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    Music and storytelling bridge worlds, not only between people and cultures, but between the seen and unseen. As a performer, I specialize in traditional tales and music of the Otherworld: the Faeries and other creatures and spirits, whose stories tell us as much about ourselves and the cultures of humankind as about the hidden world around us.

    I have gathered my repertoire from many places. My academic background in linguistics and English, and professional experience working in libraries and archives, has given me research skills I have used while travelling throughout the United States, as well as to Ireland and Scotland, to find these tales and melodies. I have learned about the faeries from people in my life as well. From an early age, my great-grandmother and other members of my family told me stories about direct contact with the Otherworld and its inhabitants.

    But how do I tell of those who live in the spaces inbetween? How do I convey an image of that which changes shape? Words only extend so far, and then I use my first language- music. The melodies which faeries and other mystic beings have taught us not only entertain and energize us- they give us a direct way to experience these aspects of the world. I perform on several kinds of traditional flute- Irish, native American, middle-eastern, as well as ancient instruments like Asian jaw-harps and Finnish kantele (a lyre-harp used by shamans and in the singing of epics,) and other instruments rich in harmonics. I have learned aspects of period performance in mediaeval and renaissance music from members of the Texas Early Music Project.

    I have performed at various renaissance, fantasy, and faerie festivals, as well as schools, cafes and bookstores.  My presentations draw from many genres, cultures and time periods, finding ways to hear an idea from many directions.

    I present to you my current offerings of solo acts, workshops, and ensemble productions for all who wish to hear me, host me, or join me.

    After the arrival of the tribes of man to the shores of Ireland, the beings who preceeded them- known as the Gentry, the Sidhe, and  the Tuatha De Danann- went quite literally underground, dividing the hills and their ancient stone fortresses among their kings and queens. This program explores the stories and music of some of these hills, bringing the tales of the Daghda and Wandering Aengus, Fionn MacCumhaill, and the harper Turlough O'Carolan together with the music of these places.

    These are tales- inspiring, amusing, and tragic- of interactions between faeries and human musicians, and the traditional melodies that resulted from these encounters: Bards hired to play for faerie dances, the Good People who gave tunes to fiddlers they favored, and how the Sidhe Queen Boand gave birth to the three strains of bardic music. Hear tales of Faerie musicians like Sennbec and Cascorach, legendary bards like Thomas of Ercildoune and the Black Rogue, and historical figures like the lilter Biddy of Muckross and members of the Doherty family of fiddlers who learned music from the Good People.

    This show focuses on music and stories of trickster spirits and the Unseelie Court. Hear about first hand accounts, and traditional music inspired by creatures such as Pookas, Buccas, Trows and Trolls, Sylphs, Pixies, and Changelings.

    In Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, the Banshee (from Bean Sidhe, the Faerie Woman) is much more than a messenger of coming death. The Banshees were muses for the ancient bards, lovers to heroes of the epic cycles, and the first matriarchs and constant guardians of many highland clans. In this presentation, I present music and tales of Banshees, including several melodies notated by various witnesses who heard her keening cries.

    Although many of the popular conceptions of Faerie Lore derive from Western Europe, rich oral and musical traditions of the Fey can be found throughout the world. In fact, according to many traditional accounts, the Faeries themselves have been in contact with those of other cultures for ages. This program is an exploration of mystic creatures in tales and tunes from different cultures around the world. Creatures we might visit in a given program might include the Yunwi Tsunsdi of the Cherokees, elves of the Picuris Pueblo, the Mmoetia of Ghana, the Mu and Menehune of Hawaii, Luve-ni-Wai of Fiji, Duendes and Pomberos of Latin America, the dancing faeries of India, Djinn of Turkey or Morocco, the Patu-Paiarehe of New Zealand, Huldre of Norway, or to whatever Otherkin my current research takes me.

    I can do a version of this focusing on areas of the world where speakers of Celtic languages and their descendants have settled, exploring their music, language and folklore through their stories of the beings of the Otherworld. I will include, of course, the modern Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, and Bretagne, but also areas of Celtic influence like Galicia, the Shetland Islands, Nova Scotia, and Appalachia.

    Knowledge of magical creatures is only complete with an understanding of the music each creature creates. Included in this program are descriptions and melodies of underground creatures like Icelandic trolls, Shetland trows and Irish Sidhe, Scottish music learned from merfolk and selkies, Renaissance tunes of faeries and sprites, A Boy's Lament for his Dragon and the story of how the Chinese phoenix created a description for musical scales.

    I also perform this in other settings for Renaissance faires and other themed events.

    This is a hands on program. First focusing on Organology- the study of musical instruments, I will discuss the magical origins and properties of instruments such as the Finnish kantele (a lyre used by Baltic shamans and wizards), and Tibetan seven-metal singing bowls and tingshaws, and each student will have a chance to play each of these instruments.

    Next, using materials from my publication, A Pocketful of Magic, I teach students how to play a couple of melodies from magical creatures on either ocarina or tinwhistle using music with fingering illustrations. Ideally each student should receive their own instrument and book, so at each event their will need to be a system to sign up for this practicum lesson.

    In a spoken ritual, the balance of energies, be they elements, directions, or seasons, is fundamental, but equally so in music. This class looks at approaches for achieving ritual balance in the experience and creation of music, by looking at ways in which practitioners of spiritual music around the world balanced the elements implicit in the music. We will look at such things as the five-element system as it was applied to Chinese musical instruments, Pythagoras and the formation of the modalities of the West, some of the aspects associated with certain North Indian Raga, and the instruments associated with particular deities. I hope each attendee will leave this with a well-rounded approach to exploring more of the world’s spiritual music.

    Music and dancing has often been the primary means in which humans and Fae interact with one another. This class, which is a presentation of material I have been gathering for a series of articles, explores the effect that interactions with faeries and related beings has had on the music of humankind. We will explore common music-related themes in the folklore of the Otherworld, musical instruments used and favored by the Good Folk, and the histories of several Faerie-influenced legendary and historical bards.

    This workshop can be followed by a performance of music from the repertoire of tunes learned from faeries.

    This program is designed to introduce a wide audience, including young children and people with special needs, to various rhythms and dances, using traditional Faerie music of Ireland and Scotland. I am looking for session musicians (many of the tunes are well-known session tunes) and a group of dancers, versed in any Celtic style,  including Irish step dancing, sean nos dancing, or highland dancing, who can choreograph to hornpipes, reels, jigs, slip-jigs, and waltzes, and can teach at least one of these to a diverse group of people- all while wearing wings or other faerie accoutrement. You must be willing to bravely play the fool so that audience members won't be afraid to seem foolish. Anyone interested in designing wings or other costume aspects for this production please contact me as well.

    (If you want to learn the tunes I will use in this production, I will be posting many in my blogs.)

    When Richard Corbet, in the days of King James, wrote the song "Farewell to the Fairies" he believed- like many from Chaucer to the present time- that faeries belonged to generations past. But the Age of Reason, rather than burying the elves, revived them in the consciousness of the populace. This program explores how minds of the Renaissance, in words and music, found inspiration looking at the Land of Faerie in new ways. This includes lyrics penned by Shakespeare and Jonson, poetry of Spenser and Herrick, music by Holborne and Ravenscroft, and ballads by that perennial favorite, Anonymous. I am looking for people who play period instruments, and particularly vocalists.

    Thus begins this tale of a sailor, a selkie, and the spirit of a ship, and how remembering our true natures is the only way to preserve what we cherish. This intertwining of three distinct stories occurs along the sea routes from North Scotland to the Baltic and draws from the music and traditional stories of sea-beings in the places along the way. This small ensemble production requires each performer to be both actor, musician, and lead or chorus vocalist, and uses blocking and choreography techniques reminiscent of both Thornton Wilder and Tibetan opera, an always changing environment where all performers are present throughout the performance using minimal props to evoke the sea, the shore and the ships.

    I plan to premiere this piece this Fall in New England, probably as a solo act at first.

    With this piece still in development, I intend to challenge and make demands of both performers and participants. This is a tale of the dark and difficult, but ultimately empowering, aspects of the fey, in the vein of such writers as Holly Black, Charles DeLint and Guillermo del Toro. As the participants (as this is not to be a passive "audience") enter the space of the Brugh- a Faerie hill- they are presented, as a group, with a challenge: find the changeling, free the abductee, restore a balance. Every performer has his or her own repertoire of tools to offer, be it faerie-lore or music, symbolic objects, or means of encouragement, that gives the participants clues and strength to accomplish the tasks at hand. Through a series of challenges including riddles, games of wit and skill. and interactions with the characters within the Brugh, participants reach their larger goal through smaller ones. Live action roleplaying and divination mean that no two performance will be the same. The participants will leave the Brugh with tools and insight from the Faerie realm to empower them in their own lives.

    I first produced this piece with the help of visual artist/film-maker Jeanne Stearn and members of the House of Commons Co-op. Based on a chinese tale of a wizard, a kind inn-keeper, and three dancing cranes, this ambient production is set entirely within an inn along the silk road. Performers and audience members sit amongst each other, and as different servings of a vegan feast are served, different stories, music and performances come from unexpeced places. Types of skills which are useful for this include storytellers and actors, musicians on instruments and vocal styles that could be found along the Silk Road, belly-dancers, jugglers, and of course cooks (I can provide all recipes, or work with cooks to provide suggestions.)