Amy Richter
"I play the way I play because that’s how I hear the tune and feel the groove."
Amy Richter was an athlete growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and never thought to learn an instrument—but she used to blast the Riverdance soundtrack to pump herself up before basketball games. She started her first bodhrán course on a pizza box because she didn’t own a drum. Now more than 15 years later, she’s accompanied former Riverdance lead dancer Caterina Coyne and toured the country with Danú, one of the leading traditional Irish ensembles of today.
“It’s incredible that you can start with absolutely no music background whatsoever, and if you really go for it and have that love, that passion for it, it can take you as far as you want it to,” she told me by phone this month. More of the interview, edited for length, is below.
(Photo courtesy of Amy Richter)
You can support Amy by checking out the bands she plays with, including Milwaukee-based áthas. If her schedule allows, she’s accepting new students in person or online—reach out via her website, Facebook or Instagram.
You can also share this with five people who might enjoy it! You’re reading Fanny Power, a newsletter about brilliant women who play the bodhrán. Find the introduction here.
More information about Fanny Power (the woman) is available in Irish Airs for Solo Cello by Irish-Australian musician Ilse de Ziah. Ilse has traced the site in Loughrea where Fanny lived before marrying Richard Trench in 1732, she told me by email this month. “From the dates it seems she was rather young and he was rather old,” Ilse commented. But she pointed me to a Burke’s East Galway, a genealogy website that notes that Richard and their children used Fanny’s surname as well as his, to become the Power Trenches. Catch Ilse’s documentary, Living the Tradition, on Amazon.
Thanks for all the support and positive feedback you’ve shared so far! I’ll be back next month with another inspirational player.
Madeline
Amy performing with Danú at the 2019 Tradfest in Dublin
Amy Richter
(Photo: Rick Hokans)
On starting out
My first introduction to anything Irish was Riverdance. Having some Irish ancestry, my dad decided to take the family and I found myself constantly watching the musicians instead of the dancers. The bodhrán player came out onto the stage and I remember turning to my dad and saying, what is that? That’s pretty cool.
I attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where the Celtic Studies Certificate Program led by John Gleeson offered a beginner tin whistle class taught by Sue Van Dyke. The class dwindled until it was just me, and Sue asked if I wanted to continue. I said, “Heck yeah!” I credit a lot of my playing style to Sue’s classes. While playing the bodhrán, instead of trying to figure out if it’s a jig or a reel, I’m asking, “What tune is this?”
For the final exam I had to go to a session and there was a bodhrán player there. Seeing him play piqued my interest and reintroduced the instrument to me.
On pizza boxes…
David Burns and Michael Dunphy were teaching the beginner bodhrán class and manning the Waltons tent at the Milwaukee Irish Fest week-long summer school. The school said they would provide drums for beginners, but when I got to class they didn’t have any.
I was super shy back then and definitely had the thought that I should just leave, but I went to to investigate. At the main office they came out with a stack of pizza boxes and said, “Here are your drums!”
I walked back with them and the instructors said, “Amy brought us pizza!” I was so embarrassed and considered leaving again. But they gave me a pencil for a tipper, and before I knew it we were playing away. As the week progressed, Mick lent me his drum and I managed to produce some decent notes on it. He said, “Okay. The pizza box is working for you.”
At the end of the week I stopped by the Waltons tent to introduce Dave and Mick to my family and the guys surprised me with a drum of my very own, signed and all! I was so stoked!
Amy’s first drum, inscribed by Michael Dunphy and David Burns (Photo courtesy of Amy Richter)
That was my first drum, a nice 18 incher. I’ve since moved on to a 15 inch. I’ve been on the same drum since 2008. The maker is Mike Quinlan.
This summer I was teaching rhythm and groove classes out in California at Alasdair Fraser’s fiddle camp Valley of the Moon. The fiddlers didn’t have bodhráns, and they needed something to hit. I said, “Where’s your nearest pizza place?” We went into town and got 20 boxes.
“Trust me,” I was telling everyone, “this pizza box can take you somewhere.”
From left, Michael Dunphy and David Burns with Amy Richter (Photo courtesy of Amy Richter)
On taking yourself seriously
I was learning the bodhrán for fun, not knowing where things would go. After the course with Dave and Mick I took weekly classes with Patrick Roe at the Milwaukee Irish Fest School of Music. I remember him remarking, “I think you’re going to go somewhere with this.”
I also continued to attend the week-long summer school and recall one advanced class in particular taught by Jackie Moran. I was super nervous, but I had some recordings of myself playing to polkas on a CD and mustered up the courage to ask if he would take a listen to them. I thought, this is going to be awful. But he said, “You definitely have the feel for it.”
I still never, ever thought I would be where I am today. But those two instructors started to make me think much more seriously about it.
Then I met Jeff [Ksiazek] and Heather [Lewin], the three of us make up the band áthas. We clicked right from the start. They both have music backgrounds, so they really encouraged me not only to play, but to teach as well, and really boosted my confidence. As a child, I was painfully shy. I never would have pictured myself on stage. But they brought that out in me over the years.
Jeff Ksiazek and Amy Richter at Milwaukee Irish Fest 2019 (Photo: Brooke Billick)
On breaking out
Everyone had been talking about the Fleadh, and I thought I should at least try it. The first one I competed in was in 2006. Someone stopped me on the way out of the competition and said, “I heard some of John Joe [Kelly] in your playing.” I only realized later that it was Junior Davey. That was pretty huge. Not long after that, I went out to Ireland to attend his bodhrán school in Sligo as a student, I was in Colm [Phelan’s] class. The next year they asked me to come back and teach the beginner course.
Teaching internationally, doing the competitions, slowly your name gets out there. Last year I got approached by a publishing company who wanted to do a bodhrán method book. I didn’t see that coming, but I try to take everything with open arms and look at it as another new experience. You don’t know who you’re going to meet, or what you’re going to learn about yourself.
All those years ago when we saw Riverdance, I told my dad I would love to do that, play onstage and tour someday. I consider myself blessed to have had several opportunities of doing just that. With Danú I’ve gotten to tour all over the States since 2017. Getting to play onstage alongside such brilliant musicians, the legends who recorded the albums that I used to drum along to day after day in my bedroom, was indescribable.
I toured last year with a Kerry Irish Productions show, An Irish Christmas. One of the dancers was Caterina Coyne from Riverdance. I had to pinch myself and remind myself that I’m now living that dream I once had. It was incredible.
On playing while female
Unfortunately, there is still that stereotype out there that only men play drums. Even in this last tour with Danú I got some really awkward comments, like the gentleman who said, “I didn’t know women had rhythm.” All the guys in the band rolled their eyes.
Another asked, “How did you get into this band, are you married to one of the guys?” It doesn’t happen very often. But when it does, I’m reminded that there are people who aren’t used to seeing women in this position and don’t know how to react.
Every time I get a new student who’s a woman, I’m thinking, “Good!” I love knowing that there are more of us now.
(Photo: Paul Gaudynski)
On being yourself
When I first got into the instrument, I had no clue of the stereotype or how strongly the bodhrán could be frowned upon. Once I learned that, I thought initially that it might turn me away. But, being an athlete, I’ve always loved a good challenge and it’s never scared me. Actually, it pushed me to get that much better, so that when I sit down people are like, “Oh, this girl’s here to play.”
It’s rare, but a few people have said, “You need to be more traditional.” I can play a particular style if I’m subbing for someone and the band wants it. But generally speaking, I’m going to be me. I play the way I play because that’s how I hear the tune and feel the groove in that particular setting.
It’s always been extremely important to me to carry on the tradition and yet to also put my own unique spin on it. Each person’s take on what is traditional can be so different. I think that’s what makes trad so interesting and exciting. Everyone has their own take on how they interpret a tune.
When I first got into drumming, I would often get asked if I play Kerry style or top-ended. When they see me performing, people tend to think I’m more top-ended. However, I started with Kerry style and still lean towards double-ended triplets and some heavy driving rhythms. I like to believe that I have a pretty healthy mix of both [styles].
I remember thinking I didn’t really want to be pigeonholed into one style—I wanted it to be my own unique style. When people hear me play, I hope they say, “That’s Amy playing.”