Aedan's Bio

I've been a happy and content employee at the Harp Center since March 2001. My harping career began in 1989. While browsing through one of my favorite music stores (music stores are like candy to me), I found a book on Celtic harp music, took it home, played the music on my piano, and fell in love with it. That was the fated moment in time I decided I needed a harp. After a few enquiries, I found someone who sold harps in their living room that lived only 20 minutes from me. What luck! So I dropped by, asked her to play all the harps, said I’ll take this one, and handed her my charge card. Little did I know that lady was to become my future employer! Oh yeah, and that my career was eventually going to take a drastic change for the better.

Sylvia had just stopped giving lessons, so she directed me to Deborah Friou. My classical piano background (beginning about age 7) helped immensely and I played my first gig a year later. Since then I’ve won several harp competitions at various Highland Games throughout northern and southern California. I’ve also performed solo and with various other musicians (my favorite was opening for the Battlefield Band – a well known traditional group from Scotland). I continue to play professionally both gigging and performance, as well as teach, in addition to working for Sylvia.

So all these years I've been playing harp, it's been the Celtic harp and I’ve specialized mostly in Irish music. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Ireland and learn from some of the best, including Maire ni Chathasaigh and Grainne Yeats. Fate played another card, and around Christmas of 2004 a beautiful 1913 gold Style 20 Lyon & Healy pedal harp came to the store on consignment. I immediately fell in love with it, which is odd because I have an aversion to ornate gold things. But it said “take me home, you need me.” Now I’m having a blast literally jumping from lever to pedal to wire harp.

But, believe it or not, there is more to life than harps. I also perform with piano accordion and concertina, most recently in the Cajun band Sapristi!. My other great passion is dance. I somehow managed to start a semi-professional dance group that specializes in Morris dance. I know, you’re wondering what on earth is that? Put briefly, it’s a centuries old, extremely high energy traditional dance from England , using sticks (about the same dimensions of a sledge handle) to strike out rhythms while dancing, all to a live band. Yup, it can be dangerous. Yup, we’ve all experienced bruised fingers (fortunately not before a harp gig!). I find the raucous, high energy of the dance lends a nice balance to the calming music of the harp.