My, how the years roll by! It has been almost 35 years since I started playing for Scottish dancing. The journey has taken me to many places around the world, as close as Southern California and as far as Czechia. It is wonderful to be back with TAC TCW/Summer School, and it is an honor to serve as Music Director. I have been a member of several bands, Wild Rose, Hood, Wink & Swagger, and our newest, Flindrikin, which includes Lisa Doyle, Ron Wallace, and Carol Vines. Over the years, I have composed numerous tunes, which can be found in our dance publications From the Redwood Forest, The San Andreas Collection (Scottish), and The Bishop’s Ranch Collection (English), as well as in Dunsmuir Dances. Our newest publication, The Thomas/Wallace Collection, includes waltzes, airs, and more, and our new publication of dances with music, Give It a Whirl. For step dancing or just listening, we have our two CD sets of Dancers Dream and Mother’s Garden. And our newest CD, The Color of Autumn, includes 15 of our waltzes. More recordings are on the horizon. All publications and CDs can be ordered through our website, a-scot-in-time.org

Lisa Doyle is a violinist and fiddler with years of experience in music performance and education. She grew up in England and was a student in the Royal College of Music’s pre-college program. After attending the University of Bristol, she made California her home. She has performed with many local orchestras and ensembles, including the Berkeley Symphony, Amaryllis Piano Trio, and RosArts string quartet. She also plays regularly in the pit for community theater musicals, most recently as the fiddle in the house band for Love Always, Patsy Cline. She maintains a busy violin studio in her home in Sonoma County. As a fiddle player, Lisa studied with Alasdair Fraser and other world-renowned musicians in California, Wisconsin, Boston, Scotland, and Norway. She has played for weekly RSCDS classes for the past 10 years and for many dances on the West Coast, including Asilomar, as a member of the Scottish dance band Flindrikin. In 2019, she traveled to Europe with the band, performing at dance festivals and Highland Games and playing for classes in Prague. While she enjoys exploring a range of musical genres, Lisa is most comfortable in the Scottish tradition. She is passionate about encouraging others to participate – as musicians, dancers, or listeners; in any way that brings them joy!

Carol has been playing cello in Sonoma County, CA, for over 30 years, including a few local orchestras, chamber music, and lots of musical theater. In the last few years, she has had the great pleasure of exploring more traditional forms of music (Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian, and American folk music), including playing with the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers, and for Scottish dance events.  

Ron’s love and understanding of Scottish dance and music make him an internationally familiar name on workshop staff. Scottish country, Highland, Step, and Cape Breton comprise most of the classes Ron teaches, with some Welsh and English thrown in for balance!

2025 marks Ron’s 57^th year as a teacher of Scottish dance. Invitations have brought his infectious, enthusiastic teaching to many Scottish dance centers worldwide.

In 1977, Ron received his Full Certificate from Miss Milligan. He has taught classes/courses for teachers and dancers across Canada and the United States, as well as Australia, Austria, St. Andrews, TAC, Pinewoods, Czech Republic, England, Slovak Republic, Poland, Japan, Russia, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, France, and Hungary.

He started tutoring teacher candidates in 1978 and is currently an Examiner for the RSCDS.

For 34 years, Ron has been the artistic director for the Dunsmuir Scottish Dancers. At home in Northern California, Ron is busy with weekly classes in country, Highland, Step dance, and Highland bagpipes. He played descant recorder with a local Scottish country dance band, Hood, Wink, and Swagger, and now plays with Flindrikin with Lisa Doyle, Gary Thomas, and Carol Vines.

In 2012, he established the non-profit a-scot-in-time.org (US) to support research, performance, training, and publication of dance-related material.

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Alastair hails from the small fishing town of Wick in the far North of Scotland. Primarily taught to play accordion by Addie Harper Sr., Alastair was also motivated to hone his music theory skills, taking lessons from local pianist Emma Bruce. The twinning of the Scottish Highlands with Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in 1986 resulted in the Caithness Junior Fiddlers embarking on a three-week tour of the island. Alastair played accordion as part of an 18-strong group of musicians. 

No stranger to the dance music scene, Alastair has performed regularly since the 1980s across Scotland and the North of England. Primarily as 2^nd accordion player with Addie Harper’s Scottish Dance Band for many years and more recently supporting Scottish accordion champion Brandon McPhee on multiple commercial audio and video recordings.  Since 2018, Alastair has been based in the Ottawa Valley region of Ontario, where he has collaborated with the local band Traditional Fare.  The band released their debut album in 2023, featuring 13 tracks on accordion, fiddle, and bagpipes.  In demand to play for contra dances, burns suppers, and house concerts, the band also benefited from Alastair’s skills in sound engineering as this album was recorded in his home studio.

Along with Karen Steven on fiddle, Alastair is a founding member of the four-piece Scottish Dance Band Atlantic Firth. Alastair performs a mix of Scottish, Canadian, and Irish music comprising traditional, contemporary, and self-composed tunes

Hailing from the small village of Reay in the far North of Scotland, Karen grew up in a household steeped in traditional music.  With Mum a piano player and Dad a self-taught accordionist, there was no shortage of good music at home.  At the age of 13, Karen began taking violin lessons. However, the twinning of the Scottish Highlands with Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in 1985 marked a turning point in Karen’s playing.  Following a 3-week tour of the island with school group The Caithness Junior Fiddlers in 1986, Karen was inspired to commit her repertoire of traditional tunes to memory after seeing the Cape Breton fiddlers play without sheet music.

Scholarships to attend The Valley of the Moon fiddle camp in California introduced Karen to the playing and teaching of Alasdair Fraser, Buddy MacMaster, Martin Hayes (Ireland), and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (Altan).

Karen's strong, rhythmic fiddle-playing style is influenced by her highland dance training. She enjoys writing music for and playing many Scottish dance styles. In 1988, Karen became an Associate of the UKA Teachers of Highland Dancing Association.

Karen (fiddle) is a founding member of the four-piece Scottish dance band Atlantic Firth, formed in early 2023, and with Alastair (accordion), collaborated with Ottawa Valley piano accompanist John Mitchell and fellow Scot Ian Clark on guitar. The band’s unique sound has been very well received in Ontario and further afield. The band launched its debut album, Ready, and… in November 2024.

Karen performs a mix of Scottish, Canadian, and Irish music comprising traditional, contemporary, and self-composed tunes.