Our Tutors

Both of our 'resident' tutors are extremely skilled harpists and performers in their own right, with a wealth of extremely diverse experiences. Their very different backgrounds complement each other perfectly, and they are both absolutely passionate about sharing their knowledge of the harp and passing on their skills.

They are both extremely imaginative when it comes to teaching and performing, and it is sometimes a wonder that all of their performances do not include flying monkeys and green fire... (they promise us it will happen one day...!)

Award-winning professional harpist Lucy Nolan began studying the harp at the age of seven with Eira Lynn Jones after being inspired when it was featured in an episode of the children's television show Teletubbies!

After graduating from Oxford University in 2013 with a BA in Music, she continued to study for a Masters in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction and was awarded the Margaret Irene Seymour Award, the Archibald Jackson Prize for outstanding postgraduate results, an Alice Horsman Scholarship and the Oxford Philomusica Young Artists' platform. She was subsequently offered an entrance scholarship from the Royal Northern College of Music for an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Performance in which she also achieved a Distinction. Whilst at the RNCM Lucy was selected to perform as a finalist in the 2019 Gold Medal weekend, the highest accolade the RNCM awards for performance and was also invited to perform as a soloist at the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong.

Lucy is an enthusiastic and experienced teacher and a firm believer that whatever your standard, age or motivation, learning the harp should be a fun and rewarding experience. Lessons are tailored to suit the individual needs of each pupil, whether that be to learn as an enjoyable hobby or to prepare for an exam or music college audition. As well as being Transpennine Harps' teacher, she is currently a harp tutor for the Junior RNCM department, Uppingham School and Foremarke Hall. She has been a guest tutor for Yorkshire Young Musicians, Yorkshire Young Sinfonia, RNCM Young Harps' Scheme and Cottingham Harp Course. She also has a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and spent two years working at a school in North London as part of the Teach First Leadership Development Programme where she helped to establish an orchestra and secured positions and funding for five pupils in the National Orchestra for All, rehearsing with them in preparation for performances at Alexandra Palace and Leeds Arena. Lucy has a thriving scene of private pupils from all backgrounds, ages and abilities and currently offers private lessons online or in person in Derby and Uppingham

As a child, Tamsin couldn't decide if she wanted to be a harpist, a trapeze artist or an expert on Japanese art. So she hedged her bets: six years of nagging persuaded her parents to let her have harp lessons; as a more rebellious eighteen-year-old she (politely) informed her parents she was taking up a year's place in a circus school before going to university to read Japanese.

Music, however, remained a constant, and she has since become a passionate advocate of the versatility of the lever harp as she explores its use in Jazz and contemporary music. She has performed and taught in a variety of (mostly respectable) locations around the world, including a (somewhat whirlwind!) concert tour of Japan and a solo appearance on BBC1's Midnight Mass live broadcast.

When she was forced to stop playing the harp for several years due to injury, she turned to writing music instead of playing it, and (to her immense surprise) was accepted onto master's degree course to study composition at the University of Edinburgh under Nigel Osborne. A fascination with composition developed into a fasciation with the production and manipulation of sound and she now moonlights as a sound designer and synthwave artist!

Tamsin is also an experienced composer and arranger - perhaps unsurprisingly she particularly enjoys arranging for the lever harp! If you're looking for something new to play you can download sheet music of her arrangements for the lever harp from her website.

She now divides her time between performing, teaching and composing.

Both Lucy and Tamsin are more than happy to give private lessons either in person or via video link - please contact them for more information and bookings.