Finola Lawlor

Traditional Irish fiddle player Finóla Lawlor hails from Dublin in Ireland and has been playing traditional Irish Music since the age of six. Finóla has toured globally with Irish dance troupes and plays regularly around Ireland in traditional Irish groups. Finóla graduated from University College Dublin in 2009 with an honors degree in music, and followed this with a Masters in Traditional Irish Music Performance from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick in 2011. With 15 years teaching experience under her belt, Finóla has passed on the tradition to both children and adults in schools, small group and individual lessons. 

Traditionally, Irish music was taught by ear and passed on from one generation to the next in this way. Continuing with this style of learning, I teach to train the ear to hear the tune by listening intently, and from there, learning how to play it on the instrument. I am always conscious that a lot of my students have a background in another genre where they have learnt how to read music. For this reason,  I finish each lesson with both staff and letter notation as well as a recording of the tune we will cover the following week, so that all students can listen to it before our next lesson.