Talent and tenacity: Harpist’s educational journey leads her to Dublin

The transition to college is a milestone for any teen. For Acton-Carlisle High School senior Flora Lemon, it also means crossing an ocean to begin a new chapter. 

Next school year, she will head to Dublin to study harp performance and composition at Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. 

Having had some experience with piano and elementary school music classes, Lemon began playing the harp at age 9. 

“I have loved the sound of the harp since a very young age,” she says. 

Despite being hesitant about such a large instrument, her parents agreed she could try it if they could find a teacher nearby. Fortunately, harpist and Berklee College of Music instructor Felice Pomeranz lived just 20 minutes away in Sudbury.

Mentoring and adapting

For eight years, Lemon studied with Pomeranz, whose teaching style, adapted to Lemon’s unique way of learning, greatly influenced her musical path. 

“Felice is a very patient and kind person,” Lemon says. “As someone who struggles with learning disabilities which impact my ability to learn music, it was a great experience. She taught me in a way I could best understand, not how others thought teaching should look.” 

Lemon says having dyslexia made learning from traditional sheet music difficult. She and Pomeranz developed a strategy based on music theory that helped her learn by understanding the music structurally rather than by reading notes. 

“When learning a new piece, I do a harmonic analysis on the music,” Lemon explains. “This includes understanding the chordal progression, form, and key modulations in the music so one can anticipate where the music is going.”

Because dyslexia can impede the recognition of visual patterns on a page, Lemon also emphasizes mental practice and memorization to internalize rhythms.

“Reading music off the page at all times is not only a challenge, but I also never perform as well as I would if I had memorized the piece,” she says.

Lemon played in the Acton string orchestra from elementary through middle school and continued in the CCHS string orchestra. She has also performed as a guest with the CCHS wind ensemble, participated in jazz ensembles, and been involved in the Chamber Music Club. In February, she performed with the CCHS Frontiers Ensemble, which premiered a piece at Dartmouth College.

Through summer intensives, Lemon has continued to diversify her musical experiences, performing in harp ensembles, symphony orchestras, and chamber groups. In her free time, she enjoys performing in the community and playing music with friends.

The turning point that shifted the harp from a passion to a possible career path came not from performance, but from composition. After completing her first original work, “Persons Tango,” a three-movement suite for pedal harp and percussion, Lemon realized she wanted to study music at the university level. 

“Music has played a very important part [in] my life,” she says, “but it wasn’t until I finished my first composition that I really felt like performance and composition was what I wanted to continue studying.”

Might this lead to a career in music?

“Whether or not I’ll become a full-time composer or try to land a job in an orchestra is still unknown,” she says, “but what I do know is that music is my life.”

‘A big jump for me’ 

Lemon is also excited about immersing herself in Dublin.

“It’s an amazing, culturally rich city that I can’t wait to explore,” she says. “It will be a big jump for me, as I will be living alone and doing a non-traditional college experience.”

Lemon is aware that rigid instruction styles often sideline neurodivergent music students. 

“I know there are plenty of other people just like me out there who struggle with the same thing and are turned away from learning music at a young age because their teacher doesn’t know how to teach them, isn’t willing, or simply doesn’t have the resources to do so,” she says. 

Inspired by Pomeranz’s support, Lemon seeks to dismantle those barriers and create more inclusive spaces in music education. 

“Music is something for everyone,” she says, “and shouldn’t be barred from people due to how their brain works.”