Lucille Reilly

Lucille Reilly (www.thedulcimerlady.com) is described by her colleagues as “a true musical talent” and “a musician’s musician,” with “music dripping from her fingers.”

Music has always perked at the center of Lucille’s life, including a music-education degree from Westminster Choir College, topped by studies in Body Mapping to ensure healthy, resonant music-making for all.

As a teacher, Lucille brings a wealth of ingenuity and practical wisdom to all autoharpists, be it at home, on webcam, at venues like the Phoenix Autoharp Retreat and the major autoharp festivals, and via personalized “B&B” lessons.

As a die-hard hammered dulcimer player, Lucille never intended to play the autoharp—until the autoharp bug bit hard in July 1990. Her passion to make music on the diatonic autoharp eventually led her to becoming 3x Mountain Laurel Autoharp Champion (1995, 2010, 2015), 3x International Autoharp Champion (1995, 2003, 2010) and the 2019 Autoharp Hall of Fame inductee.

In addition to recording three CDs for everyone’s listening pleasure, Lucille is the author of an autoharp monograph series and the very thorough book, Chords Aplenty, which relates chords and basic music theory specifically to chromatic and diatonic autoharp. In 2016, she accidentally landed on the autoharp-history trail, where new wrinkles to old details continue to arise and surprise.