Student Artist Spotlight

Artist: Simone Salmon, harpist
When did you first beginning playing the harp?
My music teacher in Santa Barbara, Rebekkah Scogin, plays every instrument imaginable. I started out taking piano lessons from her at age seven, but saw a harp at my first piano recital and asked my teacher about it. She jumped at the chance to teach another harpist and began teaching me both instruments. Her excitement at having a harp student took the best of her, and my lessons quickly changed to only harp. My parents bought a Celtic harp and I began learning Celtic music. When I turned nine, my teacher began taking me to play gigs with her at Christmastime in shopping malls and at parties. In high school I held three regular gigs at two Irish pubs and a Danish bakery. Performing downtown with business cards got me playing one or two weddings every couple of weeks. I met other musicians in town, and although everyone was at least thirty years older than me, we played quite a few gigs together.

What artists inspire you in your musical endeavors? Is there anyone in particular that inspired to start playing?
My great grandfather was a musical genius. He played the oud, a middle eastern predecessor to the lute. In his spare time he played (literally) thousands of ancient Sephardic songs, and eventually his wife made an archive of them and donated it to the UCLA Ethnomusicology Museum. She recorded him singing in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and wrote the words down on paper. That archive contains some of the only recordings in existence of those songs. All my life my family has talked of his talent, and his oud still sits above my harp in the corner of the living room. My music teacher in Santa Barbara, Rebekah Scogin, exposed me to competitions and festivals at a young age, which eased the anxiety that comes along with performance. She broke me in with gigs so that performing in front of people wasn't scary. She taught me a certain skill that not every classical musician has by making me think about every piece of music in chords and intervals. This helped me later when people would make requests at gigs and I needed to play a song by ear. On top of this, she was a mother to me. In the middle of a messy divorce, my mother's way of making my dad angry was to claim that she didn't like the idea of me playing gigs and entering competitions. But Rebekah drove from her house downtown to mine to pick up my instrument, drove me back downtown to play my gigs, then dropped my off at my house afterward and went back to her home. She convinced my dad that purchasing a pedal harp was a worthy idea. That harp has gotten me where I am now.

Where do you see yourself going with your music? Is it something you would like to pursue professionally?
There is no doubt that I want to pursue music professionally. Exactly how I'll pursue it is uncertain. My dream is to move to Ireland, join an orchestra there, and play gigs at pubs in my free time. My fascination with Celtic music has stayed with me since the beginning, but I couldn't bear to give up classical music. I also enjoy arranging music for harp and giving lessons. As soon as my music history classes are finished, I'll work as a harp teacher during the day with my teacher here at UCLA at an elementary school in Compton.

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