Julia Kay Jamieson This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. Herald & Review - Music to young ears; Harpist plucks magic for Decatur schoolchildren, By VALERIE WELLS - H&R Staff Writer

   www.herald-review.com/articles - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/13/2006   Last Visited: 1/13/2006

   Julia Kay Jamieson, the principal arranger for the HarpCore 4 quartet, harpist with the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra and a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois, gave performances at South Shores, Garfield Montessori, Mount Zion Intermediate and French Academy on Thursday.
   ...
   "I was only 6 when I started taking lessons," Jamieson told the students. "I saw someone playing a harp at a wedding and I thought, 'That's so cool, I want to play that.'"
   
   She took lessons for 16 years, she said. Now she holds a master's degree in harp performance from the U of I and makes her living playing the harp.
   
   The first piece she learned as a child, she said, was "Over the Rainbow," and while she can play a much more complicated version now than she could then, she still loves the song and performed it for the kids, who listened in complete silence and burst into enthusiastic applause when she finished. Her repertoire included a little bit of everything, from the first movement of Handel's "Harp Concerto in B Flat Major" to the theme from "The Pink Panther" to a brand-new work, "Song of the Timberland," whose world premiere was Jamieson's performances on Thursday.
   ...
   Some of French's own young musicians were impressed with Jamieson and her instrument, too.