Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A., Fiddle (intermediate); Tin Whistle (beginner)

Hello!  I've been studying Irish traditional style music for a little over two years.  My fiddle playing is being termed as "advanced intermediate", as I can play several jigs up to speed and a couple of reels nearly up to speed, including some ornamentation.  The whistle is coming along slowly, but I'll admit that I'm mainly using it as a foil for developing my fiddle playing. I plan to begin singing sometime in the near future, if I can overcome my shyness about it.  Due to shyness, I have a difficult time playing at sessions. I also work full time as a design engineer, which certainly keeps me from fiddling around too much!!!

I played classical violin as a child for about 4.5 years, during which time I was able to earn blue ribbon violinist award (1st place) for the state of Ohio, U.S. (in 1975 at age 15 - ensemble). Playing classical music could be annoying, because the whole time when I was being taught, I actually just wanted to fiddle, and I would continuously attempt to fiddle and memorize as much as possible, much to my conductor's consternation!!! Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of any fiddle teachers in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana; my parents wouldn't have been able to afford private lessons anyway. Sadly, I didn't learn about the Irish traditional style until very recently, and I'm loving it... it lets me know that I am indeed of Irish descent!!!

My fiddle sat lonely in the corner as I grew up, went to school, got married, got an engineering career and raised my children.  My dad had bought me the fiddle for my 11th birthday, so it has special vibes just for me!  It's a lovely 1960 German model, a Stradivarius copy.  The old 1960's vinyl case has super spectacular emerald green crushed faux fur inside!!!  I got my bow French silked in green and black!

I gravitated directly to the Sligo style of Irish fiddle with some ease, so I was very excited to be studying this summer with the legendary Kevin Burke!  Interesting teaching style; he cleverly explains his techniques using colorful analogies... I could listen to it all day! I also previously had the pleasure of studying with some other amazing fiddlers, including summer camp with Manus McGuire (Ireland). I've also done a few workshops with incredible fiddlers Tony DeMarco (New York) and Liz Knowles (Kentucky). I hope to study at many more of these camps and workshops. Of course, I'm indebted with gratitude to my beloved teacher and founder of The Riley School of Irish Music in Cincinnati, Susan (Cross) Gilligan for helping teach me fiddle, the Irish Trad genre, with a healthy dose of history to go along.

My parents were married on St. Patrick's Day, 1960!  My mom's family has roots in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee and Kentucky. My dad's side of the family are mostly located in West Virginia, near the wild and beautiful rushing whitewater areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the New River Gorge. Going by family history and surnames, I estimate that I could be nearly all Irish, despite the fact that  my family roots go back to mid-17th century America.  I found out that my maiden name is derived from the very ancient Irish and Scottish Gaelic name for 'Son of the Prelate': Mac an tSagairt, which is very curious to think about!

My heart has a HUGE fascination regarding all types of bagpipes and other wind and reeded instruments, but especially the heavenly Uilleann pipes! This instrument leaves me absolutely spellbound! I've no personal interest in ever attempting to play the beautifully complicated breathing beast myself... but since I began fiddling, I've transferred some focus onto studying the past and presently performing piping masters, such as legendary Seamus Ennis, Liam O'Flynn and Paddy Keenan. My hope is to eventually emulate fiddling patterns and ornamentations around the characteristic sounds of the chanter, regulators and drones of the Uilleann pipes.  These pipes captivate me so much, that eventually, I may be interested in learning more about design and manufacture of the Uilleann pipes, since I have many of the necessary design skill sets and engineering contacts to do so.  I've been creatively working on developing my own technique (bowing/finger) to simulate "popping" of the pipe chanter between octaves.  I don't know whether it will eventually sound like anything acceptable?!!!  Anyway, I'm just having all kinds of fun with it all right now... it's really all about the tunes, the fun, and the craic!!!