“I feel very fortunate and blessed, and I don’t know what else I’d do if I weren’t playing and teaching music. I was useless at sports, so I had to find something,” Dawn Doherty laughs. It’s hard not to be endeared by Dawn’s charm and humble nature—especially given the immense accolades she’s received for her music career.
Doherty is the Director of the Dawn Doherty Academy of Irish Music and Singing, located in the Aisling Center in Yonkers. In addition to teaching numerous classes at her academy, she also teaches music classes at St. Mark’s Lutheran School in Yonkers, is the Music Director of the Aisling Center Ballad Group, and, along with her teaching partner Frankie Mc Cormick, is Co-director of the Aisling Irish Center Ceili Band. On top of that already impressive resume, Dawn also provides music therapy workshops to children and adults with special needs.
A Musical Upbringing
Born in New York but raised and educated in Ireland, music—especially Irish music—has been a part of Dawn’s life for as long as she can remember.
My family was big into Irish music, so there was always music going on in the house.
Dawn recalls that, “my grandmother was a singer who sang in Gaelic-Irish and my dad loves music. All my friends played music, and my brother was a percussionist. My mother brought me to Irish music lessons at a young age and, from there, I learned piano and then started singing. When I got a little older, I started doing more music and performances and entering competitions.”
This connection to her family via music shaped not only what Dawn does, but how she approaches music as a whole. For Dawn, music is a tool for communication, cultural connection, and preservation.
While still in Ireland, Dawn pursued further education in music. She studied Irish Music and Dance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, as well as getting an Honors Master’s Degree in Music Therapy. After graduating, she worked with adults with neurological disabilities as a Music Therapist at Dublin’s Cherry Orchard Hospital. She’d continue this with private sessions with children and adults with special needs in hospitals, nursing homes, and privately all over Connaught, Ireland.
Music As Communication
Music therapy, for Dawn, is an especially rewarding endeavor. “Where words fail, music speaks, and music therapy is definitely an avenue that has created a lot of opportunities for children in the area who needed it.”
An evidence-based healthcare intervention that helps people with special needs and neurological issues, music therapy utilizes tempo, melody, improvisation, and singing to promote emotional expression, sensory stimulation, development of social skills, and awareness of self and others.
“People reached out, unsure of what it was,” Dawn explained. “For nonverbal students, music provides a means of communication. Parents tell me that their kids look forward to it every week.”
From Three Students to 100
Upon moving back to New York, Dawn pursued a second Master’s Degree. This time, she studied Science and Education, Special Education at Lehman College University. Dawn would go on to teach in elementary school, before taking some time off after having her son. She eventually decided to open and work full-time at her music school. This bold decision paid off in spades—the school that started with three students now has over 100. Furthermore, it has received numerous accolades and achievements, like performing on the grounds of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as music trips to her home country of Ireland.
“There have been so many standout moments,” Dawn says of her music teaching career. “I was delighted to be able to bring the kids home to (County) Mayo. It’s always a huge honor to bring the families back home to Ireland and let them perform with some of the best Irish musicians. The kids might not realize it 100% because they’re young, but their parents do.”
Her students also had the chance to perform, in what Dawn calls a “pinch-me” moment, at Carnegie Hall. “I was out of my comfort zone since it wasn’t Irish music. I sent in two rounds of recordings, and they passed. We had to learn eight different songs, it was a lot of work, and very stressful, but it worked out and we got a standing ovation. We were the only singing school from New York that was chosen.”
Doherty’s Awards and Accolades
It’s not only Dawn’s students who have won many prestigious awards. Both here and in Ireland, Doherty herself has received several high honors. Some of these include recognition by the Irish Echo for the 40 under 40 awards in 2019, receiving the Irish American Community Service Award by The American Irish Association of Westchester, NY in 2022, and then In March 2023, the Mayo Society of NY honored Dawn as their Woman of the Year 2023. She is also the reigning 2023 All-Ireland champion in Senior Tin Whistle Slow Airs, which she won at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Mullingar. The latter, for Dawn, was one of the biggest highlights of her music career.
It’s something you work towards for a long time. I was very happy with my performance on the day, but I didn’t expect to win. My mom was with me, she brought me to all my music classes since I was a child. She never missed a competition, and she was there for that. I was so happy for her, too.
Not only was the tin whistle the first instrument she ever learned, but it is also her favorite. Unsurprisingly, Slow Airs is her favorite kind of music to play. Dawn teaches a Monday night women’s tin whistle class, which often performs at Moriarty’s Bar on McLean Avenue. Dawn is always amazed by the number of adults who have asked to learn after seeing them play. “So many older adults want to learn Irish music, many who learned it once but want to get back on it. It’s fantastic to see older people wanting to give it a go.”
Meet Me on McLean
Most recently, Dawn, along with eight others, was selected as an aide to the Grand Marshall in the Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day Parade. As part of it, she must attend all the special events leading up to the parade, including the raising of the flag celebration and the painting of the Shamrock on McLean Avenue. Doherty’s school usually marches, but this time Dawn gets to witness it from the viewing stand.
It’s a huge honor for me to be selected as an aide. It’s humbling to have your work recognized. Everyone does something in the community in different ways, for me, it’s music, singing, and performing with the kids. Everyone gives back in their own way.
Despite her packed schedule, Dawn’s not slowing down anytime soon. She credits the support of her family that keeps her going on her musical journey. “My husband and I have schedules that work together, and my mom and dad are a great help with my son. I used to work seven days a week until I burned myself out and realized I needed to cut back. If you don’t look after yourself, you can’t look after your students. Even though I like to keep the kids busy, I’ve taken a step back to manage what I can do, like taking two days each week as family days.”
Cultural Connection and Preservation
The excitement for Dawn doesn’t end at the parade, either. In May, Dawn will be inducted into the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Mid-Atlantic Region Hall of Fame, for her work in the line of Irish Music preservation. For Doherty, music is far more than just a creative outlet and a career—it’s a connection to the past and one that’s worth upholding and bringing into the future.
“Irish music is passed on from generation to generation. My grandmother passed language and songs on to me. Unfortunately, that generation is mostly gone, but I’ve kept all the letters, books, and song recordings. I’ve held on to everything and I’m passing it on to the next generation of up-and-coming musicians and singers. My hope is that it continues. The Irish language is thriving now, so many people are learning it. You also have to give American kids credit—they’ve never learned Irish in their life and yet, here they are, singing in Irish.”
As we celebrate Irish heritage this March, it’s important to keep that spirit going. And Doherty is working hard to do just that.
The most important thing is that our culture is preserved, and we keep it going no matter what, through our children, our students. All the people before us have done so much for the tradition of Irish music and singing, and they taught us everything, so why should that fall apart? We have a responsibility to carry on their legacy. You have to save the stories, save the songs, and not let it die. A lot of kids growing up American but have Irish parents—it’s up to us to embrace and pass on the Irish culture.
The Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day Parade commences on Saturday, March 23, at 1 p.m. It follows an 11:15 mass at St. Barnabas High School Chapel.
Learn more about Dawn and her music school at DawnDohertyMusic.com
