With several methods for learning the harp, Leisl Schutte learned the Suzuki Method, which is based on memorization and listening. (Chris DeBack photos)
Local harpist inspired by grandmother's painting
By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com
Click here to see Leslie play the harp.
When a young child is asked what instrument he or she would like to learn, answers typically range from piano to guitar, drums, trumpet, flute, clarinet, or a number of other instruments.
When Leisl Schutte of Castalia was 7 years old, her mother Rosann asked her what instrument she wanted to play. The answer she gave was quite surprising, as the young Schutte wanted to play the harp.
“My grandma, Clarine Schutte, played the piano, and above her piano she had a painting of a girl playing the harp, so I think that is where I got the idea,” Schutte recalled. “My mother and I were coming back from a dance recital, and she asked me if I was going to take dance next year. I said, ‘No,’ and she kept trying to guess what I would do. She guessed flute, piano, and gymnastics, and then I told her I wanted to take harp lessons. She said okay and probably thought I would forget about it.”
However, Leisl never forgot and would beg her mother for harp lessons. Finally, her mother relented and contacted Kephart’s Music Center, now called West Music, in Decorah. The local store told Schutte’s mother that Luther College in Decorah had a teacher who came down once every other week from Northfield, Minn., to give lessons. It wasn’t long before Leisl was signed up.
