To protect their harps as musicians are moving around, Ector County ISD Harp Director Francesca Florance was awarded a $2,075 grant from the Education Foundation called “Covering Our Bases in Harp Education.”
When the harpists go to other locations, they load them on to their trailer.
“There are these big, soft cases. There’s a piece for the big part of the harp and then there’s a piece that goes on the bottom. The bottom part takes the brunt of the damage when we’re moving around. The ones that we had were in pretty bad shape, so we replaced the bottom covers (for) the bases,” Florance said.
“That way we’re not putting them on concrete or on the ground anywhere. We’re always inside with the bottoms of the harps,” she added.
They got six base covers and one full set — the base and the column cover.
“We have seven of the concert grand line and (Lyon &) Healy harps, which is what the kids use day to day. We have different sets for the middle school harps, which are smaller harps. And then the elementary harps, we just use a dust cover … to protect them from the air and anything else out there. But we don’t move those as often. These are the harps that get moved all the time,” Florance said.
It’s usually the high school harps that get moved the most.
“I know the Education Foundation does a lot of great stuff for music education in the area. We went and we performed at their birthday bash last year, which put me in contact with (Foundation Executive Director) Mrs. (Celeste) Potter. And so when the grant came up this year, I kind of felt confident that I had enough experience to know what I was doing to write it and I’ve been here long enough that I kind of know what I need to ask for now,” Florance said.
This was Florance’s first grant award, so she didn’t know what to expect. However, it was relatively easy to apply for the grant.
“They had a form online and they do a grant writing seminar beforehand, which basically tells you everything you need to know. All in all, it was probably only a couple hours of work,” Florance said.
She added that she would encourage other teachers to go for grants.
“If you need something that’s a little outside of your budget, but not a lot outside of your budget, it’s a great way to get things that’ll greatly improve your program and … give you the things that you need to keep doing your job well,” she said.
“It’s a great program. They do good work,” Florance added.
This is Florance’s fourth year with ECISD. There are 32 students all together in the harp program from Bowie Middle School, Milam Elementary Magnet and Odessa High School.
Since the students can’t take the harps home to practice, Florance said they have to be really conscious about how they use their time during class.
“My varsity group typically meets once a week after school just to get an extra hour in there,” she added.
The harpists have a gig coming up Dec. 10 at Music City Mall.
“We’re usually not miked, but I think we’re going to be miked at the mall. We’ve played at the Ellen Noël (Art Museum). We’ve played a couple events at the Marriott and we’re usually loud enough with five of them,” Florance said.
She added that she wanted to thank the Education Foundation for providing the grant and helping the students.
