Author: maldonm

Sean’s musical interests focus strongly on Irish-language songs and fiddle tunes, but also musics from Indonesia, Brazil, and Japan. Her books include Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song-Man, which she co-wrote with Lillis Ó Laoire, and the textbook Focus: Irish Traditional Music. Sean was very fortunate to have studied with the sean-nós or old-style Connemara singer Joe Heaney in the last several years of his life, and counts him as one of her most important musical influences. She has also learned sean-nós songs from Gearóidín Breathnach, Máirín Uí Chéide, Lillis Ó Laoire, Celia Ní Fhátharta, Bridget Fitzgerald, and many others. 

Preston has been playing traditional Irish dance music on the uilleann pipes (pronounced ‘ill-yun’) for over 20 years.  The uilleann pipes are Ireland’s national bagpipe and differ from their more famous Scottish cousin in that they are a bit quieter, lower-pitched, and have a much broader musical range.  Where the Scottish bagpipe is intended for marching into battle the Irish bagpipe is intended for enjoying communal dancing and maybe a pint or two.  Due to their larger musical range and more nuanced tonality, the uilleann pipes enjoy a resplendent repertoire as well as a plethora of playing styles in contrast to the militarized homogeneity of the Scottish piping tradition.  Preston’s focus has been on the older pre-famine Irish piping canon (1760’s-1850’s) as well as fiddle music from Cork, Kerry, Clare, Belfast, Sligo, and Fermanagh.