ABOUT ME : Cindy Kleinstuber, Classically Original Music

Photo by Christopher Smith. Part of the "Falling To Heaven" album photo shoot.

I knew by age 5 that I wanted to play music. (You can read more about my musical journey below.) I have a B.Mus.Ed. in Music Education and Clarinet Performance from Heidelberg College. I took up the harp almost by accident, long after college, and it quickly took over my life.

My first harp teacher was Roxanne Ziegler, in Rochester, New York. I give her so much credit for teaching me the right way, taking me seriously as an adult beginner, and spending about three years with me before she suggested I move on to Grace Wong (Rochester Philharmonic) for some serious pedal harp training. All together, I studied harp seriously for five years, with my two wonderful teachers, all the while practicing three hours or more a day. I happened to be in a position where I had the time....so I took advantage of that opportunity.

I began teaching harp in 2002 when I moved to Colorado. Within days of being written up in the local newspaper, I began getting calls about harps and harp lessons. My students, then and now, were predominantly adult women, both with and without musical backgrounds, who were drawn to playing the harp just as I was.

Choosing the right teacher to study with is the first challenge for the adult harp student. One essential quality to look for is a teacher who herself has been well trained. Developing good technique, both for one's own safety and for quality of sound, is especially important to one coming to the harp later in life. I believe in teaching how to use the hands/fingers correctly, how each finger works, why it works, how and why it works with the rest of the fingers, and how all of that relates to the wrist, the forearm, the elbow, the shoulder, the rest of the body, and to the music. There is no short cut to properly learning to play the harp. It takes time, hard work and dedication to these important principles. And it is well worth your time!

It was to that end that I wrote "Interactive Harp" and "Grow Your Skills." "Interactive Harp" is more than just a "learn to play the lever harp" book. It is a manual with wonderful pictures and explanations, lots of exercises and music pieces, even a music primer for the music newbies trying to learn harp. I wrote this guide with adult learners in mind, especially those who long to learn harp but may have no teacher available. With my email support, and optional phone lessons, it makes learning harp a possibility for almost anyone.

My collection of "learn to play" materials has grown considerably over the past few years. My "Harp In Hand" is a definitive guide to placing and fingering patterns. "Rhythm Matters" is a bit all about counting music, for those with "counting issues." "The Bass Clef Survival Guide"...well...that is self explanatory. My newest is "Hands Together! Practical Practice and Sight Reading For Harp." I have a large collection of melodic studies and teaching solos as well. You will find them all in my "Learn To Play the Harp" section.

Since I began offering phone lessons in 2006, I have taught hundreds of them. They really do work! You can read more about them, and what people have said about them, in my "learn to play the harp" section.

I grew up in adoration of the piano. My family didn't actually have one, so I was not allowed to take lessons. I did take up the clarinet at age 10, and it was love at first sight. It didn't stop me that at "band introduction night" they told me my hands were too small, I would never be able to really play. I decided to play the clarinet and play the clarinet I did. It took me through college on a scholarship, and I played until I was forced to give it up due to a mouth injury not long after college.

Meanwhile, I had been given a three-or-so octave "chord organ" at the age of 12. My mom showed me where middle C was, and gave me a stack of her old piano books. I taught myself keyboard from there. I played that little electronic keyboard for four years until we finally got a piano when I was 16. Still no lessons...that would come in college. But it was a real piano, and I had never lost my desire to play.

In college, although I was there on a clarinet scholarship, I also extensively studied piano and violin, as well as the usual classes on woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. If I had to name the one instrument I seriously couldn't be without, aside from harps, it would be the piano.

In 1987 I put together a very small (and by today's standards very cumbersome) electronic music studio, and began to write and record music. I used the synth sounds as inspiration, and recorded my music track over track, one track at a time. I never wrote the music down, I just recorded it out of my head into my little sequencer. My "Out Of The Blue" album was written that way,and finessed at my then-producer's studio before it came out in 1990.

When I took up the harp in 1993, it was quite a switch from the synthesizers I had been used to. But the harp drew me to it, much as the piano had when I was 5, and the clarinet when I was 10. It was no big stretch to start writing harp music. One day I just....did.

In around 1996 I had called Daniel Burton (Jubal Press) to talk about ordering some of his harp music, and mentioned I had been writing a bit. He told me to send him my work, maybe he could give me some pointers. When I heard back from him a few of weeks later (there was no email back then, how did we LIVE?) he told me he wanted to do a bit of editing, and publish my pieces in a book. So he did. That is how my first two real published books of harp music were born. They were called "Reflections" (a book of original pedal harp pieces) and "Images" (a book of original lever harp pieces.) Not long after that, Melody's (Afghan Press) published more new music I had written. That music became "Serenity" and "Lever Serenity."

In late 1999 I was rear-ended by a speeder on a dark night, while turning into my driveway. Although I wasn't seriously injured, my arms took the brunt of the collision (I had heard breaks screeching, I knew he was coming, I could do nothing about it but freeze my hands on the steering wheel. NOT good for the arms!) The guy left 75 feet of rubber...and hit me pretty hard. Within a couple of weeks, I could not use my arms the way I needed to to play the harp, so I soon quit playing and sold my three harps.

In May of 2000, I happened upon a harp shop....and I could not leave without having a small harp, even if I couldn't play it very easily. Out of all of the harps, brands, sizes in that shop, I chose a Blevins Mezzo 23 harp. I took it home, found it easy to play, and began writing again. In three weeks, I wrote "Elegant Music for the Lovely Lap Harp, Vol. 1" and decided to try self-publishing. I was very fortunate that Melody's wanted to sell the book, it gave me my start. "Elegant, Vol. 2" came about shortly thereafter. While I was busy playing that Mezzo harp, and writing those books, I began to realize that I really could play harp again, so I bought a larger Blevins harp, and just kept writing. Then a small pedal harp....then a Blevins double strung....

By the end of the year 2001, I found myself living in Colorado, and shortly thereafter, I married "my harpmaker," Dwight Blevins.

Western Colorado is a wonderful, inspiring place in which to live. I have written hundreds of harp pieces here, and will hopefully continue to do so. I am appreciative of the harp music stores where my books are sold (aside from this website): Melody's Traditional Music, Lyon & Healy, Michigan Harp Center, The Harp Connection, Kolacny Music and many others. I am especially grateful to my friend, Edie Elkan, Director of Bedside Harp, for her promotion of my music within the harp therapy realm, and for her inspiration and guidance during our music collaborations (such as Bedside Lap Harp Compendium, Perceptions, the fake books, and most recently the Feast of Favorites Series.)

I am also grateful for the many, many harpists who email me to tell me where they play my music, how much they love it, and that they buy every single new book or sheet music piece I write. It is extremely gratifying and a huge honor.