David Firestine
Dave plays with a driving rhythm that makes feet start tapping at concerts, dances, sessions, and a multitude of other special occasions. His style is eclectic, incorporating a blend of old time and Irish styles. He is especially fond of tunes that have a unique twist, or sets that introduce interesting changes of tempo or keys to perk up the listener’s ears. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, bodhran, and guitar. Dave’s charisma and energy onstage are a highlight at Round the House concerts. Audiences enjoy his songs, which range from mildly hilarious to rowdy or ribald.
When not playing with Round the House, Dave performs with an old-time string band, The Privvy Tippers, and another traditional Irish group, The New Potatoes. He co-hosts the Tucson Irish session and old time/contra dance music session. He is well known as the jam leader at the Carp Camp at the Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield Kansas. He also leads jams and teaches workshops at the Tucson Folk Festival, Sharlot Hall Music Festival the Dewey Dulcimer Festival, and at the CTMS Summer Solstice Music Dance and Storytelling Festival. In addition, Dave has experience teaching workshops in schools as a Roster Artist for the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
Sharon Goldwasser
Sharon’s fiddling brings lift and a genuine Irish style to the Round the House concert stage. Her main focus for the past decade has been unlocking the intricacies of Irish fiddle, and she includes variations, bow triplets and rolls in her playing. She relishes finding rare and unusual tunes, but has also written several tunes, including a lovely slip jig, which is currently being played by several feis musicians around the country. Sharon appreciates the tradition of knowing about the tune as well as playing it, and she shares the background stories and anecdotes on stage, to the delight of our audiences.
In addition to playing with Round the House, Sharon is the founder and co-host of the Tucson Irish session and she regularly plays at the old time/contra dance jam. She has long been appreciated as an enthusiastic and accomplished contra dance musician in Tucson. Sharon also teaches workshops and helps lead sessions at the Sharlot Hall Music Festival and the Tucson Folk Festival. She especially enjoys playing for Irish step dancers and for ceilis. She also plays mandolin, and has picked up a tin whistle from time to time. In September, 2006, Sharon was awarded a Professional Development Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. This grant funded a week of intensive study of fiddle style and technique with Randal Bays in June 2007, in Whidbey Island, Washington State.
Mark Robertson-Tessi
Mark’s guitar and bouzouki style is rooted in the sound of the modern-traditional Irish band, while blending in touches from a wide span of influences. His backup playing ranges from quiet and melodic to syncopated and driving. He also enjoys working out interesting arrangements of songs. Mark can also play melody, and likes to incorporate this into his accompaniment style.
Mark has led workshops at the Tucson Folk Festival and Sharlot Hall Music Festival, and also performs on mandolin with award-winning Tucson acoustic group The String Figures. He has twice won the Arizona State Mandolin Championships, and placed in the top 5 in the National Mandolin Championships at Winfield. You can find out more about Mark at www.pickpluckmusic.com .
Claire Zucker
Claire’s songs are a concert highlight, whether she is singing powerfully with the full band or a cappella with a clear lilting touch. Her choice in songs roams between those telling lighthearted stories, to those about love, women, and the sorrow of parting. Claire sings in both Irish Gaelic and English and her ornamentation and phrasing make her songs personal and often moving. Claire also plays the Bodhran with Round the House, and adapts her playing to show tune-sensitivity when accompanying Irish melodies, or to provide a solid and simple beat driving the contra dance music. She is also an excellent Appalachian style flat foot clogger as demonstrated at many of our concerts.
In addition to performing with Round the House, Claire is one of the main callers at the TFTM contra dance and she occasionally calls in Prescott, Flagstaff and Phoenix Arizona. She has taught numerous clogging workshops at Sharlot Hall Music Festival, the Tucson Folk Festival, May Madness Dance Camp, and the Dance in the Desert Dance Camp. In 1995, she taught a regular clogging class in Tucson, and now teaches several sessions of an after-school program in traditional music, song, and dance for Khalsa Montessori School, ages 6 through 12.
