![]() As an added twist this year, the couple enlisted the talents of actor William Colgate. What are they going to do? Sit and just watch the show or just hang out all day? What a waste of their potential.”Īs the name suggests, A Celtic Family Christmas will mix the foot-stomping traditional fare both MacMaster and Leahy have become known for with holiday music. They are here practising stuff and then we go tour. “The next little guy comes along and he’s three and wants to play the fiddle and do something on stage because she’s out there,” MacMaster says. Photo submittedīut as Mary Frances grew, she began developing more of a set routine. Article content Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy and their children. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. I remember one time I thought it would be cute, I forget where we were, but I said ‘OK, she’s been begging to come out … Mary Frances Leahy.’ She’d come out and jump around a little bit and it was really cute.” ![]() We’d be going on stage and she’d be seeing me dance and be seeing some of the band dance and she wanted to be part of that. She was playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She got it and she started playing fiddle around that time, too. By the time she was three, she was trying little steps to imitate us so I thought I’d teach her a real step. “I remember playing shows as a new mother and all the new things that come with that, learning how to change diapers and feed a baby. “Mary Frances was our first-born I was 33 years old,” MacMaster says. It just sort of turned out that way because MacMaster and Leahy wanted to ensure their children were with them as they toured. Still, the couple certainly did not set out to produce an army of precocious Von Trapp-like kids playing Celtic music across the country. MacMaster was nine years old herself when she began playing the fiddle and only 16 when she recorded her first album. The children play fiddle, accordion and piano. Increasingly, most of the couple’s children - which includes Mary Frances, Michael, Claire, Julia, Alex, Sadie, and six-month-old Maria - have been participating to various degrees. For the past six years, the MacMaster-Leahy clan has been taking to the stage to spread yuletide cheer with A Celtic Family Christmas. The three oldest children were in the van for the six-hour journey, and the conversation inevitably turned to the upcoming tour and, specifically, the exciting extracurricular activities the brood will engage in between the 24 shows. That’s why the kids keep coming in to say ‘Hi mommy! Hi mommy!” “We’ve been in the van for six hours and I’m literally doing this interview from my driveway. “One more second we’re always multitasking,” says MacMaster, who pauses to talk to one of her children. The next issue of Calgary Herald Headline News will soon be in your inbox. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. Manage Print Subscription / Tax ReceiptĪ welcome email is on its way.It’s easy to say that the group finished the night with smiles on their faces and tunes flowing through their minds. They took photos and signed autographs after the show. It’s the memory of a lifetime! MacMaster and Leahy were very welcoming and kind to the group. They are very grateful for the experience. The kids were very excited and awed at how well the show went. But that’s not all.they also played in the show finale with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy! It was an amazing experience to be on stage playing with two of Canada’s finest fiddle players. It was nerve wracking but the players quickly got comfortable on stage. They opened the sold out show with three numbers. Members of the group reside from Redvers, Carlyle, Alameda, Estevan, Forget, Corning, Stoughton, Lampman and Carnduff and range from 12 to 17 years old. The fiddle players are a part of a larger group called “Focal Point”, which includes vocals and fiddles, and is directed by Jacqueline Walbaum and Donna Turk. The young musicians drove to Winkler early Friday morning and performed Friday evening to a sold out show of 520 people. The group had the opportunity to go and play with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy in Winkler, Manitoba as part of their “A Celtic Family Christmas” tour. A group of local fiddle players, had a very special experience on Friday, December 7th.
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