Harp

Alice Davis is a Senior at Drew Charter School. Alice is a member of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble and has been studying for four years in the harp education program at Drew. Alice has so far performed in several UYHE events, including seven bi-annual UYHE concerts and two end-of-program recitals for the Blue Lake harp intensive program. Incredibly dedicated to advancement, Alice jumped to the advanced class in the second semester of her second year of harp.

One contributor to her fast progression was her time at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, a two-week intensive program where students closely study music theory, harp history, learn good techniques, and learn how to play in an orchestra setting. At the end of the program in 2023, Alice performed with her harp peers in Blue Lake’s MasterWorks Orchestra, performing the Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky. This experience carried her into success in the Georgia Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble Competitions, winning seven Superior medals across 4 competitions. Also with the GMEA, Alice participated in an ensemble performance at their yearly educator's conference in Athens.

In her senior year, Alice has been proud to perform at several events outside of the UYHE, including opening for popular singer Lauren Daigle at the Fox Theater, playing at the Ebon Dooley Legacy Awards, and opening for the 2026 Georgia Youth Leadership Awards.

In addition to the harp, Alice is an avid reader, writer, singer, and performer. She documents her life through poetry, which she publishes online, and has accomplished much with it, including participating in the Governor's Honors Program for communicative arts. Alongside her written expression, Alice loves the stage. She has performed in several Drew Theatre productions, including Fame the Musical and Grease. She is passionate about bike activism, and commutes to school on a RAD E-Bike every day. She is planning to study history, literature, and harp ensemble at Kenyon College next fall.

GMEA Conference Performance

Practical Harpist Project

In this project, we prepared for a career in harp gigging by preparing business cards, a biography, headshots, and sample contracts for a gig. This process also gave us extra information on taxes as a self-employed musician, how to network with other musicians, and how to manage a contract. As a part of this project, we recorded a performance of a piece of our choice in order to display repertoire to potential clients.

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Semester Concerts

Pop Song Arrangement Project

For this project, we were tasked with choosing a song freely to arrange on the harp utilizing our knowledge of chord theory. For this project I chose "Red Wine Supernova" by Chappell Roan. "Red Wine Supernova" was one of the singles for Chappell Roan’s hit 2023 album “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”. As in much of Roan’s music, the feel is upbeat and high energy, with only small sections of the song slowing to a ballad-like tempo. “Red Wine Supernova” explores the theme of queerness through the lens of the “night out” so glorified by the young adult. Roan refers to a single muse throughout the song, putting her on a pedestal as a thing she shouldn’t have, but wants very badly. In the process of arranging the song, I found a lot of difficulty in replicating the instrumentals by way of editing my vocals on top of a harp track, so instead I took a different approach altogether and simplified the harp part to sing the vocals live on top of it. Though I could not get a fully perfect take, I feel the one I chose most fully encompassed by efforts to maintain the feel of the original track.

Alice Davis - Untitled May 19, 2024, 835PM.m4a

Sophmore Intermediate Showcase

Mock Wedding Project

Me: Ceremony and Recessional

Imari: Processional

Mattie: Prelude

In my group's wedding I performed an excerpt of "Golden Swallowtail" for the ceremony and "A Whole New World" for the recessional. I felt I could have done better if I had more time to practice and done the same drills as my peers. Entering this project late presented challenges with my time management. I worked to simplify my pieces to make them more approachable and achievable with less practice time. On the day of the final wedding, we were missing a group member, so we worked together to make some executive decisions regarding the "In Ceremony" piece. We decided as a group that a part of my personal solo would be most suitable and accessible as a solution to our issue. One struggle I felt I did not handle as well as I could have was the sudden walk-off of the wedding party following the objections. The suddenness of the event and my lack of preparation (I forgot to set the right pedals) caused me to stumble my way through my recessional piece. Despite these trials and tribulations, I am still proud of my outcome given the circumstances.

Freshman Beginner Showcase

I enjoyed learning and showcasing these pieces thoroughly. My favorite part of playing Halo was the flair I added to the notes in between the choruses. I enjoyed being able to play higher up on the harp during the second repeat of the Staircase piece. I found keeping up with the notes in the chorus of Halo a bit difficult, but overall achievable. With Staircase, my biggest struggle was the hand switch within every two measures of the song, my peers also had some trouble with this as well. I find it interesting that the height of one's chair can affect how the harp sits on someone's shoulder.

Brandee Younger Tiny Desk Concert

This concert included both classical and jazz techniques on solo harp and with a jazz ensemble. I enjoyed the use of the harp to add to the melody and natural flow jazz has naturally. It truly felt like each piece gave Brandee Younger's expert technique and improvisation time to shine. The addition of vocals in the piece "A Brand New Life" added a sense of relaxation and ease to the overall mood. I noticed techniques such as rolled chords, arpeggios, cadenzas, and harmonics. Her solo pieces were expertly played and I loved the inclusion of her piece "Unrest" which was composed in the context of the George Floyd protest of 2020. When the percussion and bass joined in, it added another dimension to the beauty of the harp's cadenzas and rolled chords.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a seasonal ballet that follows a girl named Clara and an animated Nutcracker through a fantastical world after a battle with the Rat King. There are many dances that showcase this world such as the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies and Trepak. I have seen the ballet at the Fox Theater and have seen animated adaptations of the ballet's story.

The piece we are playing is Trepak or Russian Dance. It is a speedy piece that is played in 2/4 but is often conducted in 1 due to the speed of the piece. In the ballet, either a large ensemble or two dancers dance in a Russian style that features a lot of leaps and landing on one's heels. This shows one of the man performances put on for Clara and the Nutcracker as they travel through the Kingdom of Sweets.

Johannes Brahms: Berceuse

This is a classic lullaby used all over the world. I have heard it many times before, but not in its full orchestral arrangement. I enjoyed hearing the full orchestration and how it fleshed out the sound of the piece overall. The harmonies truly complemented the familiar melody, and it gave the piece a warm feel. I am very excited to learn this as an ensemble piece with my peers.

Malecki- Concerto for Two Harps

This piece reminds me of montage scenes in a movie in which a team is carrying out a grand heist from an art gallery. The piece is very rushed and it seems the harppart works to accent the melody brought about by the orchestra. The harp part settles in the higher octaves and seems both devious and playful. My personal goal for this piece is to be able to count my rests properly and come in on time based on my counting.

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