Suzanne
Fiddle, Mandocello
Suzanne Schwartz began playing music when she was five. She studied violin and cello at Ithaca Talent Education for several years. She has experimented with various instruments throughout her life. (She hated the trumpet.) She stumbled upon Irish Music and fell in love. The rest is history.
Bill
Fiddle, Viola, Bodhran
Bill Hurley rehairs/repairs stringed instrument bows, makes violins and violas, and teaches/performs on violin, viola, and bodhran.
He was adopted into Irish music as a classical player and has learned the sound and feel of Irish music from lessons with fiddler Ed McGowan, and the fine folks of Six Mile Craic. He now lives comfortably enough with a foot in each world.
Quiet days in the workshop, music to play, and the company of the local crows are fine things.
Susan
Uilleann Pipes, Whistles, Piano
Susan Murphy is a happy NYC transplant to Ithaca. Originally a classically trained oboist (but always a "closet composer") she left the conservatory world in NY to work in cabaret and musical theatre as a composer lyricist (off Broadway scene). Her honeymoon in Ireland opened up the world of Irish Music to her, and she picked up the whistle. Her NYC Irish bands included The Clan (Irish rock) and Beltane (Trad folk). Here in Ithaca, she brings piano, whistles, and uilleann pipes to the sound of 6 Mile Craic.
Jeff
Fiddle
Jeff Werner’s fiddle has shown up in many Irish sessions and contradances around Ithaca, as often as he could manage it over the past ten years. Jeff studied and learned fiddle with wonderful musicians who play beautiful music, most notably Laurie Hart, but somehow he’s come away from it all with a brash heavy-backbeat fiddle style that doesn’t always involve all the notes. Occasionally he’ll try to keep that in check so as not to offend too many folks. Professionally, he teaches chemistry, but it’s music and the community around it that keeps his life whole.
Sean
Fiddle
Sean started off in grade school with the Suzuki method of classical training, then was introduced to Irish music in his high school Celtic club taught by Dara Anissi. After graduation he got together with Edward McGowan. Sean learned the sligo style passed on to Ed from Irish musicians James Morrison and Paddy Killoran.