Irish programs I'm familiar with have Liz Doherty, Fintan Vallely, Lillis O Laoire, and others as tutors. All very high caliber musicians, but I don't know how well any of them teaches.

I don't think the fact that the musicians doing the teaching are of high caliber has much to do with the tradition though, considering that so many musicians will learn without the benefit of these programs. Are we to suppose that, because the tutors are excellent musicians, that those who attend the programs will be superior musicians to those who don't?

And aside from the "who the tutors are" question, we still have that rather disturbing "who the experts are" question, which has gone unanswered in this thread.

What happens to the community experts, when academics gain higher status in regards to knowledge about the music than those who have taken the trouble to learn about the music the old fashioned way?