Celtic Music Society is a unique program comprised of student musicians from East Rochester Senior and Junior High Schools in East Rochester, New York. Founded in the fall of 2001, this group of young musicians performs the traditional music of Ireland in authentic traditional and contemporary styles. We have performed more than 180 times, released three albums, hosted seven workshops by All-Ireland Champion musicians, and shared the stage with some of the top Irish musicians from our region and the world. We have hosted three concerts by Irish supergroup Lúnasa,  two each by Gráda and Teada, and have visits from Karan Casey, Brian Concway, and Joanie Madden. Director Mark Gowman and students in Celtic Music Society frequently present workshops to students, teachers, and college music education majors, and have presented several at the Eastman School of Music and the New York State School Music Association's annual conference. Celtic Music Society was one of only four student ensembles from the United States invited to perform at the National Music Student Leadership Conference in Salt Lake City, where we also presented a workshop for more than 100 teachers at the corresponding Music Educators National Conference.

Students in Celtic Music Society learn to play Irish traditional music in authentic style, and they are taught through traditional techniques. This is not simply a school band or orchestra reading arrangements so they can play “Oirish” music. Our meetings—long before they become rehearsals—begin with students being taught new skills through the aural tradition. They have techniques modeled for them, and they learn tunes in this same way. While this method is slightly slower at first, our students come away with a deep understanding of this music and a much deeper understanding of all music. The school year begins with Celtic Music Society open to any interested student. We meet primarily as a large group, although on rare occasions I am able to also meet with individuals or small groups of students to work on technique. Auditions are held after several months of instruction to get a performing group ready for March and beyond. Students who are chosen for the performing group continue to work, now much more like a professional band than as students in an instructional class. I teach them tunes (again, by rote), and the older students often bring in tunes that they have picked up at a sessions, off of an album, or from another source. We begin playing these tunes, just as you would at a session. Just like in a session, we gradually develop our own common repertoire as favored tunes increase their rotation and others fade away. We begin improvising harmonies and, again, these evolve through a process of experimentation and elimination. The more we play a tune, the more fixed the arrangement seems to become. Because of the amount of student input, changing repertoire, and changing instrumentation, each “edition” of Celtic Music Society is very different from the one before it. Our 2008 album, The Devils of Dublin, sounds nothing like our first album. And the group playing now sounds different from both of those groups. Perhaps most importantly, this group keeps evolving as my own skills and philosophies as both a trad musician and a teacher of traditional music evolve.