Diarmuid Lally is a musician from Ireland. Growing up in a non-musician family, it was quite some time before he found himself in music. Always finding it easy to pick out melodies and chords for songs growing up, but never taking it further than that, because the prevailing assumption was that you could either play or you couldn't, so it was never understood that if you practise and learn you will improve. When he was 18, local friends started to learn music, "learning bass sounded like a good idea, so we could have a band". They formed a group and were successful locally in competitions and regularly played in Dublin while still in school. Originally pursuing being an artist when leaving school, by the time college applications had to be handed in he noticed how much time was spent on learning music. Having learned note for note much of the music of his bass heroes, (Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Abraham Laboriel) the prospect of being a musician seemed much more obvious.
Wanting more time to develop musically, and to pursue another passion, he studied Sound Engineering. This not only provided an understanding on how to control every aspect of making music, but also provided a strong knowledge on how the physics of music work and how that can be applied to playing an instrument, thus allowing him to create new techniques on the instrument. After this he briefly attended Newpark Music school in Dublin, but during his time there, learned about Berklee.
After only 4 years or so playing music, he applied to Berklee and was awarded a large scholarship to study. It was taken as a once in a lifetime opportunity and even though musically not fully developed, he flew over to begin studying. The college was an eye-opener, and really put into perspective the things that must be learned in order to be a professional musician. During his time there, he was highly praised and because of this was given many great opportunities. Performing live with Livingston Taylor and John Blackwell, Meeting Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith in these situations serving as an ambassador for the college
In 2009 there was an economic crash in Europe. Major budget cuts were implemented in Ireland, and the money that helped fund the education was no longer there. Forced to return to Ireland early, He Immediately tried to get work as a musician in order to one day return and finish his studies. There were 2 choices to be made, "either self promote myself as a musician and artist, which costs money. Or put my head down and get work to save as much as I can to finish Berklee". Choosing the latter, he did recording work, touring with a wedding band, and teaching. In the mean time, he was able to put together small groups to play jazz festivals locally and abroad. Also in this time he learned guitar, travelled to France and got to meet and play with the greatest gypsy jazz musicians in the world. "This was a very important experience. It improved my bass playing, my overall musical experience, and let me know that there was a real, European Jazz history".
The music school he had been teaching in had become very important also. Starting there by subbing for lessons for teachers who were sick, he eventually became the head teacher, and organiser of the core school syllabus. Also helping implement a new software system for the school, helped it grow from 150 students to 400. The school is currently scouting a bigger building for next term. It has also achieved national attention. The school had become the most important element, as it was the main financial lifeline to return to the college.