Conference Papers & Guest Lectures

Conference papers and guest lectures (selected)

  • 2011 04 – Hunting for borr- án – shaking a stick at the origin myths concerning the Irish drum. Guest lecture for Na Píobairí Uilleann, Dublin
  • 2010-11 – ‘Irish Traditional music in the complex of Irish identity’ – Guest lecture at Irish Studies Faculty, Notre Dame College, University of Indiana, USA.
  • 2010-10 – Comic and satirical song in the Irish tradition. Guest lecture to North Mayo Education Forum, Westport.
  • 2010 -08 – ‘Revising The Companion – the establishing of an encyclopedia of Irish Traditional Music’, guest lecture at Shamrock in the Bush Irish Studies symposium, Yass, Australia.
  • 2010-07 – ‘The Irish drum – stone-age innovation in the digital age’, Guest paper at  Latrobe University, Melbourne
  • 2010 05 From battlefield to boreen, Basel to Ballymoe: How the wooden flute was colonised by Ireland, Guest lecture to North Mayo Education Forum, Westport.
  • 2010 04 Flute routes to 21st century Ireland: the entry of the flute to Irish music. Guest lecture to Cruinniú na bhFliút, Coolea, Cork.
  • 2010-02 – ‘Instrument or Implement? Questions about the bodhrán drum’, guest lecture at NUIG Irish Studies Dept.
  • 2009 -05 – Hunting for the bodhrán – was there ever a drum in Ireland in the past?. Guest lecture to Clare Island Folklore Weekend, Co. Mayo.
  • 2009 10 – The Place of Traditional music in the Arts Economy. Guest lecture to Cooley-Collins seminar, Gort, Co. Galway
  • 2009 04 Hunting for the bodh-rán: Myth, imagination and wishful thinking in the construction of a past for a unique Irish percussion, paper at British Forum for Ethnomusicology, Liverpool.
  • 2009 -03 The invention of the bodhrán drum. Guest lecture to Féile Patrick Byrne, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan.
  • 2009 -02 – Traditional Music Support in the Irish Arts System, guest lecture at ‘The Arts, the State, Identity and the Wealth of Nations – Case studies of Ireland and Scotland’ symposium, Trinity College, Dublin.
  • 2009 02 Hunting for Borrane_ the invention of the Bodhrán drum in Ireland. Paper to ICTM Ireland conference, University College Dublin
  • 2008-08 The Music of Clare in the Modern World, Guest lecturer at Merriman Summer School, Lisdoonvarna.
  • 2008-03 Cosmopolitanism in Irish Music, paper to Grian Irish Studies conference, New York University.
  • 2006 03 17 – Didactic Flute – Style, Politics and Region in flute music. Concert presentation with Dr. Desmond Wilkinson to Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.
  • 2006 03 04 – Hallucination once again – food fantasy in Irish song. Paper to GrianIrish Studies Conference, New York University.
  • 2006 02 – Summary paper – Music and Identity in a National Ethnomusicology – to symposium of Irish chapter of International  Council for Traditional Music, University of Limerick.
  • 2005 09 – Ulster-Scots’ Selective Adoption of Traditional Music – paper at Irish Protestant Identities conference, University of Salford, Manchester.
  • 2005 07 – Guest Lecture – The Funding of Traditional Music,  The Breandán Breathnach Memorial Lecture – at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare
  • 2005 05 – Status for Traditional Music in State Education Structures – paper atBorders and Borderlands in Contemporary Culture International Conference,Department of Humanities, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland.
  • 2004 07 – Guest lecture ‚ The Progress of the Flute in Ireland – and host at symposium Flute routes, flute roots, at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
  • 2003 10 Guest lecture, Fiddlesticks in the Closet ‚ Ulster-Scots, and Protestant suspicions of Traditional music, at Come West Along the Road, symposium, New York University.
  • 2003 11 Guest lecture Globalisation and Irish Traditional Music. London Metropolitan University.
  • 2003 07. Guest lectures to Iowa Writers‚ and to USIT international summer schools at TCD.
  • 2003 07 Guest lecture: Breandán Breathnach Memorial lecture, to Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, Co. Clare.
  • 2003 05 03 Invention Of Tradition, Imagined Community And The Ulster Scots Quest For Identity Through Music. Paper to – Society for Musicology in Ireland conference, Maynooth.
  • 2003 03 – Centuries Standing To Attention – The Coexistence Of Unaccompanied Irish-Language And English-Language Song Styles With Ballads, Contemporary Lyrics And Mid-Atlantic Folk In Irish Traditional Music Today, Guest presentation, second of a three-unit series on traditional music in the Education programme of Centre Culturel Irlandaise (formerly the Irish College), Paris.
  • 2003 02 – The politics of Traditional music Revival, Sean Ó Riada Memorial Lecture, University College Cork Traditional Music Society, 6 February, 2003.
  • 2002 12 Rebels, Recording And Tuxedos, guest presentation, first of a three-unit series on traditional music in first semester of Education programme at Centre Culturel Irlandaise, Paris.
  • 2002 11 08 Pick “n mix‚ in the culture supermarket: The Ulster Scots quest for music as identity. Paper for Economic and Social History Society of Ireland Conference, Limerick.
  • 2002 10 London: “Music and musicians of Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim‚ ‚ Guest lecture to Camden Irish Festival, “Return to Camden Town
  • 2002 10 “Contemporary satirical song‚, Didactic performance, Tallaght Music Seminar, Dublin.
  • 2002 09 “Traditional music – fifth column or pillar of society?”, – paper for British Association for Irish Studies biennial conference, Hammersmith & Fulham Irish Centre, London, 7th September 2002.
  • 2002 08 15 – “The music of breaking glass ‚ the classicisation of Irish Traditional music and its implications for third level education”, paper to ISME (International Society for Music Education, UNESCO backed) biennial conference at Bergen, Norway.
  • 2002 06 “Song As Communication To Song As Entertainment”‚ guest address to Ennistymon Traditional Singing Festival, Co. Clare.
  • 2002 06 20 “Singing the boundaries – regional distinctiveness expressed through Traditional music”, paper given at ESRC Research Seminar in European Ethnology, University of Ulster (Belfast Campus).
  • 2002 04 12 “The Peeler and the Goat ‚ identity, music and classicisation” – Paper at British Forum for Ethnomusicology conference, Edinburgh University.
  • 2002 03 12 “From Crossroads to Concert hall – The classicisation of Irish Traditional music” – paper in series “Public Lectures in Irish Studies” given at NUI, Galway‚ s Centre for Irish Studies.
  • 2001 06 22-23 – Gucci-Paddy – Traditional Music As Fashion Accessory For The New Century, paper at Understanding Tradition: A Multidisciplinary Exploration conference – Limerick.
  • 2001 05 Families In Traditional Music Transmission, paper to Fonn (Galway School of Music) Summer School.
  • 2001 03‚ Guest lecture Traditional Irish Music And Performance to Newfoundland Irish Association, at St. John‚ s, Newfoundland, March 18.
  • 2001 03 14 Heads up! The Traditional music revival and its location in the notion of – Irish National identity, Paper at NYU Grian conference, New York University.
  • 2000 07‚ “From Celtic Twilight to Celtic Tiger in hundred years – the creation and flourishing of Irish Traditional music. American Conference of Irish Studies, Limerick; also at Milwaukee Irish Festival cultural program.
  • 2000 07 – From Celtic Twilight To Celtic Tiger‚ A Progress of Irish Music‚ guest lecture to Slieveardagh Historical Society, Killenaul, Co. Tipperary.
  • 2000 02 19 – The Invention And Reinvention If Irish Traditional Music, Paper to Cultures in Transition conference, Dublin City University.
  • 1999 07 29 – Traditional Music and Millennium Ireland, guest lecture to The Ireland Institute, Galway University.
  • 1998 01 Never Mind The Message – Give The Courier Champagne, guest lecture to University College Cork Traditional Music Society.
  • 1997 11 22 Gucci-Paddy Points The ‘Purist’ Finger – Myth And Invention In Irish Traditional Music, Guest lecture to William Kennedy Piping Festival, Armagh.
  • 1997 08 – 12-14 The New Commercial Life Of Irish Traditional Music; – Irish Traditional Music; Classical Art Or D I Y Kultur?, “Traditional” Music – As The Mirror Of Popular Irish Politics.- guest lecture series – at Milwaukee Irish Festival summer School.
  • 1997 05 31 Traditional” Music – As The Mirror Of Popular Irish Politics, guest lecture at Leixlip Salmon Festival, Co. Kildare.
  • 1997 04 Copyright, The Publican and The Collectors, guest presentation to Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) Colmcille Symposium, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
  • 1996 07 10 – “Traditional” music – as the mirror of popular Irish politics. Guest lecture to Douglas Hyde Summer School, Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon.
  • 1996 07 16 Irish Traditional Music – Classical Art Or D I Y Kultur? – Guest lecture to south Sligo summer School, Tubbercurry.
  • 1996 06 24 – Traditional Music And The Broad Black Brimmer – Political Identity In Ireland’s Music, guest lecture to Merriman Summer School, Ennistymon, Co. Clare, June 24, 1996.
  • 1996 05 02 Irish Traditional Music – Classical Art Or D I Y Kultur? Guest lecture to Ballycastle Northern Lights Festal, Co. Antrim.
  • 1995 11 The Migrant, The Tourist The Voyeur, The Leprechaun, .paper for Blas – The Local Accent, conference by Cumann Cheoil Tíre Éireann, and Irish World Music Centre, Limerick University.
  • 1995 0909 – Music And Dance Back At The Crossroads, guest lecture at Cork Folk Festival, Triskel Arts Centre.
  • 1995 08 10 Music And Dance Back At The Crossroads, guest paper at Patrick Mc Gill Summer School, Glenties, co. Donegal.
  • 1995 05 The Scottish ingredient in Irish Traditional Music, Guest lecture to Belfast Arts Society, Belfast.
  • 1995 03 “Traditional” Music – A New Genre, The Mirror Of Popular Politics, guest lecture to NUI Maynooth Anthropology Society, march 11, 1995.
  • 1995 02 “Traditional” Music as the Mirror of Popular Irish Politics, guest lecture to Fethard Historical Society, Co. Tipperary.
  • 1994 10 What’s the news, What’s the news? Ballads as Communication, guest lecture to Forkhill Traditional Singing Festival, Co. Armagh
  • 1994 – 07 05 – The Mist Covered Mountain ‚ Scottishness In Irish Traditional Music, guest lecture to Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
  • 1994 05 – Satirical song as a meter of historical – political life in Ireland, ASLS Ballad Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland.
  • 1993 Contemporary And Changing Ireland Viewed Through The Satirical Song. Eight-city lecture tour for – Irish American Cultural Institute, – Minneapolis, USA.
  • 1992 04 Protestant Perceptions of Irish Traditional Music, – paper to British Society – for Ethnomusicology conference, London.
  • 1990 10 Panelist in – Traditional Music – Whose Music? – Protestant and Catholic Identities within Traditional Music; conference, – Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.