About Tish McFadden
Author ~ Songwriter ~ Teacher
My Story
Tish McFadden, Ashland, Oregon, is a published author, songwriter, and music teacher, as well as a former archaeologist and historian. Tish’s writing has been featured on television and radio, and through her participation at book fairs and trade shows. Her work as a writer and musician has garnered publicity in newspapers and magazines over the past 30 years. Her book, How To Rent a Fire Lookout in the Pacific Northwest is well-reviewed and its 1st edition was a top seller for Wilderness Press, Berkeley, CA.
Tish writes professionally in multiple genres, including books for young readers, autobiographical essays, music tutorials, and guidebooks. She has also served as editor for numerous literary projects. Her deepest artistic satisfaction comes from writing for children, including picture books and children’s songs. She has recorded three albums of original music for children on her label Rum Tum Music. Her music is on CDBaby, YouTube, Amazon, and iTunes. She will be publishing more of her original songs in the coming year.
Inspiration comes from Tish’s own childhood, raising her kids, as well as years working as an artist in residence at local schools, bringing music and songwriting to young beginners. Her 30+ years teaching piano, flute, guitar and ukulele at her Rum Tum School of Music, is an additional source of motivation.
Underlying everything Tish writes is her love of lyrically communicating the wonders of our world to young people. Her artistic goal is to create stories and songs that touch upon our connection to nature, as well as our collective ties to one another. Her works express positive imagery, vivid imagination and shared human experience – all for the enjoyment of children and adults alike. Her love of rhyming phrases began in early childhood. Throughout her growing up years she tirelessly read Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, everything published by Dr. Seuss, and the wonderfully accessible philosophical storytelling of A. A. Milne. These authors were such a huge part of her childhood that she still regards them as family that she simply hasn’t yet met.
During the mid-1970s to late 1980s Tish worked for the United States Forest Service as an archaeologist and historian. She worked to preserve historic and prehistoric cultural sites, artifacts and architecture on public lands in the Intermountain and Pacific Northwest regions. In 1988, after many years of fieldwork, Tish focused her attention on entrepreneurial pursuits and founded the Rum Tum School of Music.
Between 1989-2015, every local school, both public and private, had invited Tish McFadden to visit their classrooms as an artist in residence to teach ukulele, guitar, and lead sing-alongs. She has sung with thousands of Ashland’s children over the years, from preschool through high school – at benefits, community events, concerts, graduations, fund-raisers and more. Perhaps this is why her writing has a musical quality to it.
In the 1990s, Tish partnered with Paul Richards to co-produce a weekly radio show for public radio called, The Musical Enchanter Radio Theater. This one-hour program, airing on Sunday evenings, was designed to bring kids and parents together around the radio, off-screen, for stories, music, games, and interviews. Tish’s original children’s songs were featured on the show, as were juried submissions from musical artists around the country. The show aired in multiple NPR markets across the USA, including New York City. A regular presenter on the program was Emilio Delgado, the actor who played the character Luis on Sesame Street. He was the first human addition to the popular PBS show’s original puppets-only cast.
In 2013 and 2014, Tish teamed with Educational Outreach Coordinator for The Britt Festival, Rachel Jones, to create the popular Britt Ukulele Getaway and Ukulele Kids Summer Music Camps held in Jacksonville, Oregon. Tish co-facilitated the program and taught alongside ukulele instructors from around the USA and Canada.
In 2015, Tish was invited to participate in a literacy program for first and second graders sponsored by Ashland Rotary Club called, Ashland READS. Tish wrote an original song for the inaugural event that is still a featured part of the annual program, not only locally, but in other regions, as well. The song is called, Inside A Book! Tish’s latest book release, Song of the Redwing, is one of the Ashland READS! featured book selections in 2021.
In 2016, Tish reunited with long-time acquaintance, Agnes Baker Pilgrim, local Takelma elder and educator, at her book-signing in Ashland, Oregon. That event sparked an idea in Tish to write a story inspired by Grandma Aggie’s universal teachings as a way to help share her timeless wisdom with future generations. With Aggie’s blessing and endorsement, Tish wrote Upriver to Morning, an illustrated book and comprehensive bilingual, cultural, and environmental education program for all ages.
Tish has many more book and song projects in the works and welcomes you to join her website email list for periodic updates.
