MUSICIANS
The Musicians for 2025 are:
Friday Welcome Dance
Andy Emrie
Caroline McCaskey
Saturday Kim McGarrity Memorial Ball
Flindrikin:
Lisa Doyle -- Fiddle
Carol Vines -- Cello
Gary Thomas -- Piano
Ron Wallace -- Recorder
Caroline McCaskey
A native daughter of the genre-bending West Coast music scene, Caroline McCaskey is equally at home in the traditional, improvisational, and classical music worlds. In demand as a teacher and performer throughout North America and author of the AltStrings Fiddle Method, she holds degrees in music composition and performance, as well as Suzuki teaching certification in violin and cello. Caroline is a fiddler for the dance bands Tartan Suite, Reel of Seven and Greenwich Mean Time. She also performs regularly with Boston-based guitarist and banjo player Larry Unger, and with cellist Daniel Delaney as Secret Oaks, a jazz- and folk-inspired string duo. Caroline is the 2019 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and a two-time International Musical Saw Champion. She also runs AltStringsAcademy.com, a learning community for amateur adult string players who are ready to build their technique, style, and musicianship skills.
Andy Imbrie
Andy has had the good fortune to accompany some of today’s leading Celtic fiddle talent, including Judi Nicolson, Deby Benton Grosjean, Elizabeth Dequine, Neil Ewart, Calum MacKinnon, Ryan McKasson, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Risk, and David Knight. He leads the “Reel of Seven” Scottish dance band, which released their fourth CD “The Magic of Summer School” (a compilation of dances recorded during their fabulous week at the New Zealand Summer School) in 2016 to wide acclaim. Their earlier CDs include “Dance for Joy” (2009), “Dance for Joy Encore!” (2012), and “Gotta Dance!” (2015), (www.reelofseven.com). Andy and the Reel of Seven have just returned from Calgary where they were delighted to be the staff musicians for TAC Summer School 2019.
Andy began studying classical piano as a child, and started playing for dances with the encouragement of Kim McGarrity and Barbara McOwen. He plays regularly for Scottish Country Dancing, ceilidh dancing, and contra dances throughout the US and Canada, and has been on music staff for several tours, including three to New Zealand and one to Scotland, Orkney, and the Shetland Islands. He has also been on staff at Pinewoods and was honored to have been invited to teach piano accompaniment at the Boston Harbor Fiddle School and the Valley of the Moon Scottish fiddling school for several years.
Andy is married to Sherryl Fawx (also a dancer and musician); they live in Santa Clara, California. In 2021, he retired from his position as Engineering Fellow at a major aerospace company where he was a specialist in simulation, guidance, and control of flight vehicles.