Autoharpers just love to get together and play. And there are a whole lot of places and times when musicians get together for a weekend or a week and hang out and play together. Some of these festivals are particularly "autoharp-friendly" and often have workshops or concerts featuring autoharps. Here are some of the ones we know about.
|
The grandaddy of autoharp festivals, takes place in Newport, PA the week leading up to the weekend before Independence Day weekend. Autoharp workshops at all levels, evening concerts (open to the public), non-stop jamming (all instruments, not just autoharps), and the annual Mountain Laurel Autoharp Championship, arguably the premier autoharp competition. |
|
The largest autoharp festival on the west coast, takes place in Gaston, Oregon (near Portland) in late July. Autoharp workshops at all levels, evening concerts, lots of jamming. |
| Seattle Autoharp Week |
All autoharps all the time for a whole week in September in Seattle! Intense workshop "music camp" run by three of the world's best autoharp performers and teachers. |
|
Coordinated by well known mountain and hammered dulcimer performer and teacher Maddie MacNeil, the week-long spring program on the campus of Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, WV features an autoharp track staffed by well known autoharp performers and teachers. |
|
A whole weekend of acoustic music (concerts, workshops, jamming) in mid-February in Irving, Texas featuring dulcimers but also including autoharp, guitar, banjo, fiddle and just about any other instrument you can imagine. |
|
Located in Brasstown, NC, the John C. Campbell School has a year-round program of classes in a wide variety of traditional arts, music and dance that often includes autoharp at a variety of levels and repertoires. Check under Music and scan the list for autoharp classes. |
|
Full week (April) and weekend (October) programs in the Cotswalds (Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, UK) for all instruments, bluegrass-oriented but not exclusive. Comprehensive autoharp program is focused on general technique rather than bluegrass styles. |
|
|
