Family Affair: The Fiddling Dunnes of the Texas Coast

By Ruth Ann Ruiz

The Post Newspaper Features Editor

All the kids are proud to call themselves Texans and Mamma Dunne is a Texan herself. Dad asks permission to be a Texan and they all agree to grant him honorary status though he does hail from a Northern state. 

The Dunnes number a total of 11 in their immediate family. They’ve been fiddling around together for many years. Mamma Dunne, aka Kathi, has a degree in piano and performance and a master’s degree in Theory and Composition. For a while she served in a Bay Area church as the music director.

Her attention started to turn more towards home, as her children arrived on the scene. Stephen 24, Charlotte 22, and 20-year-old Josie were all taught to play the piano when they were youngsters with their feet dangling from the piano bench.

Moving, along with music, was part of the home-schooling plan that Ma and Pa Dunne had for their children. Mornings were spent doing regular academic subjects and the Dunne family’s afternoons were spent developing musical skills and talents. 

Why did they move from piano to string instruments? Mom decided from what she had learned from friends and other musicians that she would like for her kids to try to play the violin so at ages 4,5 and 7 the pianist children were transitioned to violins.

 The children who had not yet had music lessons, Claire (19), Francie (17), Raphe (15), Peter (15), Anthony (13), and Emma (11) all started their music lessons with mini violins designed for little hands as young learners.  

“We found a teacher, Kysha Bradshaw, and she has worked with the kids for many years. When she moved to Tennessee, the kids’ lessons continued  via Facetime,” explained Kathi Dunne. 

The family that fiddles together stays together, well, that is until someone goes off on a honeymoon and others head out the door for college. Nevertheless, the remaining five fiddling Dunne’s can put out some very powerful and moving music without very much notice. 

Peter’s body and face responded to each note.  If it was a sacred piece, he responded with facial expressions to honor the solemnity of the piece while his bow boldly combined with the strings of his cello as he contributed to the dynamic musical ensemble.   When the troupe moved into a lively, classic, foot stomping Irish jig, his spirit moved with the change. 

Raphe, Peter’s twin, stepped back and allowed his brother to shine while he slid his bow across the strings of a violin. He maintained an expression of contentment and joy throughout their spontaneous performance. 

Meanwhile, their younger brother Anthony was lost in the pure happiness of playing some of his favorite songs. Francie’s smile while she slid her bow across the strings was impossible to miss. Emma joined in with her fiddling skills and added her percussion skills to some of their pieces. 

The Dunne family of fiddlers has been performing for audiences in the Texas Gulf Coast region for 17 years. The children first started performing pieces written specifically for string quartets but have since grown to be able to play a wide variety of music, they also sing and perform Irish Step Dance. 

Their music pieces range from sacred music which they often perform for weddings and funerals. Their gigs have included private business parties and fund-raising tours. They play classical pieces, holiday songs, traditional Irish folk music, pop music, and their most favorite genres are movie and Broadway theme songs. 

“The audience loves it when we play movie songs and we love playing them,” all the children agreed.

Kathi Dunne went on to explain, “Most movie theme songs and Broadway pieces are written for a full orchestra, so each person has a part to play. This might be why the kids enjoy playing them so much.” 

If you ask them to play a tune, at this point in their musical journey, one of them can get the song going and the rest jump in and follow along, at times improvising. They are ready and willing to take requests at their live performances. 

Most recently, they held their annual holiday concert and plans are in the works for a Valentine performance.  They have been known to spontaneously perform on their front lawn particularly during the pandemic shutdown. They’ll also drive over the causeway and step into Saengerfast Park for an afternoon of entertaining. 

Though the older siblings are out of town, they find a way to get together for rehearsal and performances.

Do they aspire to be professional musicians beyond their family fiddling around time? Not really. What they love about these years has been sharing the joy of music with many others and the time that they have had as a family working together. 

“It really is a lot of fun, it’s unique as we work together on a difficult piece to get it right, it just creates a stronger bond between us as family and friends,” said Francie.

Pa Dunne is not a musician; he has a regular job and works from the family property in an office above the garage. Keeping all the family instruments in good working order and managing the business of the fiddling Dunne children keeps him in good spirits. 

Ma Dunne says, “I don’t think I could have pulled this off if he wasn’t a few steps away.” 

Pa Dunne responds, “Sure you could have, I would have just missed out on all the fun,”