Service 01
Ethereal Voice Coaching
One-to-one lessons in vocal freedom — breath, resonance, ornament and the particular technique behind a floating, unforced upper register.
This is the work that continued through the touring hiatus and it is now the larger half of the week. The starting point is always the same question: what is your voice doing that it does not need to do? Most of what people call “range” is really released tension, and most of what people call “style” is really a set of decisions that can be learned.
Lessons are built around your material, not a syllabus. Traditional singers arrive wanting ornament that does not sound bolted on; classical singers arrive wanting to lose the vibrato they were taught to add; songwriters arrive wanting a top line that survives three takes. All of those are the same lesson underneath.
What is included
- Breath management and appoggio without rigidity
- Registration — finding and blending the passaggio rather than avoiding it
- Celtic and Gaelic ornament: cuts, rolls, crans and the grace notes that carry them
- Resonance placement for an ethereal, unpressed upper register
- Microphone technique for close, intimate recording
- Repertoire choice, key-finding and arrangement for your own voice
| Format | Detail | From |
|---|---|---|
| Single lesson | 60 minutes, online or in person | from $85 |
| Six-lesson block | Weekly or fortnightly, with recordings and written notes after each | from $460 |
| Intensive day | Three hours in one day for a specific project or audition | from $240 |
Online worldwide over a high-quality video link; in person in the Fargo–Moorhead area. A short introductory call is free and carries no obligation.
Service 02
Commissioned Composition
An original Celtic and world-fusion score written for your film, ritual, exhibition or ceremony — from a ninety-second cue to a full suite.
Commissions begin with a conversation about what the music has to carry, not about how many minutes it should run. A handfasting needs something different from a museum gallery loop; a documentary about emigration needs something different again from a short film about a saint’s well.
You receive a demo at the halfway point and one full round of revision is built into every commission. The final delivery is the mixed and mastered master plus stems, so the piece can be re-balanced later without coming back to me.
What is included
- Concept call and written brief before any note is written
- Thematic development from a motif you choose, or from source material you supply
- Full arrangement for voice, harp, piano, strings and hand percussion
- One revision round included; further rounds quoted in advance
- Delivery as WAV master, MP3 reference and separated stems
- Cue sheet and metadata prepared for broadcast registration
| Format | Detail | From |
|---|---|---|
| Short cue | Up to 2 minutes, single voice and one accompanying instrument | from $650 |
| Ceremony or film piece | 3–6 minutes, small ensemble arrangement | from $1,600 |
| Suite or score | Multi-movement work, scored and recorded | quoted per project |
Typical turnaround is four to eight weeks from signed brief. Rush schedules are possible and are quoted separately.
Service 03
Music Licensing & Sync
The full Tarith Cote catalogue, pre-cleared for film, television, games, museums, documentary and meditation apps — master and publishing in one place.
Because the label is artist-owned, both sides of the rights sit at the same desk. There is no second clearance to chase, no publisher to wait on and no split negotiation to run in parallel. A straightforward request usually has a quote within two working days.
The catalogue suits projects that need atmosphere with a specific historical colour: period drama, folklore documentary, heritage exhibitions, ritual and ceremony, and slow interactive worlds. Instrumental-only versions and stems exist for most of the catalogue, which is usually what an editor actually wants.
What is included
- Master and publishing cleared together — one licence, one signature
- Instrumental, a-cappella and stem versions of most catalogue tracks
- Festival, broadcast, streaming, theatrical and in-perpetuity terms available
- Museum, exhibition and installation licences, including looped use
- Cue sheets, ISRC and ISWC codes and BMI registration supplied with the licence
- Custom re-edits to picture where a cut needs a specific length
| Format | Detail | From |
|---|---|---|
| Festival & student film | Non-commercial, festival-limited term | from $150 per track |
| Independent film / documentary | Worldwide, all media, five years or in perpetuity | from $900 per track |
| Broadcast, advertising & games | Scoped by territory, term and media | quoted per request |
Send the cut, the intended use, the territory and the term. Even a rough timeline is enough to price it accurately.
Service 04
Session & Guest Vocals
Ethereal lead lines, stacked choral beds, Gaelic-language vocals and wordless atmospheres, recorded remotely and delivered as edited stems.
Send the track and a note about what it needs; you get back tuned, comped and edited stems, usually inside a week. Every session includes at least two interpretations of the part, because the second one is frequently the one that ends up in the record.
Pronunciation coaching for Irish and Scottish Gaelic text is included at no extra cost — it is worth getting right, and it is faster to do it while tracking than to correct it afterwards.
What is included
- Lead vocal, harmony stack or wordless atmosphere — or all three
- Irish and Scottish Gaelic text sung and pronunciation-checked
- Comped, tuned and time-aligned; raw takes supplied alongside on request
- 24-bit / 48kHz or higher WAV stems, labelled and consolidated to your session start
- Two interpretations of the part as standard; three revisions included
- Optional Celtic harp and piano overdubs from the same session
| Format | Detail | From |
|---|---|---|
| Single song — lead | One lead vocal, comped and tuned | from $320 |
| Single song — full treatment | Lead plus harmony stack and atmospheres | from $560 |
| EP or album rate | Four tracks or more, booked as a block | quoted per project |
Credit and a small back-end point are negotiable in place of part of the fee for independent releases.
Service 05
Concerts, House Concerts & Speaking
Concert sets, intimate house concerts and lecture-performances on the Pan-Celtic road, the fire festivals and the Celts of Asia Minor.
Live work is currently limited while Jillian continues to recover from Lyme disease, and dates are confirmed case by case rather than booked into a touring calendar. Enquiries are genuinely welcome — they are simply answered honestly about what is possible and when.
The lecture-performance format has proved the most portable: roughly half spoken, half sung, built for libraries, universities, museums, heritage societies and festivals that want the history alongside the music rather than in the programme notes.
What is included
- Solo set — voice with harp and piano, 45 or 75 minutes
- Small-ensemble set with strings and percussion, subject to availability
- Lecture-performance: “The Celts in Asia Minor” or “Fire and the Wheel of the Year”
- House concerts for 20–60 guests, with or without amplification
- Seasonal Enchanted Winter programme, available November to January
- Full technical rider, stage plot and press pack supplied on confirmation
| Format | Detail | From |
|---|---|---|
| House concert | Up to 60 guests, solo, minimal amplification | from $900 |
| Concert set | Ticketed venue or festival, solo or duo | from $1,800 |
| Lecture-performance | University, museum or heritage society | from $1,200 plus travel |
Travel from Moorhead, Minnesota is quoted separately. Accessibility requirements and quiet-room needs are accommodated as a matter of course.
Before you write
Common questions
They are honest starting points, not a price list. Fees move with scope, territory, term and how much of the work is already decided. Every enquiry gets a written quote with a fixed number in it before anything begins, and that number does not change unless the brief does.
Within two working days for licensing and session work, within five for commissions and teaching. If you have not heard back inside a week, the message did not arrive — write again to [email protected] and it will be found.
Often, yes. Say the real date in the first message rather than a comfortable one. Rush work carries a surcharge that is quoted up front, and it is refused outright rather than accepted and missed.
Yes, and a great many traditional singers cannot. Notation is a convenience, not a qualification. Lessons use recordings, phrase-by-phrase work and your ear; reading can be added later if you ever want it.
Both are taken seriously, from both sides of the conversation. Lessons can be shortened, rescheduled at short notice or run seated and low-energy without penalty. For live dates, quiet rooms, seated performance and flexible call times are normal requests, not special ones.
You receive a licence broad enough for the use you described, in perpetuity unless we agree otherwise; the underlying composition and the master stay with the composer, which is what allows the fee to stay where it is. Full buy-outs are available and are priced separately. All of it is written down before work starts.