Tara Dutcher

I really don't remember a time when I didn't play the fiddle.

I recall being taken to feisanna in southern California as a small child. My mother Carmel hails from Swanlinbar, County Cavan, Ireland and immigrated to California as a young woman. My parents are both music lovers as well as musicians and my sister and I were fortunate to have been exposed to both classical and traditional folk music.

The soundtrack of my childhood is De Dannan's Song for Ireland, the tape that was always playing in my mother's Chevette in the early eighties. I count that album, particularly its title track, among my earliest and most lasting musical influences.

I was three years old when I began taking Suzuki violin lessons and three years later I began studying piano as well. I have been very lucky to have had a number of influential violin teachers through the years, especially Georgia Daniel and Dr. Don Haines.

While I was an undergraduate, I took as many classes as I could in the Jazz Studies department, especially those offered byDr. John Rapson, and became enthralled with improvisation and how it applies to being both a flexible musician and a balanced person.

In 2000, I graduated from The University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Music in music therapy, completed my internship with Dr. Barbara Reuer in San Diego, and became a board certified music therapist.

I have been teaching private music lessons for almost fifteen years. In addition to parenting and teaching, I have an active performance schedule. I play fiddle and sing with the eastern Iowa Celtic band The Beggarmen and I guest with Fairfield's Border Lord featuring Rick and Claudine Stanley. I also teach Kindermusik, an early childhood music program, for West Music in Coralville.

My husband Joe is a musician also and plays bodhran in The Beggarmen. We have two young sons, Liam and Atticus.