Harp, Oh Canada

Canadian Harp Makers

Past and present, across Canada, hundreds of harps have been built over the decades. Quietly working away in the workshops, harp makers have been harpists, parents and partners of harpists as well as professional harp builders… mostly lever harps but a few pedal harps too. These people are our harp heroes who made available perhaps our first harp, or our travel harp, or our second or tenth harp! They are the craftspeople who have listened to us dreaming about what kind of wood, how many strings, what make of levers. I’m sure I even remember a course at Ontario College of Art (now OCAD) for harp building back in the day! Lever harps, lap harps, side-winders, pedal harps, mechanical pedal harps, carbon fibre harps, collapsable harps! Yes… collapsable harps!!!

The following are a few of the wonderful Canadians who have encouraged and grown our harp community, simply through their love of building a beautiful triangle with strings attached.