What Whistle Would You Play at Your Mother's Funeral?: L.E. McCullough's Writings on Irish Traditional Music, 1974-2016 - Vol. 2 - Paperback

by L. E. McCullough (Author)

"WHAT WHISTLE WOULD YOU PLAY AT YOUR MOTHER'S FUNERAL? - L.E. McCullough's Writings on Irish Traditional Music, 1974-2016, Vols. I & II" presents the full collection of Irish music scholarship the prolific musician/composer has published in 40+ years of teaching and research. Volume I contains Dr. McCullough's landmark Ph.D. dissertation ("Irish Music in Chicago: An Ethnomusicological Study") and earlier M.A. and B.A. theses ("The Rose in the Heather: Irish Music in Its American Cultural Milieu" and "Farewell to Erin: An Ethnomusicological Study of Irish Music in the U.S.") - published here for the first time in complete form. Volume II, subtitled "Everything Else", covers his concise, insightful reporting on a wide range of Irish music performers, instrument-makers and music events - 122 essays, journal articles, concert reviews, blog reflections, album notes, newspaper features, seminar presentations, whistle-playing tips ... and a screenplay, "The Scarlet Mare of Drumcoor". Dr. McCullough's writing vividly describes what Irish traditional music is and where it came from, taking the reader deep inside this exciting yet hidden tradition ... it's a colorful, informative celebration of the unsung men and women who shaped this noble, magical music over the centuries and who continue to make it thrive in our time. WHAT WHISTLE WOULD YOU PLAY AT YOUR MOTHER'S FUNERAL? is a far-ranging tour guide of the many unusual places scholar/performer L.E. McCullough has visited in search of the Irish music grail, and the hundreds of other performers, session-attenders and concert-goers met along the way. For more information see www.silverspearpublications.com

Author Biography

L.E. McCULLOUGH, Ph.D. has been performing and teaching traditional Irish music on tinwhistle and flute since 1972, after spending a year at the School of Irish Studies in Dublin, Ireland, where he had the good fortune to receive a solid grounding in Irish music scholarship from renowned folklorists Breandán Breathnach, Tom Munnelly, Hugh Shields, Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Richard O'Beirne and fiddler-seannchai John Kelly. Once back in America, he learned the fine points of the music from several of the best Irish musicians living in America during the 1970s - Noel Rice, Seamus Cooley, John McGreevy, Paddy Cronin, Joe Shannon, John Vesey, Andy McGann, Jimmy and Eleanor Neary, Terry Teahan, Mike Rafferty and scores of others. In 1978 he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh for what was then the first dissertation on Irish traditional music ever published. Author of over 150 books and articles on Irish music including the popular instructional volumes "The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor", Favorite Irish Session Tunes", "St. Patrick Was a Cajun", "The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tunebook" and "Whistle Around the World", Dr. McCullough has recorded on 49 albums for Angel/EMI, Sony Classical, RCA, Warner Brothers, Log Cabin, Kicking Mule, Rounder, Bluezette and other independent labels. Formerly Assistant Director of the Indiana University School of Music at Indianapolis and Administrative Director of the Humanities Theatre Group at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Dr. McCullough has composed filmscores for three PBS specials produced by WQED-TV, co-composed three Celtic Ballets with T.H. Gillespie for Dance Kaleidoscope and performed on soundtracks for the Warner Brothers film "Michael Collins" and the Ken Burns' PBS television series "The West", "Lewis and Clark", "Not for Ourselves Alone", "The Dust Bowl" and "The Roosevelts". For more information see www.silverspearpublications.com