Teachers

Meet our teachers!

Dave Clark

Dave is a fiddle player from Quebec City, Canada of French-Canadian and Scottish heritage. He learned classical violin as a child, before discovering traditional Irish music in his teens. He learned his first Irish tunes to play for dancers in Shannon, a small town north of Quebec City with strong Irish heritage. During his university years studying geology in Montreal, he was part of the city’s vibrant traditional music scene, and played sessions, gigs, festivals and feisanna. While living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Dave recorded a duet album with accordion player Graham Wells, one of Newfoundland’s finest musicians. Dave has been living in Vancouver since 2010.

Eoin Caulfield

Eoin is a concertina and flute player from Dublin, Ireland who has been living in Vancouver for the past five years. He has been playing Irish traditional music since as early as he could talk, and has had the pleasure of learning from some of Ireland’s greatest proponents of the music, including Aoife O’Connor, Micheál O’Raghallaigh, Noel Hill, Harry Bradley and Paul McGrattan. Eoin has won regional and All-Ireland Fleadh medals both solo and in céilí bands, and was a full-time gigging musician and music teacher in Dublin for several years, before moving to Vancouver and returning to his accountancy career. Eoin has performed on stage with many world-renowned musicians such as Dale Russ, Seán Gavin, Caoimhín Ó Fearghaíl and Elliot Grasso.

Melanie Yeap

Melany is from Bangkok, Thailand, but grew up in Vancouver for most of her childhood. She fell in love with Irish traditional music as a teenager and became involved in the local Irish music session scene as a young adult. She plays flute and tin whistle and is an experienced session musician. She has performed at Celticfest, pubs, weddings, events and concerts all throughout the Lower Mainland and has collaborated with many local musicians throughout the years, such as Glasta and Wednesday Nights at Johnnie Foxes. She is a regular face among the Irish music community in Vancouver, BC and Washington State and maintains a social media presence as Thairish Flute. Melany has a certificate from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Teaching Irish Traditional Music I Teach Trad and believes in a holistic, inclusive, and fun approach to teaching the music. She is currently finishing her degree in History at the University of British Columbia before continuing her studies to become a therapist.

Conor Fleming

Conor is a button accordion player from Co. Clare, Ireland, and has been living in Vancouver since 2017. He was introduced to traditional music as a child by Mary Liddy at the local Comhaltas branch in Newmarket-on-Fergus, and learned the B/C system of box playing from Conor McCarthy and subsequently Colin Nea. As a teenager, Conor was also a member of Denis Liddy’s highly successful youth music group, the Barefied Céilí Band. Conor has performed at concerts and festivals in Ireland and internationally and has taught child and adult learners.