of the big ones here, four or five at the middle school and then all the lever harps are at Milam,” said Florance, who is now in her third year.

Florance has played harp since high school.

“I’m from Detroit. I’ve been playing harp for a long time. I started when I was about their age. I started in high school and I went to school for music. I went to Wayne State University in Detroit and I was planning to teach band or orchestra and those were the jobs I was applying for. I wasn’t planning on leaving the state … but I saw this job posted on a harp website and I applied just thinking, oh I’m not going to get up and move to Texas. That would be crazy. It was sort of a dream job that I didn’t even know existed,” Florance said.

“I got the job and I decided to come down here because I couldn’t turn down something like a once in a lifetime job,” she added.

Florance said she thought there was one program like ECISD’s in Michigan and three in Texas.

Odessa High School sophomore Ghianna Villegas, 15, plays “the Water is Wide” during harp class Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at Odessa High School. (Jacob Ford|Odessa American)

“… We’re super fortunate to have this, to be able to serve kids who really wouldn’t have an opportunity like this otherwise. We have amazing fine arts here in ECISD. It’s a little … hidden gem out here in the desert. I’m so happy that I’m able to serve these kids every day; teach them harp,” Florance said.

Asked how difficult it is to learn harp, she said any instrument has its challenges.

“… The unique challenge with the harp is that you use your hands and your feet. The only thing you can really compare that to is maybe (the) organ. It’s just some extra coordination. We don’t go all at once hands and feet. They learn that stuff as they grow and as they develop in the program, so it’s difficult, but there are challenges to playing the flute …”

A benefit of the harp is that you can get a good sound right away.

With the violin, for example, you’re going to be a “little scratchy” for a while.

“But there’s sort of some instant gratification for kids, because (they) can get a good sound on day two,” Florance said. “I would say my second-year students have a pretty good grasp on it already.”

Odessa High School sophomore Annabelle Hughes, 15, plays “the Water is Wide” during harp class Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at Odessa High School. (Jacob Ford|Odessa American)

“As long I can get them reading music and things, we’re able to work in a group we’re building all kinds of different skills. I would say it only takes like a year of really good foundation to be able to play … intermediate type music,” she said.

Florance said she plays professionally, and as with most things, it’s been difficult with COVID, but with things opening up she and her students have some events coming up.

They will play with the orchestra on Oct. 7 and on Saturday, the OHS musicians will be playing at the Ellen Noël Art Museum’s Community Art Day.

“That’s our first gig this year and I’m super excited to bring them out,” Florance said.

She said she also is working with the UTPB orchestra and will perform with them Sept. 28 at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center as a featured soloist.

Odessa High School sophomore Dahlia Velasquez, 15, plays “the Water is Wide” during harp class Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at Odessa High School. (Jacob Ford|Odessa American)

Dahlia Velasquez, a 15-year-old sophomore, and Natalie Marquez, a 16-year-old junior, have been playing harp for five years each.

Velasquez has had several relatives who have played the harp.

Marquez went to private school for elementary, so when she got to Ector Middle School there were a lot of extracurricular activities.

She thought playing the harp might be boring, but it wasn’t.

“I thought it was challenging and I thought it made me more interesting and eventually I just grew to like it. … It’s a good conversation starter,” Velasquez said.

“I like that you can play parts super fast. On Fridays, we have competitions so we have this warm-up book and we take turns picking who gets to do the warm-up, and we play it increasingly faster until whoever’s the last one to mess up gets like candy or these sunglasses or other prizes she finds in weird places,” Velasquez said.

Marquez said Velasquez is better at pedals.

With all six harpists, Florance said it makes for a good sound.

“… They all have their strengths at different things,” Florance said, and she assigns them different things based on their strengths and weaknesses.

“Because the program is so small I can do that. I can program very specifically to work on different skills for them …,” Florance said.