Celtic harper Cynthia Douglass will consider it a compliment.

"I used to play for my babies," said Douglass, a mother of two who moved to Salt Lake City nearly two years ago.

Douglass will play the Celtic harp with several other musicians as Celtic Harpistry, at a St. Patrick's Day concert at Westminster College.

If you fall asleep for the entire concert, though, the only thing you have to blame is your narcolepsy. Step dancers will perform with the band, which also plays up-tempo jigs as well as traditional laments and airs.

Despite being born in Lebanon - her late father was a CIA spy - Douglass' freckles and red hair show her lineage. She is a descendent of Clan Douglas (she spells her name with two Ss, but the clan spells its name with only one), a powerful family that once ruled the Scottish Lowlands.

But instead of the harp, a young Douglass took up the clarinet, until a college snowball fight resulted in temporary blindness is one eye. Once she regained her sight, she quit the clarinet because she was worried that forcefully blowing on its reeds would disturb her fragile eye's equilibrium.

A voice in her head told her to take up the harp 22 years ago, and she still practices for three to four hours every day. She also teaches and sells Celtic harps, but she admitted that Utah isn't harp-hungry. She estimated there are fewer than 20 Utah teachers and students of the Celtic harp.

That's why St. Patrick's Day is an important day of the year for Douglass.

"I always see that as an opening," she said. "[Audiences] have opened themselves up to Celtic music who have never seen it before."

The concert is presented by Excellence in the Community, formed by local musician Jeff Whiteley, of Lark & Spur. The monthly concert series, which began in 2005, is designed to showcase local musicians. Whitley said in an e-mail that the series "was born of anger and frustration at seeing so many world-class musicians in Utah essentially spending their careers on background-type gigs. In my view, their talents could be better harnessed to enliven and enhance our communities. To the extent that our best musicians and artists remain virtually invisible, our communities are diminished."

dburger@sltrib.com

No snoring

* CELTIC HARPISTRY performs Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Westminster College's Vieve Gore Concert Hall, 1250 E. 1700 South, Salt Lake City.

* TICKETS ARE $12 at the door or at Hires Big H Restaurants. For credit card purchases, call the Westminster box office at 801-832-2458.