Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to buy a harp if my child joins WYHS?

No, and we don’t recommend purchasing a harp for our beginners. Harps are expensive instruments and your child needs to show interest and dedication before you consider buying a harp.

If I don’t own a harp, how will my child practice?

You have several options to allow your child to practice. You can bring your child to the hospital to practice any time our suite is open. This is typically every week night except for Tuesday. You can also make arrangements to unlock the suite yourself at a time of your choosing. Finally, we offer harps for rent at reasonable prices by the weekend, month, or school holiday.

WYHS seems more expensive than some other music programs. Why?

Most other music programs require you to provide your own instrument to class. Because that is not practical for harps, we maintain a collection of 26 harps valued at many thousands of dollars. In addition to purchasing new harps as we need them, we also must constantly supply strings for them, a budget item that runs more than $1,000 each year. We keep our fees as low as we can without compromising the financial stability of the Society.

Do I need to know how to tune a harp?

Yes, but have no fear. We teach all of our parents to tune using electronic tuners, so no “ear” for music is necessary.