Katie, Mike, Marie and Josh

In Ireland when a baby is born, the doctor slaps the kid’s fanny and stuffs a tin whistle in his mouth to shut him up.

Or maybe it only seems that way. Still, Irish music continues to flourish because it truly is a tradition—more often than not, a family tradition. That tradition continues on both sides of the ocean.

There are a lot of examples in the Delaware Valley, but the Ely family of Westmont, N.J., is one of the best. On flute and tin whistle, there is Marie Ely; singing and playing fiddle, son Josh; and playing Celtic harp, daughter Katie. Rounding out the ensemble is Marie’s uncle Mike McElligott of Haddon Township, who sings and plays bodhran. From time to time, Marie’s husband Jim lends his voice to the proceedings. You’ll hear them all, most Thursday nights at the Irish session at Three Beans in Haddonfield, led by Kathy DeAngelo and Dennis Gormley of McDermott’s Handy.

In a little over a week, all (except Jim, who will serve as harp sherpa) will put their musical skills to the test at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Letterkenny, County Donegal.

Marie is a music therapist, previously working in a child psychiatric unit at Kennedy Hospital in Cherry Hill. “I knew I wanted to do something with music,” she recalls. ”I considered music education, and I remember how some of my music teachers were treated. So I faced reality. I knew I wasn’t good enough for performance. I didn’t have the endurance to go through that regimen. But music therapy is a combination of teaching and performance. So I got to use working with people and my music experience.”

With that profession as a foundation, learning Irish music wasn’t too much of a departure. “I’ve played the clarinet since I was 10 years old and later switched over to saxophone,” she says. “As a music therapist you have to learn the basics of every instrument.” She also recalls a good deal of Irish music being played in her house as she was growing up.

Marie had been playing flute and whistle at Three Beans practically since the sessions began—she credits her Uncle Mike for getting her involved—but she didn’t get serious about learning proper technique until Katie started taking harp lessons from Kathy DeAngelo. So she started taking flute and whistle lessons from Kathy’s husband Dennis. “He has a wonderful sense of humor,” she says. “He’s serious about the music, but he’s not a serious teacher.”

Nudged along by the irrepressible Dennis, Marie started competing regionally at the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil in New York. This year, she placed second on whistle, qualifying her for the All-Irelands. Mike won a first in English singing—actually, traditional Irish tunes, performed a capella from memory, in the English language—for the fifth time. Josh also won in English singing, in the 12-15 age group, and Katie placed first on harp in the under-12 category. They had all qualified, so Marie thought this would be the year for the family to go to Ireland and give the Fleadh Cheoil a shot.

Mike, too, works in the health arena. He’s a nurse for Horizon House in Philadelphia, working with the long-term homeless as a member of the organization’s ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) team.

Giving in to a lifelong interest in Irish music, Mike started singing at the Three Beans sessions several years ago, though his tunes were more contemporary than traditional. After a while, Dennis and Kathy asked Mike whether he would think about competing at the Fleadh. “They asked whether I’d be willing to go up and represent the session,” Mike recalls. “They said, ‘You would have to sing traditional songs.’ I said, ‘What are those?’”

Nothing prepared him for learning the old songs, not even the fact that he grew up with a potential source. “My parents were from Ireland, but they didn’t sing a lot of Irish songs. They didn’t sing much at all. But I do remember my mother occasionally singing a tune called ‘Eileen Og.’ I thought it was a cute song but I surely didn’t know all the verses.”

He learned, though, quickly and well. “I moved to the more traditional stuff. It was a little more challenging … and a little more fun. I had to get a little more serious about it. Singing is not the important part; it’s how you convey the story. It wasn’t a difficult transition. And I have really bad sense of timing, so singing a capella works well for me.”

Maybe a bit of maternal inspiration works for Mike, too. “Eileen Og” has been a winning tune for him every year since his first Fleadh. He has now won the regional event five times in a row. This will be his first time competing in Ireland.

For Marie, there’s a musical connection to family as well. In competition, she plays a hornpipe, “McElligott’s Fancy.” It’s her uncle’s name, obviously, and her mother’s maiden name.

Do they expect to win? Nope—not with that cunning Irish musician breeding program to contend with. Still, winning is hardly the point. “The competition isn’t that important to me,” Marie explains. “It’s the process. It’ll be neat to share that experience.”