(Erzsébet Gaál was a student of Hedvig Lubik at the Franz Liszt Academy. This interview, conducted in the fall of 1995, is based on the subject of teaching.)


Gaál: What does harp teaching mean to you?

Lubik: Teaching has meant different things in different times of my life. I began teaching at a young age, and I had the harp position at the Opera as well. I was terribly busy. At that time, I restricted myself to teaching by demonstrating. I wasn’t able to explain very much then, but I could demonstrate. I also learned how to draw music out of a student and to know the capabilities of each one. I learned a great amount from my students, since I was obliged to formulate all that I wanted to achieve. Through this, I matured in my own profession.

Gaál: What does it take to be a good harp instructor?

Lubik: A good instructor in any field must have similar abilities. The most important, in my opinion, is to build a relationship over and above the concerns of the subject being taught. I have never treated my students as “only students,” but rather as human beings of quasi-equal rank to whom I give advice. I have had to reconsider this philosophy many times due to lazy students, and I have performed many experiments less strict, helping to break their problems down into smaller segments, bring in inspirational materials such as recordings, and much else. It is a complex subject and I have not always succeeded. In the cases of the few students who did not practice seriously, they also didn’t have success in their field. I hope that they learned something about their attitude towards work and the instrument. There were also those students that were very disorganized. A harpist cannot afford to be this way because the instrument requires a tremendous love of order, as can be seen, for example, in pedaling.

Gaál: What do you feel is the important approach to teaching?

Lubik: Teachers should always make great musical requirements of the student. This should always come first. It is good to have a perfect hand position and flawless technique, but all of this is just a tool that allows the performer to express himself or herself. And this the goal - to express oneself musically. Even the small child can begin this. A child does not need complex theoretical explanations - but they must be asked to sing the phrases and to know where one would breathe. They can be taught musicianship without being bored by academic rhetoric.

It is also necessary to make the adult students sing through the phrases, but the first and most important thing is what the student feels about the music; how he or she connects to the piece, thinks about it and draws from it. I often make stories to go with the music if the student needs help in finding inspiration, as I believe the most important thing is that the student should always want to express something.

I believe that everyone should attend concerts and listen to good music so that one’s expectations will rise and one will learn from great artists and good conductors. I have learned a tremendous amount from great conductors and I have made use of it all in my teaching.

Gaál: Tell us some stories about your experience with the orchestra.

Lubik: One of my experiences was humility, i.e., that of being a tiny ant taking part in a great structure, which was the sixty-member orchestra. It was always my goal to play my part in such a way that the mood and feeling was appropriate to the overall work. When a conductor asked for passages to be played a certain way, I would always do it. If I disagreed and had to play out of obligation, I felt very uncomfortable. But when working with the good and great conductors, it was such a pleasure and I was in awe of their insights and interpretations. From these conductors I learned a great deal and enjoyed playing my parts in the way I was asked to do it. I also attempted to express the color of the instrument I was accompanying or joining. For example, when playing with cymbals, I do not arpeggiate the chord at all or it would sound late. When I play a single note together with a gong, I try to make the string sound like a gong. I draw to my students’ attention the color of an English horn or bassoon. There is a fantastic scale of this type of color-variation, and if one tries, it is possible to do it on the harp. Thinking in terms of such colors is also very important for solo playing.

Gaál: What do you think about the role of the harp in chamber music?

Lubik: Oh, chamber music is my favorite, although I wish there were more outstanding chamber works using harp. When I was a member of the Budapest Chamber Ensemble, we mainly played modern pieces. I love orchestral work, but I adore playing chamber music. For example, the Debussy Trio Sonata is the kind of piece that is such a pleasure to play because it has so many different interpretations. With good musicians, the work itself is such joy - to bring it all together, to even breathe together. Those moments are like miracles.

Gaál: How would you guide beginning harp instructors?

Lubik: I would tell them always to be truthful with their students. So often students draw their inspiration from the beauty of the instrument, the glissando or the evening gowns. Teachers need to tell students the truth - that it is bloody, sweaty, hard work! And those who cannot bear it, or are lazy, or don’t want to do it, might as well give up sooner than later. Of course there are those to whom you can speak directly and others to whom you must be more diplomatic!

Since most of my students are older when I start to teach them, I tell them this without hesitation. I tell them quite harshly, ‘This is what must be done and it’s not worthwhile to do it in any other way. Not to work seriously and just hope that it will be okay is not worthwhile, and your whole life will suffer from this attitude.

Gaál: What is the most important goal of your work?

Lubik: I hope to teach better and better students and to see them graduate from the Academy, but I always emphasize that the diploma is just one plateau in all of life. In my own case, it seemed that after I received my diploma was the time I truly became aware of everything I had learned up to that point. It was then that I began using my skills and say what needed to be developed. So often, students will say, ‘Oh, now I’ve got my diploma....’, and I always want to tell them that this is nothing, that this is just the beginning. Now is the time to further develop while you have the strength for it.

During the five years my students are with me at the Academy, I hope that I can direct them not only in music and harp technique, but also a tiny bit on a personal level. I try to do it unnoticeably where possible, but even with the students who are the least open, I hope to broaden their scope of humanity or ease their attitudes towards life.

Copyright 1995, World Harp Congress Review
Printed originally in the Fall issue of World Harp Congress Review.
Used by permission.