Dr Adrian Scahill

Biography

Adrian Scahill is a lecturer in ethnomusicology in the Department of Music, NUI Maynooth. A first-class honours graduate of Maynooth, he studied both piano and organ before completing a Masters in Performance and Musicology (piano) at NUI Maynooth, and a Masters in Music Technology at Queen's University, Belfast. During this time he was also active as a traditional musician (piano and button accordion), performing and touring both in Ireland and abroad. His PhD, on accompaniment in Irish traditional music, was completed at University College Dublin in 2005 under the supervision of Harry White. The thesis considers both printed and recorded forms of Irish traditional music, examining how accompanimental techniques and styles are informed by the wider musical context in which they were produced. As part of the largest research project undertaken on music in Ireland, Adrian was subject editor for traditional music for the Encycopaedia of Music in Ireland (2013), and was also a major contributor to the volume, writing more than forty articles. Other publications include articles on Irish traditional music and the seventeenth century in Irish Musical Studies 10 (2009), and on Riverdance in Music and the Irish Imagination (2013). He has presented papers at conferences and given invited lectures both in Ireland and abroad, and in 2013 was chair of the organising committee for the Tenth Anniversary Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland. Adrian is undergraduate convenor in the Department of Music, and his teaching includes modules on ethnomusicology, popular music, Irish traditional music, and musicology. He established the traditional group in the department, and has helped develop and currently oversees traditional music performance within the undergraduate programmes. He is currently secretary to the Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy.

Research Interest

Music