Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A life in music

by Helen Phelan (Editor), Marie McCarthy (Editor), Nicholas Carolan (Editor)

Overview

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A life in music, is a collection of essays and reflections around the musical life of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. With contributions from musicians, artists, dancers, academics, students, poets, politicians and media personalities, the book explores the multifaceted life of one of Ireland’s best—known musicians. Ranging in style from the scholarly to the personal, the anecdotal and the poetic, each piece offers a unique perspective on his life and work. This richly illustrated volume brings together the voices of those who knew him best and captures his wide—ranging influence as an educator, performer, composer and cultural personality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782050162
Publisher:	Cork University Press
Publication date:	10/18/2024
Pages:	576
Product dimensions:	6.54(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.84(d)

About the Author

Helen Phelan is professor of arts practice, and director of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. She is founder of the PhD Arts Practice programme at the Academy, and founding Chair of IMBAS, a national network for artistic research. She is an award—winning scholar for her work in music, ritual and migration.

Marie McCarthy is professor of music education at the University of Michigan. She has contributed to music education in Ireland for over three decades. Awards include honorary life member of the Society for Music Education in Ireland and the International Society for Music Education, and the 2022 Senior Researcher Award from the US National Association for Music Education.

Nicholas Carolan is director emeritus of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, of which he was founder—director 1987–2015 and general editor of its publications. A researcher, writer, producer and lecturer, he is best known for the archival television series Come West along the Road and Siar an Bóthar (1994–2014).

Table of Contents

List of Figures  

List of Abbreviations 

Acknowledgements

 

Introduction

Editors 

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A biography Helen Phelan 

 

 

PART I: MUSICIAN 

 Foreword Nicholas Carolan 

Elver Gleams 

1. The Making of Fresh Music  
   Paddy Glackin 

1. An Bóthar Ard ón gCrosbhóthar  
   Máire Nic Fhinn 

1. ‘This is, in several ways, an experimental recording …’ 
   Declan Colgan  

1. It Began Literally as a Dream  
   Nóirín Ní Riain 

 

Becoming 

1. ‘Let’s start with an improvisation’: Playing the saxophone for Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin 
   Kenneth Edge  

1. The First Time I Met Mícheál O’Smoothie—Phone 
   Brian Kennedy  

1. Mícheál and the ICO: A musical journey 
   Gerard Keenan  

1. A Bridge Between Worlds 
   Sinead Hayes  

1. Inspirational Torch Bearer 
   Martin Hayes 

1. Moments 
   Iarla Ó Lionáird 

 

Between Worlds 

1. Distant Beating Hearts 
   David Brophy  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A force for good 
   Neil Martin 

1. A Conversation on Music and Memory
   Mary Coll and Joan Sheehy  

1. Irish Destiny: The movie, the music, the maestro 
   Sunniva O’Flynn  

1. Along the Enchanted Way: Recollections of a church musician 
   John O’Keeffe 

1. The Mediator and the ‘Disappointment’: Understanding Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s contribution to Irish composition  
   Toner Quinn 

 

 

PART II: EDUCATOR 

Foreword Marie McCarthy  

The Dolphin’s Way 

1. Reflections from the Well 
   Mel Mercier 

1. The Scholar’s Harvest Home: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and the student experience of traditional music at third level
   Sandra Joyce  

1. Francesco Walks: A personal reflection
   Liz Doherty  

1. A Creative Process: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin at UCC 
   Niall Vallely  

1. ‘The Dolphin’s Way’: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s pioneering work at the Department of Music, University College Cork (1975–93) 
   Mary Mitchell—Ingoldsby 

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Ethnomusicology and Queen’s University Belfast 
   John Baily 

 

Templum 

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin 
   Edward Walsh  

1. Always Unfolding Knowing: Toyota Performing Arts Initiative as curriculum of event, cultural object and lived experience 
   Margaret O’Sullivan 

1. An Dúghabháil: Reifying the source 
   Ríonach uí Ógáin 

1. The CÉILÍ and the HOUSE OF LIGHT
   Daniel Cordier 

1. Of Our Times 
   David J. Elliott 

1. Towards a National Ethnomusicology
   John Morgan O’Connell  

1. Engaging Traditional Ears in the Irish World Academy’s Ethnomusicology Programme 
   Susan H. Motherway  

1. Ethnochoreology and Traditional Dance in the Irish World Academy 
   Catherine E. Foley, Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain and Mats Melin   

1. Music Education at the Irish World Academy 
   Jean Downey and Ernestine Healy  

1. Lighting the Fire: Perspectives on the development of the Classical String Performance programme at the Irish World Academy
   Diane Daly and Ferenc Szűcs  

1. The MA Programme in Ritual Chant and Song: A mirror of a grand spirit 
   Edward Foley and Sr Sidonia Freedman  

1. Music Therapy at the Irish World Academy: A ‘lobal’ reflection 
   Tríona McCaffrey and Jane Edwards  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: ‘Ah, sweet dancer’ 
   Mary Nunan 

1. Conferring the Céilí: Irish traditional music programmes at the Irish World Academy
   Niall Keegan  

1. Community Music in the Irish World Academy: Opening, inspiration, rupture
   Kari K. Veblen and Kathleen Turner  

1. Moving Song: Reflections on the BA Voice and Dance
   Jennifer de Brún, Hannah Fahey and Óscar Mascareñas  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: My personal psychopomp
   Carl Corcoran 

1. Between Worlds: Being, becoming and belonging 
   Mary Louise O’Donnell and Matthew James Noone  

 

Lumen 

1. The Grace of His Teaching: Lessons from Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   Patricia Shehan Campbell  

1. ‘there for the crossing’: Reflections on the practical and the poetic 
   Anya Peterson Royce 

1. Three Meetings with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin from 1985 to 2017 
   Tran Quang Hai  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: The candle and the light 
   Christopher Frayling  

1. Transmodal Curriculum Maker, Symbolic Leader
   Regina Murphy  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Encounters with a musical visionary 
   Svanibor Pettan  

1. ‘My Love is in America’: Mícheál brings Irish music to Boston College
   Elizabeth Sweeney and Christian Dupont  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Music Educator: Local accent, global vision 
   Marie McCarthy 

 

 

PART III: CULTURAL MEDIATOR 

Foreword Helen Phelan 

Casadh/Turning 

1. Memories of Mícheál: Cuimhní cinn ar Mhícheál 
   Lillis Ó Laoire 

1. Cófra na mBeart Caillte
   Áine Uí Cheallaigh  

1. Téada Machnaimh agus Téada Gutha: Ceist na teangan sa cheol Gaelach
   Tríona Ní Shíocháin  

 

Gaiseadh/Flowing 

1. Listening to Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin Play ‘Carolan’s Farewell to Music’ on the Piano
   Paula Meehan  

1. Elegy Between Worlds 
   Thomas McCarthy  

1. A Planxty for Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   Joseph O’Connor  

1. Irish Destiny (1926) 
   Tom French 

1. The Rags of Time 
   Paddy Bushe  

1. Across the Plains of Boyle
   Vincent Woods  

1. Where Music Begins 
   Eva Bourke  

1. Eurydice Speaks 
   Enda Wyley 

1. Air: The map of the world 
   Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin  

1. Between the Jigs and the Reels 
   Moya Cannon  

1. Between the Beats at The Moorings Bar
   Michael Coady  

1. Anonymous: A blackbird
   Paul Muldoon  

1. Interludes 
   Peter Sirr  

1. Early Music
   Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin 

1. Tigín i gCnocán a’ Phaoraigh
   Áine Uí Fhoghlú 

1. For Mícheál
   Fióna Bolger 

1. The Music of the Morning Sun
   David Whyte 

1. Ceol 
   Gerard Smyth 

1. Church Music 
   John McAuliffe  

1. Back on the Island 
   Bernard O’Donoghue  

1. Marbhna on a Grand Piano
   Theo Dorgan  

1. Like a Soul
   Martin Dyar 

 

Oileán/Island 

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and Seamus Heaney: Boundaries, mediation and redress
   Johanne Devlin Trew  

1. Turas go Tír na nÓg: A personal reflection 
   Trew O’Connor  

1. A River of Sound
   Philip King  

1. A Constant Companion in Music 
   Aodán Ó Dubhghaill  

1. History Lessons
   Rod Stoneman  

1. ‘Too—Ra—Loo—Ra—Loo—Ral’: Musical priests on screen and Irish—American identity
   Méabh Ní Fhuartháin 

1. The Gleam of the Elver and the Work of the Heart: Reflections on Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   Timothy Emlyn Jones 

1. A Journey of the Soul
   Page Allen  

1. Learning from Mícheál: Placing culture at the heart of regenerative innovation
   Finbarr Bradley  

1. Planxty: A newly coined word for a new kind of composition? 
   Cathal Goan  

1. ‘The local is the path to true globalisation’: Mícheál as musical mediator and the redress of the Irish psyche 
   Owen Ó Súilleabháin  

1. Irish Music (Re—)Defined: The writings of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   John O’Flynn  

1. The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze: A personal recollection and evaluation by a musician and educator
   Fintan Vallely  

1. Tradition and the Individual Talent: Ó Súilleabháin in the light of Heaney
   Harry White  

 

 

Epilogue: Homily at the Funeral Mass for Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin 

Mark Patrick Hederman OSB  

 

Works by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Discography, Writings and Select Scores  

Discography by Nicholas Carolan  

Writings by John O’Flynn, Helen Phelan, Marie McCarthy and Nicholas Carolan 

Select Scores by Susan Brodigan and Evonne Ferguson 

 

Notes 

Select Bibliography 

Index 

Editorial Reviews

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A Life in Music, is an impressive, imposing, multi—layered, and impossible to circumscribe book.

The Journal of Music - Adrian Scahill

List of Figures  

List of Abbreviations 

Acknowledgements

 

Introduction

Editors 

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A biography Helen Phelan 

 

 

PART I: MUSICIAN 

 Foreword Nicholas Carolan 

Elver Gleams 

1. The Making of Fresh Music  
   Paddy Glackin 

1. An Bóthar Ard ón gCrosbhóthar  
   Máire Nic Fhinn 

1. ‘This is, in several ways, an experimental recording …’ 
   Declan Colgan  

1. It Began Literally as a Dream  
   Nóirín Ní Riain 

 

Becoming 

1. ‘Let’s start with an improvisation’: Playing the saxophone for Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin 
   Kenneth Edge  

1. The First Time I Met Mícheál O’Smoothie-Phone 
   Brian Kennedy  

1. Mícheál and the ICO: A musical journey 
   Gerard Keenan  

1. A Bridge Between Worlds 
   Sinead Hayes  

1. Inspirational Torch Bearer 
   Martin Hayes 

1. Moments 
   Iarla Ó Lionáird 

 

Between Worlds 

1. Distant Beating Hearts 
   David Brophy  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A force for good 
   Neil Martin 

1. A Conversation on Music and Memory
   Mary Coll and Joan Sheehy  

1. Irish Destiny: The movie, the music, the maestro 
   Sunniva O’Flynn  

1. Along the Enchanted Way: Recollections of a church musician 
   John O’Keeffe 

1. The Mediator and the ‘Disappointment’: Understanding Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s contribution to Irish composition  
   Toner Quinn 

 

 

PART II: EDUCATOR 

Foreword Marie McCarthy  

The Dolphin’s Way 

1. Reflections from the Well 
   Mel Mercier 

1. The Scholar’s Harvest Home: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and the student experience of traditional music at third level
   Sandra Joyce  

1. Francesco Walks: A personal reflection
   Liz Doherty  

1. A Creative Process: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin at UCC 
   Niall Vallely  

1. ‘The Dolphin’s Way’: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s pioneering work at the Department of Music, University College Cork (1975–93) 
   Mary Mitchell-Ingoldsby 

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Ethnomusicology and Queen’s University Belfast 
   John Baily 

 

Templum 

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin 
   Edward Walsh  

1. Always Unfolding Knowing: Toyota Performing Arts Initiative as curriculum of event, cultural object and lived experience 
   Margaret O’Sullivan 

1. An Dúghabháil: Reifying the source 
   Ríonach uí Ógáin 

1. The CÉILÍ and the HOUSE OF LIGHT
   Daniel Cordier 

1. Of Our Times 
   David J. Elliott 

1. Towards a National Ethnomusicology
   John Morgan O’Connell  

1. Engaging Traditional Ears in the Irish World Academy’s Ethnomusicology Programme 
   Susan H. Motherway  

1. Ethnochoreology and Traditional Dance in the Irish World Academy 
   Catherine E. Foley, Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain and Mats Melin   

1. Music Education at the Irish World Academy 
   Jean Downey and Ernestine Healy  

1. Lighting the Fire: Perspectives on the development of the Classical String Performance programme at the Irish World Academy
   Diane Daly and Ferenc Szűcs  

1. The MA Programme in Ritual Chant and Song: A mirror of a grand spirit 
   Edward Foley and Sr Sidonia Freedman  

1. Music Therapy at the Irish World Academy: A ‘lobal’ reflection 
   Tríona McCaffrey and Jane Edwards  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: ‘Ah, sweet dancer’ 
   Mary Nunan 

1. Conferring the Céilí: Irish traditional music programmes at the Irish World Academy
   Niall Keegan  

1. Community Music in the Irish World Academy: Opening, inspiration, rupture
   Kari K. Veblen and Kathleen Turner  

1. Moving Song: Reflections on the BA Voice and Dance
   Jennifer de Brún, Hannah Fahey and Óscar Mascareñas  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: My personal psychopomp
   Carl Corcoran 

1. Between Worlds: Being, becoming and belonging 
   Mary Louise O’Donnell and Matthew James Noone  

 

Lumen 

1. The Grace of His Teaching: Lessons from Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   Patricia Shehan Campbell  

1. ‘there for the crossing’: Reflections on the practical and the poetic 
   Anya Peterson Royce 

1. Three Meetings with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin from 1985 to 2017 
   Tran Quang Hai  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: The candle and the light 
   Christopher Frayling  

1. Transmodal Curriculum Maker, Symbolic Leader
   Regina Murphy  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Encounters with a musical visionary 
   Svanibor Pettan  

1. ‘My Love is in America’: Mícheál brings Irish music to Boston College
   Elizabeth Sweeney and Christian Dupont  

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Music Educator: Local accent, global vision 
   Marie McCarthy 

 

 

PART III: CULTURAL MEDIATOR 

Foreword Helen Phelan 

Casadh/Turning 

1. Memories of Mícheál: Cuimhní cinn ar Mhícheál 
   Lillis Ó Laoire 

1. Cófra na mBeart Caillte
   Áine Uí Cheallaigh  

1. Téada Machnaimh agus Téada Gutha: Ceist na teangan sa cheol Gaelach
   Tríona Ní Shíocháin  

 

Gaiseadh/Flowing 

1. Listening to Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin Play ‘Carolan’s Farewell to Music’ on the Piano
   Paula Meehan  

1. Elegy Between Worlds 
   Thomas McCarthy  

1. A Planxty for Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   Joseph O’Connor  

1. Irish Destiny (1926) 
   Tom French 

1. The Rags of Time 
   Paddy Bushe  

1. Across the Plains of Boyle
   Vincent Woods  

1. Where Music Begins 
   Eva Bourke  

1. Eurydice Speaks 
   Enda Wyley 

1. Air: The map of the world 
   Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin  

1. Between the Jigs and the Reels 
   Moya Cannon  

1. Between the Beats at The Moorings Bar
   Michael Coady  

1. Anonymous: A blackbird
   Paul Muldoon  

1. Interludes 
   Peter Sirr  

1. Early Music
   Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin 

1. Tigín i gCnocán a’ Phaoraigh
   Áine Uí Fhoghlú 

1. For Mícheál
   Fióna Bolger 

1. The Music of the Morning Sun
   David Whyte 

1. Ceol 
   Gerard Smyth 

1. Church Music 
   John McAuliffe  

1. Back on the Island 
   Bernard O’Donoghue  

1. Marbhna on a Grand Piano
   Theo Dorgan  

1. Like a Soul
   Martin Dyar 

 

Oileán/Island 

1. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and Seamus Heaney: Boundaries, mediation and redress
   Johanne Devlin Trew  

1. Turas go Tír na nÓg: A personal reflection 
   Trew O’Connor  

1. A River of Sound
   Philip King  

1. A Constant Companion in Music 
   Aodán Ó Dubhghaill  

1. History Lessons
   Rod Stoneman  

1. ‘Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral’: Musical priests on screen and Irish-American identity
   Méabh Ní Fhuartháin 

1. The Gleam of the Elver and the Work of the Heart: Reflections on Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   Timothy Emlyn Jones 

1. A Journey of the Soul
   Page Allen  

1. Learning from Mícheál: Placing culture at the heart of regenerative innovation
   Finbarr Bradley  

1. Planxty: A newly coined word for a new kind of composition? 
   Cathal Goan  

1. ‘The local is the path to true globalisation’: Mícheál as musical mediator and the redress of the Irish psyche 
   Owen Ó Súilleabháin  

1. Irish Music (Re-)Defined: The writings of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
   John O’Flynn  

1. The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze: A personal recollection and evaluation by a musician and educator
   Fintan Vallely  

1. Tradition and the Individual Talent: Ó Súilleabháin in the light of Heaney
   Harry White  

 

 

Epilogue: Homily at the Funeral Mass for Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin 

Mark Patrick Hederman OSB  

 

Works by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Discography, Writings and Select Scores  

Discography Nicholas Carolan  

Writings John O’Flynn, Helen Phelan, Marie McCarthy and Nicholas Carolan 

Select Scores Susan Brodigan and Evonne Ferguson 

 

Notes 

Select Bibliography 

Index 

From the Publisher