Vicki Parrish
(Celtic harp, folk harp, cello, vocals)
Michael Robinson and Vicki Parrish have been performing together as The Standing Stones since 1991. Their approach to
the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland is based on studies with leading performers of today, and also on
research into the performance styles of past centuries. Their vast repertoire of songs and tunes extends back to the
Middle Ages. The Standing Stones play an amazing variety of traditional instruments, including Celtic harp, Irish
flute, fiddle and the "big fiddle" (the cello played in the Scottish tradition), and sing in English, Irish and
Scottish Gaelic. They also love to share with their audiences the history and folklore behind the music, which is
also featured on their award-winning website, www.standingstones.com.
Vicki is well known in Northern California harp circles as the founder of the South Bay Folk Harp Society, which has
evolved into Harper's Hall. She plays in the traditional manner of the old Gaelic harpers, using fingernails on a
wire-strung harp, as well as on the modern nylon-strung folk harp. She has studied with several prominent Celtic
harpers including Ann Heymann, Chris Caswell and Janet Harbison in Ireland. She also organizes harp workshops and
concerts for Ann, Janet and other harpers including Laurie Riley and Michael MacBean. In 1995 she travelled to the Isle of Skye
to study with Catherine-Ann MacPhee, one of Scotland's leading Gaelic singers.
Her prior experience as an orchestral cellist at the University of Washington is now applied to reviving the tradition
of Scottish folk cello. Vicki also performs with the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers and the Collegium Musicum (early
music ensemble) at San José State University.
Michael Robinson
(tenor banjo, mandola, fiddle, baritone violin, accordion, flute, assorted wind instruments, guitar, vocals)
Michael comes from a musical family originally resident in Australia, but later emigrating to Toronto, Canada
(sometimes called the "Belfast of North America"). His mother and grandmother were both fiddlers, and his father, while
not a musician, is an aficionado and collector of several musical genres. He has been listening to traditional music
as far back as he can remember.
Michael has a broad musical background, having performed at various times rock, blues, jazz, classical, ragtime, theatre
and Russian folk music. He also studied classical guitar, mrdangam (South Indian classical percussion), and electronic
and computer music at York. Michael has also collected a wealth of tradition and folklore about the songs and tunes.
He has written articles for the Folk Harp Journal and Fiddler magazine. His wide-ranging musical background is now put
to use arranging for the Standing Stones, the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers, and occasionally other groups.
