Hi! I’m Deirdre. And I’m a harp nerd.

If you’re reading this, you might be one too (but you don't have to be)

A bit about me

I’m a Canadian ethnomusicologist, musician, and educator, and jaw harps are my special interest. I’ve been researching, playing, and travelling the world in search of this instrument and the people who are passionate about it for the past 20 years.

I found my first jaw harp lying on the floor of a friend’s house in 2005. I thought it was a bike tool. After being told it was a musical instrument that was impossible to play, I immediately took to Google. Not knowing what it was called, I searched for “twangy mouth instrument” and within moments was introduced to a world of fascinating people, festivals, and events devoted to this tiny object. Things escalated quickly from there. Already in the midst of a pivot back to music after quitting classical piano to study world literature and film for several years, I enrolled in an ethnomusicology course and never looked back. In ethnomusicology, all of my interdisciplinary interests and yearning to see the connections between things from a multifaceted perspective finally found a home.

Deeply immersed in the Balinese gamelan scene at UBC, I completed 9 weeks of fieldwork in Bali in 2007 and wrote my MA thesis on the Balinese jaw harp genggong. It was this experience that made me want to continue pursuing ethnomusicology and jaw harp studies. I took a break from academia and worked as a marketing assistant, stage manager, and a host of other administrative roles in the classical and choral music scenes in Vancouver. Here I gained valuable skills and experience and got to work with many excellent musicians, venues, and colleagues.

At the same time, my interest in the jaw harp remained constant. From 2007 onwards, I attended the North American Jew’s Harp Festival in Bay City, Oregon, eventually leading the event for its final two years. In 2010, I took a 5 week tour of European jaw harp festivals, and met many people who would go on to become lifelong harp friends. In 2011, I embarked on a life-changing trip to Russia, where I attended the 7th International Jew’s Harp Congress in Yakutsk (Siberia). Here, we set the Guinness World Record for Largest Jew’s Harp Ensemble with 1344 players all twanging simultaneously (see video below). This experience was transformative, and convinced me that the scale of the international jaw harp community had reached a critical mass that warranted further study and documentation.

After several years of supporting other artists, I was finally ready to return to academia to continuing pursuing my unwavering curiosity about these instruments and the people who loved and valued them as much as I did. In 2012, I moved to London and began a PhD on the global jaw harp revival at SOAS, University of London. My fieldwork took me across Europe multiple times, with a special focus on the harp communities in Norway, Austria, and Sicily. My PhD years were some of my most fulfilling and fertile, immersing me in the world music scene in London, a group of amazing colleagues at SOAS, and frequent trips to incredible festivals across Europe, all of which led to my exponential growth as a scholar and musician.

I moved back to Vancouver and began my post-secondary teaching career, where I have spent the past 10 years honing my skills as a music educator specializing in ethnomusicology, pop music history, and digital marketing for musicians. My mission as an instructor is to spark curiosity and the same inquisitive spirit I have for the jaw harp in my students, creating an environment where they can explore and activate their inner music nerd. Now on sabbatical for the first time in a decade, I’m returning to my own forever obsession.

With fellow harp nerds in Molln, Austria in 2013. From left to right/top to bottom: Daniel Hentschel, Olga Prass, Harm Linsen, Manfred Russmann, Yaroslav Darushnikov, Deirdre Morgan, Franz Kumpl. Photo: Olga Prass

What to expect

Gems from the archive

So far my jaw harp travels have taken me to Bali, Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Norway, the US, and the UK, with more trips planned in future. I have an archive of unpublished notes, videos, and audio recordings from my years of festival and fieldwork trips waiting to be shared here.

Highlights from my current book project

I’m on sabbatical from teaching so that I can work on the book I’m co-authoring with metal scholar Owen Coggins: Jew’s Harps and Metal Music: Folk Traditions in Global Modernity. The jaw harp appears on over 200 metal albums, and in more than 300 metal tracks, by bands from over a dozen countries, spanning Nordic and Baltic regions, Patagonia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Indonesia and more. Get nuggets of the latest discoveries from our research in real time, as we go!

Sneak peaks of new music

I’m also embarking on a new music project using jaw harps and the vintage Line 6 DL4 pedal. I’m loving the process of exploring the strange combinations made possible when these two archaic technologies encounter one another. This year is all about creativity and expression and reconnecting with the things that brings me joy, so expect clips of new arrangements and original pieces. I’m aiming to show more of the creative process and less perfection.

Interviews and a podcast?!

Eventually, I hope to include interviews with fellow harp nerds here! I want to use this space to connect, build, and strengthen relationships. Please reach out if this is something you’d be interested in.

I’m still figuring out my capacity and rhythm, so expect one or two posts a month for now. At the moment, free subscribers get access to all posts. In future, I may offer additional perks (like educational content or group hangout sessions or whatever feels fun and interesting), but for now all the content is all-access.

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A huge part of my interest has always been the people behind the instrument: players, makers, enthusiasts, nerds, scholars, weirdos, iconoclasts. The jaw harp community represents a place where I can be myself and talk shop about my favourite subject without having to justify anything. I’ve gone to great lengths to attend festivals and meet other harpers around the world, and I’ve always felt that harp nerds are my people.

This newsletter is a place for me to share my passion with likeminded people in a casual, conversational format, and bring my material to a wider audience. Until now, my work has only been available in academic formats. Substack allows me to combine all the best aspects of an email newsletter, a permanent blog with a searchable archive, and a place to host podcasts and conversations. I’m tired of algorithms that bury content and don’t let me connect with who and what I want to see anymore.

More than anything, I want to create some real connection here and I truly hope you’ll subscribe and feel like this is a welcoming space where you can interact, leave comments, and ask questions.

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