And now I'd like to feature the Laughing Cow cheese commercial . . . because it features REAL harpists.
No . . . not the cow . . .
But these real harpists!
The harpist on the right is Gracie Sprout. She and her family first came into my Glendale Harp Center store in 2000 when Gracie was 8. They rented a harp from me, and that started Gracie on her harp journey. I'm so proud of her!
I asked Gracie to tell us about her commercial experience. Here's her reply.
We all were selected through a traditional commercial audition at a casting call for "real Harpists." Thankfully we didn't have to bring our harps to the audition. In the first round of auditions they had us mime and in call-backs, they had a harp for us to play so they could see what we looked like when we played.
The other harp players with me in the Laughing Cow commercial were Charissa Barger, Jackie Urlik, Andrea Anya Saens and Leah Cecil.
Carolyn Sykes was also there to direct the group and look over a harp that she rented to the production company (the harp that the cow plays in the commercial). That harp was completely de-strung so they could put in computer generated strings.
I loved that everyone they picked for the commercial were trained Harpists. We've all seen the commercials and tv shows where the "harpist" on screen obviously does not know how to play the instrument and it can be pretty frustrating to watch. In this case, I'd say our group was almost over-qualified for the gig. We all have college degrees in harp performance and are trained professionals.
The filming process was pretty easy. After getting into hair and makeup, we set up the harps and ran through "Pachelbel's Cannon in D" about 4 times so they could get different camera angles and then we were done!
The most valuable thing I took away from this experience was definitely connecting with the other harpists. There are so few gigs that bring more than two Harpists together. And having six Harpists all in one room? That's almost unheard of! The harp world is so small, and everyone is so busy. It was great to sit down and get to know the other harpists in town.
-- Gracie Sprout