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This research project documents the evolution of harp pedagogy in twentieth century America. The investigation focused on teaching trends, materials used, and influences that had an impact on the harp community during this period of time. Information for the study was gathered through questionnaires and personal interviews.Seventy-one harp teachers from throughout the United States, divided into three groups based upon experience, completed a survey on harp pedagogy. Respondents answered questions regarding school of harp playing, instructional methods, and the sequencing of technical skills for the beginning student. In addition, teachers provided their opinions about the quantity and quality of harp teaching materials during the twentieth century, and listed important individuals, organizations, and events. Data gathered from surveys was compared for similarities and differences between the three groups.Results indicated that opportunities for harp study increased significantly from 1900-2000, and that 77% of all teaching materials currently in use were written in 1930 or later. The diversity of teaching methods and materials increased as well, with moderately experienced and less experienced teachers being more likely to combine schools of harp playing in their instruction and use a variety of books with beginning students. The more experienced group of teachers tended to have specific opinions about what materials they use in lessons and were more likely to follow a single school of harp playing. A majority of teachers agreed that the quantity of harp teaching materials increased during the twentieth century, but felt that the quality of these materials either stayed the same or declined. / School of Music

Contemporary Etudes for Harp consists of twelve etudes dealing with two major areas. The primary area of concern is to expose the harpist to many of the compositional techniques used in twentieth-century harp music. A second concern deals with the way sounds can be produced on the harp as well as the involvement of the performer in producing sounds. Problems involved in the notation of these special effects are also addressed in these twelve etudes.Etudes I, II, III, IV, VII, IX, and X deal more specifically with compositional techniques that are frequently found in twentieth century harp music. Modality, polytonality, the use of synthetic scales, quartal harmony, non-traditional use of traditional harmony and scales, and mixed and changing meters are included in these chapters.Less-commonly used techniques are found in Etudes V, VI, VIII, XI, and XII. These deal with the use of sounds and silences and their durations, graphic notation, and a simple introduction into aleatoric music. Emphasis is also placed on pitch selection and organization through the use of a pitch class set and serialism.The level of the etudes ranges from medium to difficult and presupposes that the harpist would be capable of achieving an undergraduate degree in harp performance. The length of the etudes ranges from 2 1/2 minutes to 4 minutes. Some of the problems which contribute which contribute to the difficulty to these etudes are the use of rapid pedal changes, three-note pedal glissandos, using a tuning fork to change pitches on a given string, interpreting graphic notation, maintaining a musical sense of direction within a given time frame, and dealing with rapidly changing time signatures. The harpist must also make choices in the order in which events are to occur in the aleatoric piece. In the final etude using graphic notation, singing is required by the harpist.Because new compositional techniques and special effects are continually being introduced, this study is not intended to be all encompassing. It is instead intended to be used for score study and to provide musical studies which clearly demonstrate the specific techniques included in each other.