I play Irish traditional music on the fiddle. I have played the violin all my life, and Irish music for the last ten years. There's great life and character to it, and it has brought me to many wonderful places and introduced me to many wonderful people that I would never have been to or met otherwise. Music is an amazing thing.
While I do have a nice day-job, I have been known to play the odd concert/festival/wedding. In addition to playing with the well-known singer Robbie O'Connell in the creatively-named Robbie O'Connell Band. We do concerts around the country, and have a X-mas concert series every year.
And let's not forget An Cuigear! I did a one-band festival dealie out in Boulder, Colorado, with some friends. It was beautifully organized. There are wonderful folks out there, and we had a blasht! I'd do it again in an instant.
I also used to play in a local Traditional Irish instrumental band called 9-Pint Coggie. It didn't last too long, for a number of reasons. It was great fun while it lasted though. We still have sound samples from our demo CD available. Some of the other members of the band went on to become The Magic Square, and put out a great recording with Breige Quinn on the fiddle.
In the past few years, I've recorded with a number of different people, some well known, so less so. The biggest recording project I've done to-date, though is the video Dancing at the Crossroads. It's an instructional reference for people who are interested in Irish ceili-dance, and specifically it serves as a reference for people who are taking their TMRF, TCRG, or ADCRG exams (to become a certified dance instructor). The dancers and musicians (with a few exceptions--notably myself, Alan Kelly Tommy McCarthy & Louise Costelloe) were all members of the cast and orchestra of Riverdance
I can't really afford the time to teach private lessons on a regular basis, but I do teach classes for a few groups in town, mainly for Boston's Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. I have also been known to teach a class or two at Club Passim
When I was in College, at Brown University I started an internet mailing list for fiddle-players, called Fiddle-L. 5 Years later, it's still going strong, and features a great many fascinating discussions (provided, of course, you like talking about fiddles).
I live in the Boston area. It's a great place to be an Irish Musician. There are plenty of places to play on any night of the week, and tons of great concerts to go to throughout the year. Most often, I can be found at The Burren, playing in the session in the front room. I'm there nearly every Sunday with various friends of mine.
I also perform frequently with Matt & Shannon Heaton, two dear friends of mine who are not only excellent musicians, but really great people as well. Check out their collection of recordings at www.eatsrecords.com. They have a new CD out entitled Dearga that sounds lovely. You can listen to bits of it here. (I'm especially fond of the fiddle-playing on track 10. <wink>)
I've been learning to play the anglo concertina. It's a lovely little instrument with great musical character for Irish music. It's nice to stretch onesself a bit, and try learning a second instrument. It gives you new ideas, and a new angle on music overall...
