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Autoharp Discussion Groups
I had thought about setting up a discussion group on the HarpersGuild site, as I have on many other web pages. But since then, I found multiple discussion groups with helpful people who can answer most questions.
I do have a discussion group for Folk, Acoustic, and Traditional musicians at our CreekDontRise Forum page
And I'm very willing to answer private questions if you DM me at the Harper's Guild Facebook Page.
But several preexisting sites have a lot of experienced participants who are very willing to help "newbies" and intermediate players with questions and concerns. Here's a couple caveats:
- You'll Learn Some Names - Several experts and longtime members who frequent these forums frequent more than one, so asking the same question on two or three of the forums is usually unnecessarly and may backfire.
- Expect Differing Opinions - Even the experts disagree about some things. Treat differing responses as you would Amazon reviews - if most folks say the the same thing, it's probably good advice. You might want to take outliers into consideration, but weigh their opinions against the majority opinions.
- Don't Join Just to Sell Something - If you "join" a page just to offload an autoharp that you don't want to sell through sales channels like Reverb, Etsy, eBay, etc., you might not be entirely welcome. All of the pages listed below exist for information and encouragement. Any attempt to turn them into an online flea market will be met with resistance. Some sites will warn, then ban you. After all, the members of those sites already know how to shop online for autoharps. They don't need your help.
The autoharp discussion groups I've found most helpful are:
- "Autoharp" page on Facebook. This is a page you have to sign up to see or post messages. It is carefully moderated by autoharpist Jo Ann Smith. Several other experts participate from time to time, and often offer answers in their areas of expertise. It also allows performance videos, which vary from rank beginner to O.M.G.!
If a member posts a For Sale ad, comments are turned off, so any replies have to go to the seller in DM. People who sign up JUST to sell instruments are discouraged. People who sign up to learn about instruments they own or are considering are strongly encouraged.
- Yeah, I can play the Autoharp. This Facebook page is theoretically about the fun aspects of autoharp playing, but it includes performances and questions and answers. Doesn't seem to be heavily monitored, but enough experts check in from time to time that bad "information" generally gets addressed eventually.
- Autoharp Q&A - This Facebook page is moderated by Bob Lewis, who ran Autoharpworks.com for years. He knows his stuff, to put it lightly. The focus is what it says, questions about autoharps. Period. But it's very informative even if you're just scrolling through. As in Jo Ann Smith's "Autoharp" FB page, several other experts participate from time to time, and often offer answers in their areas of expertise. No "For Sale" postings are allowed period.
- Reddit's "r/autoharp" page. Anybody can sign up and ask questions, and usually get helpful answers. The site doesn't seem to be moderated at all, but a few experts check in every so often, so you're likely to get worthwhile responses to most questions.
Note: If you're signing up for Reddit for the first time, make certain to choose your own user name - otherwise Reddit will assign you some gobbledygook and you'll be stuck with that.
Conclusion
Even the experts disagree on some things, but if you ask for help on one of these forums, you'll likely get answers you can use. Sometimes more than one, but that's okay.
Better yet, learn what you can and maybe even answer questions you do know the answer to. Eventually, you may find one of these forums suits you better than the others. That's fine. Joining a healthy community is a good thing, and I see mostly helpful stuff coming from these.
 Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."
And please stay in touch!
- Paul Race
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All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted ? 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
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