All Students are expected to bring their own instrument. Please note that class sizes are LIMITED.
The Scottish Harp classes will focus on:
• Basic harp technique for beginners and intermediates.
• Repertoire at all levels, including tunes for competition sets.
• Scottish style, including ornaments, lilt, and dance types.
The nylon/gut harp classes will study Scottish dance music, airs, and songs, focusing on ornamentation, Scottish style, accompaniment, and learning by ear. Afternoons will include lectures, practice time, and playing in sessions. Classes will be available for beginners who have played for a few months, intermediates, and advanced players.
About our 2026 Harp Instructors
Please Note: Instructors are subject to change based on enrollment.
Influenced by her love of fairy tales, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the world music section at her local library, Stephanie Claussen fills her concerts with Scottish tunes, Bach preludes, and melodies she discovered while pouring through old manuscripts online. Stephanie obtained her B.M. in harp performance from the University of Minnesota and now teaches and performs throughout the Upper Midwest. As a recipient of the 2014 Arts Tour grant, Stephanie toured outstate Minnesota with a program entitled “Eclectic Harp,” sharing music most people don’t expect to hear on the harp. A two-time winner at the Master level in the Minnesota Scottish Harp Competition, in 2018 she competed at the Edinboro Highland Games in Pennsylvania and won the title of 2018 US National Scottish Harp Champion. Stephanie has released five solo albums and two books of harp arrangements. When not making music, she enjoys repainting her walls and drinking English Breakfast tea out of a real teacup.
Sharon Knowles emigrated from Scotland to the US in 1997. She studied harp with Mary Macmaster, Patsy Seddon and Judith Peacock Cummings, all masters of the lever harp. Sharon played in hundreds of music sessions and performances in Europe and Australia and then emigrated to the United States. She studied music at Coastal Carolina University and became a sought-after teacher of private students and at summer camps. Sharon has played in many ensembles, for theater productions, choirs and in an orchestra. Her current musical life is as a member of a Celtic band called Jug of Punch and in a duo with soprano, Stephanie Roelker. She plays in church regularly. Sharon organizes concerts and other events out of her home in Pennsylvania. She is a Distinguished Judge with the Scottish Harp Society of America. Recordings are available.
Sharon would like to pass on the sheer joy of playing such a very special instrument to as many children and adults as possible.
Nationally known for her evocative interpretation of Scottish music, Celtic harper Jo Morrison has performed at venues such as the Library of Congress, An Lanntair Arts Centre in Scotland, Anam Cara (an Arts center in Ireland), and at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. Having spent several months writing music, teaching, and performing on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, her knowledge and understanding of Scottish music puts her in great demand as performer, adjudicator, and teacher.
Jo was named a Scottish Harp Society Distinguished Judge in 2015.
Jo also frequently performs in the harp/shuttle pipe/concertina duo Port Righ. Jo received a WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Award) nomination for Traditional Folk Instrumentalist, and also earned certification as a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) to provide therapeutic music at the bedside of the ill or dying. She was a performer in the HARPA ’08 tour to Norway.
Jo has released 5 CDs, including one of all original music, Flights of Fantasy. She has also published 5 books of sheet music, including the very popular Beginner’s Harper’s Tunebook, which non-harpers buy as well.
She received a grant from the state of Maryland in the Master/Apprentice Folklife Program focusing on teaching harp and Celtic music to an apprentice student.
Jo looks at performances as a chance to share gorgeous and exciting melodies, as well as their stories, with others. She also plays harp at the bedside of patients in need. Her training and gentle playing provide a therapeutic environment to promote healing or assist in transition.
Jo connects with her local music community through Common Ground on the Hill, a music and arts organization promoting peace and understanding through the arts. She also plays harp, piano, and organ at local churches of various denominations, and has held key roles in several harp societies. She currently runs the harp rental program at the WAFHS harp society. She loves coming to OSAS, as student or teacher.
Her personal hobbies include hiking, reading, writing music and stories, and taking photographs of local and exotic birds, wildlife, and nature scenery.
See her website at https://www.triharpskel.com
Perpetually surprised by what comes out of her mouth, Jen Narkevicius prefers to let her harp do the talking – sometimes. From the Washington DC area, where talk is cheap, she leverages wit to bridge the gaps between the two. Jen enjoys teaching and performing. She also is taken with traveling through Scotland with others, pairing the music with the places, people and events that inspired it. She is Co-Director of Harp Camp in SE Pennsylvania and is beyond delighted to be invited to OSAS. Currently Competition Committee Chair of the Scottish Harp Society of America, Jen is a credentialed SHSA judge. She has been privileged to play for “important people” and to be part of the Harpa tours, but she will be even more fortunate to share some tunes with you! She blogs weekly on topics that range from touring Scotland with a harp to staying healthy and fit as a musician, on to fulfilling your promise as a harper on http://www.jeniuscreations.com/blog/ and she especially enjoys writing about herself in the third person.
Rhiannon Skye is a Connecticut-based lever harper, composer, performer, educator, and adjudicator for the Scottish Harp Society of America, who has performed in New England, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Spain, Scotland, and Ireland. In 2023, Rhiannon was invited to compete in The Princess Margaret of the Isles Memorial Prize for Senior Clarsach, where she was awarded best original composition and best overall performance. She is also the 2024 winner of the National Scottish Harp Championship of America. Although her heart lies in Scottish, Irish, and Cape Breton traditional music, Rhiannon’s repertoire also includes classical, pop, jazz, and other styles. She attended Berklee College of Music, earning a BA in Performance in May 2020, and the University of Limerick, receiving a Masters in Irish Music Studies in January 2024.