Hello all, my name is Philip Kealy Wilson. I’m primarily a keyboardist and singer (also a recovering choir director) but I have always loved traditional Irish, English, and Scottish folk music. I’ve played recorder competently since I was a teenager and I recently thought it would be fun to learn the whistle, so here I am on a friend’s recommendation. I have MUCH to learn and this looks like a friendly venue in which to do so.
I was, years ago, a harpsichord maker, and my one claim to fame with respect to Irish music is that one of my instruments was purchased by Diane (Guggenheim) Hamilton around 1980, and it (a virginal, or rectangular harpsichord) and another of my instruments were used extensively in her album, Green Autumn.
Diane was living in Ojai, California at the time; I was then and still reside in Santa Barbara. She was creating keyboard arrangements for tunes she had collected. She felt it was a logical extension of brass-strung harps to play Irish music on brass-strung harpsichords. At least that’s my memory. Her friends in the Bothy Band were already recording on that electric/acoustic keyboard they used (somebody remind me what it was called).
Well, I’m blathering. I look forward to learning from this board!
