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“You’ll hear a lot of players saying: ‘Well, I’m playing for the dance, and you have to play it fast’” he said. “And it gets into your bloodstream. You’ll play it fast all the time. My ambition is to play it slow. You’re pronouncing it better, you’re getting more feelings, you’re getting more satisfaction, there’s more fun in playing. You put more body into it.” - Mike Rafferty, 2010.
Episode 1: I was about 3 years of age; my father took me to the radio on his desk and eagerly exclaimed “Listen to this! He’s playing the Irish Un-i-on Pipes!”
That must have started it all. I’d like to thank my father.
Episode 2: wanting to make music-sounds with instruments, singing French folk songs, piano, guitar, rock-n-roll, folk music, the Clancy brothers, the tin whistle, the flute.
Episode 3: In college (SUNY Stony Brook) I studied teaching, but mainly Minstrelsy. After college I lived in England for about 8 years, making my living as a minstrel.
Episode 4: In the USA, there was my folk band Keltia, and then the music room of Mike Rafferty (my hero), who taught me how to play the flute and teach Irish Traditional Music. He also played the Union pipes, (now called Uilleann, or elbow), and the first time I heard him do this, the hair stood up on my head. It was breathtaking, stunning. He was quite famous, but I didn’t know that then. Mike became like a second father to me.
Episode 5: I teach and mentor the student in front of me - my job is to help each learner be a happy, increasingly competent player. I love seeing them begin to understand a new tune and its culture. And I love revisiting the tunes, like meeting old friends, and finding things old and new, each time you visit them again. I like to play them slow and easy.
The Tunes & Tales of Old East Galway programs I produced from 2011-2023, most with piper Jerry O'Sullivan. I also serve as a master for several State Arts Councils' apprenticeship programs. One time I gave a TED-X talk. There are other things I've done, but these are probably the highlights. I have wonderful music friends all over the world.
I will help you become the best Irish traditional musician you can be. One tune at a time.
Lesl Harker
Learn more about me and visit my gallery:
Biography Résumé:
Lesl Harker (pronounced Less’l) is an RIAM-certified Irish traditional music instructor (Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Ireland) and player of the Irish concert flute. Teaching East Galway style Irish flute for 20+ years, she also serves as a Master for several State Arts Councils' Apprenticeship programs. Lesl teaches privately and online, specialising in happy learners, musical problem-solving, effective practice techniques, and capturing the feel and pulse of old East Galway Irish Traditional Music.
Lesl’s path took her as a child from the sound of the Irish uilleann pipes at age 3, to a “Tonette” at age 7 (similar to an Irish whistle), to listening to folk songs and the Clancy Brothers in NYC, to minstrelsy training at university, a BA degree in education, and then as a professional minstrel, living in England eight years.
Returning to the States, she began flute studies and state arts apprenticeships with the late flute master Mike Rafferty. This collaboration lasted for 13 years, during which time she began teaching flute under his tutelage. The legendary Harker House music sessions lasted 15 years; Lesl also hosted public sessions and published 2 books of his music, which are now available at amazon.com/author/lesl. For these books she was an award recipient from the international Irish music organization Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
After Mike’s passing, she began various projects to continue his legacy. In 2018 she gave a TEDx talk on the history of East Galway music, and from 2011-2023 presented the public Tunes & Tales of Old East Galway workshop and concert programs, most with uilleann piper Jerry O’Sullivan. She is a featured master in the NJ State Arts magazine Passing It On, and by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society.
Her goals are to help learners become the best Irish traditional musicians they can be.
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