Due to unexpected circumstances Colin Dewar will not be able to attend Summer School this year.

Laird Brown and Don Wood will be sharing the responsibilities of the Director of Music. Laird will handle much of the music arrangements and Don will handle technical details.

Ian Muir will be also on the music staff, his details and bio to follow shortly.

Laird Brown                            Brampton, ON   

Laird Brown’s early years in Toronto were rich in Celtic culture, dancing and music. Growing up he had many interests in the arts and pursued a wide variety of options in theatre and music, including Country dancing and Highland. In 1992 Laird played with the band for the first time, as a last minute substitute for a 2^nd accordionist. And before long Laird had permanently joined The Scottish Accent band, playing with his Dad, Bobby. Laird assisted Bobby in the everyday running of the band and also acted as co-producer on their CDs. Laird has taken an active role in playing lead for RSCDS classes at workshops across Canada and the U.S. and he is very proud to be a part of the country dance community. Most recently Laird recorded his debut CD as a lead player, with the Scottish Accent band.

Deby Benton Grosjean                   Aptos, CA               

Deby is an accomplished fiddler, successfully melding the virtuosity of classical technique with the spontaneity of Celtic folk. She is a multifaceted musician expanding the dimensions as a workshop clinician, conductor, orchestrator and producer. Deby loves to play for dancers (Scottish dance since mid-1990’s and Contra dance since 1980’s). She performed for TAC 2009 and is equally excited to perform at TAC 2012!  Deby has  played at RSCDS-SF’s Asilomar Dance Retreat for many years as a soloist and with the band “Reel of Seven”; she’s on their 2008 CD Dance for Joy. Besides with Andy Imbrie, she’s performed at several balls and dances with pianists David Weisler, Muriel Johnstone, Lisa Scott and others.

A talented independent artist, Deby has appeared on over forty recordings including notables as rock famed Journey’s No Nation Illumne and VTR Cinema, Gourd Music’s Jefferson’s Fiddle and Windham Hill’s Celtic Requiem. Her new CD release is Healing Well and receivin rave reviews. Among Deby’s film score credits include Ken Burns’  Not For Ourselves Alone. 

A teacher of distinction, Deby’s on faculty at several music camps including Alasdair Fraser’s Scottish Fiddling School and Sierra Fiddle Camp for at least 20 years. She performs abroad spanning Taiwan, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and throughout the USA including Alaska and her hometown of Santa Cruz, California. She’s opened for Scotland’s singer Jim Malcom, England’s Maddy Prior, Ireland’s author Frank McCourt. Since starting her formal classical training at age eight, Deby has received awards in national and regional fiddle championships and honors in college for music major. Connection Magazine notes, “Her recordings will capture your heart and dance your feet.”

Andy Imbrie                           Santa Clara, CA

Andy leads the “Reel of Seven” Scottish dance band, and is the music coordinator for the San Francisco Branch of the RSCDS. Reel of Seven has just released their first CD: “Dance for Joy” recorded in 2008 at the Kim McGarrity Memorial Ball at Asilomar.
Andrew began Scottish Country Dancing in Berkeley in 1977 and earned his preliminary pass teacher’s certificate in 1984, and one day hopes to find time to train for the full certificate. He began studying classical piano as a child, and started playing for Scottish Country Dancing in 1984 with the encouragement of Kim McGarrity and Barbara McOwen. He plays regularly for dances throughout the US and Canada with various fiddlers, including Deby Benton Grosjean and Calum MacKinnon, and has also played for dance tours and workshops in Scotland, Shetland, Orkney, and New Zealand with fiddler John Taylor. Andy is featured on several albums of SCD music, including “Steppin’ Out” and “LIVE” with John Taylor, “March Hare” with Susan Worland, “The San Francisco Collection, Vol. 2” with many local musicians, and “The Devil’s Quandary” with Deby Benton Grosjean. He has been on music staff at Pinewoods and was honored to have been invited to teach piano accompaniment at the Valley of the Moon Scottish fiddling school for several years.

Andrew is married to Sherryl Fawx (also a dancer and musician); they live in Santa Clara, California. In his free time, he works as an aerospace engineer specializing in simulation, guidance, and control design of flight vehicles.

Judi Nicolson                                         Katy, TX

Judi was brought up in the North East of Scotland, and started learning fiddle at the age of 9. Although classically trained, her passion was the Scottish traditional style of fiddle playing. As well as winning several major fiddle competitions throughout Scotland. In 1982, at aged 15, she became the youngest competitor to win the Open Scottish Champion Golden fiddle Awards.

Judi recorded her first album ‘Going Places’ the following year, and as well as being a solo fiddler, she has performed and recorded with several popular Scottish Country Dance bands through the years including Bill Black, Graeme Mitchell, Graham Geddes, and Colin Dewar.

 Judi moved to the Shetland Isles in 1989 where she met and played with many musicians including Aly Bain, and the late Willie Hunter. She married Shetland accordionist Ian Nicolson in 1990 and they, along with two renowned Shetland musicians Violet Tulloch on piano, and Andrew Tulloch on guitar formed a group called Thulbion. They performed throughout Shetland, and recorded a CD, ‘Twilight Bound’. Judi taught traditional fiddle music in Shetland Schools and in 2002 published a book of her own compositions ‘The Waves of Sound’.

Judi, Ian and their two children moved the North East of Scotland in 2004, and after furthering her teaching career through the London College of Music, she was employed by Aberdeenshire Council to teach Violin/Fiddle in Schools in the NE of Scotland.

In Summer 2008 the family relocated to Katy, Texas where Judi has continued teaching, and playing for Scottish Country dancers in America, Canada, and Scotland. She played for the dancers at TAC summer school in Canada in 2010.

Upcoming US events…

Judi Nicolson- Fiddle, Muriel Johnstone - Piano

Oct 27^th 2012 - Workshop and Ball - Houston, Texas

Nov 3^rd 2012 - Workshop & Ball - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Judi Nicolson – Fiddle, Andy Imbrie – Piano

Jan 5^th 2013 - Twelfth Night Masked Ball - Galveston, Texas

Frank Thomson                          Aberdeen, UK

An accomplished accordionist, Frank has played for Scottish Country Dancing for many years. He plays regularly for classes at Aberdeen Branch of RSCDS, and during the Society's Annual Summer School at St Andrews. Frank has his own band in Aberdeen and performs at home and abroad. His musical accolades include playing for members of the Royal Family when they are in residence at Balmoral Castle and Birkhall in Scotland. Frank is passionate about the RSCDS and is presently a committee member at Edinburgh headquarters - he is thoroughly looking forward to meeting and playing for TAC Summer School 2012.

Don Wood                                              Toronto, ON

Don began playing piano as a young boy in Nova Scotia, accompanying his father who played fiddle and button box. His exposure to all the old reels, jigs, and strathspeys admittedly with a “maritime” flavour, would stand him in good stead later in life.

His school years found him playing guitar for several local Rock and R&B bands before being lured away in 1966 to play bass with Stan Hamilton’s Flying Scotsmen. It was there he met his life long friend Bobby Brown. With Bobby’s help, Don honed his piano skills in the “Scottish” style and went on to become the original pianist for the Scottish Accent when the band was formed in the mid 1970s. He continues to play both piano and bass with the band across Canada and the United States.

Over the years, Don has made several recordings with the Scottish Accent as well as fiddlers Alasdair Fraser, Graham Townsend and Rudy Meeks. He also toured and recorded with Bobby’s fiddle group The Cape Breton Symphony Fiddlers.

From time to time, Don has made brief sojourns into blues, country, rock, folk and most recently gospel music but he is never far away from his Scottish musical roots. He is currently a member of the maritime folk trio “End of the Road” and gospel group “E H Gospel Sound” in addition to the Scottish Accent.

Don says he will continue playing “till the lights go out”.