By Nate Jones
Staff Writer


If you drive, walk or bike by the Pearlman residence in South Portland’s Ferry Village, you may hear what sounds like a professionally recorded piano, mandolin or fiddle performance accompanied by the rapid clacking of tap shoes – but the sound drifting across the street is no recording. It’s the Pearlman family doing what they do best: playing and dancing their hearts out.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that could be considered ‘practicing,’” Neil Pearlman said. “It works to just play all the time.”
Together, Laura Scott and husband, Ed Pearlman, their 15-year-old daughter Lilly Pearlman and two sons, 8-year-old Jesse Pearlman and 19-year-old Neil Pearlman, are the Highland Soles, a band specializing in traditional and new wave Scottish and Cape Breton music and dance.
“A lot of musicians that I know, their kids don’t want anything to do with [music,]” Ed Pearlman said. “I guess I’m pretty lucky.”
Ed Pearlman has taught and performed Scottish and Cape Breton music for more than 25 years. Since the release of his first solo album in 1987, he has mastered playing the fiddle and become an advocate for the Scottish and Cape Breton musical genre. In 1991, he founded Portland America Distributing, a company designed specifically to bring music from Scotland and other countries to U.S. audiences.
“I noticed you just couldn’t get [Scottish music] around here,” he said.
Ed Pearlman said it was only natural for Scottish immigrants to leave their traditional music behind.
“Scots tend to assimilate,” he said. “They just want to blend in.”
Ed Pearlman was the leader of the Boston Scottish Fiddle club, which he continued to direct for four years after moving to Maine with his family in 1995.
“It was a community thing,” he said. “I didn’t want to run it unless I was in the community.”
In addition to his involvement with the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club and the Portland America Distributing company – which he sold in 2002 – Ed Pearlman has spearheaded numerous music camps and events throughout New England, and continues to run programs such as the “Meet the Instruments” camp at the South Portland Community Center, which allows local K through 12 students to experiment with a variety of different musical instruments.
“They don’t get to do that at school,” Ed Pearlman said.
Ed Pearlman’s musical performances are often accompanied by the dance steps of his wife, who performs a “physically intense” Highland dance routine.
“It’s the best workout you could possibly get,” she said.
Following her husband’s example, Scott promotes Highland, tap and other dancing techniques by teaching others during a summer youth dance class and a senior dance class that meets at the Community Center in the early morning hours.
“I offered the course and thought, ‘There’s no way this is going to work,’” she said. “But they all really like it, we have a lot of fun.”
Together, the pair raised children who surround themselves with all different types of music. Neil Pearlman, their oldest son, began playing the piano at age 4, and has played a number of other instruments since, including the fiddle and the mandolin. Lilly Pearlman, a talented dancer, piano player and fiddler helps her brother play during performances.
“I like tap dancing, especially the part I get to make up,” Jesse, the youngest of the bunch, said between spurts of improvisational dance.
Six years ago, the family, except then 2-year-old Jesse Pearlman, performed onstage together at the Saco River Grange in Bar Mills, a favorite performance spot for the group.
“I like dancing at the Saco River Grange because there’s a big back room to run around in and a back door so you can get something to eat during intermissions,” Jesse Pearlman said.
That performance was the birth of the Highland Soles, a unique musical group that blends jazz, classical and traditional Scottish music to create a unique “new wave” sound.
“We all kind of bring our own thing to the group,” Scott said.
Ed Pearlman said they made a point of exposing their children to many different types of music while they were growing up.
“We’re American people, we have a lot of different interests,” he said. “And it’s fun to bring them all together.”
Scott continued.
“We feel lucky our kids learn Scottish music, but there’s so much crossover,” she said. 
 Neil Pearlman, who recently returned home after completing his first year at Columbia University in New York, said he enjoys incorporating what he’s learned about jazz into both Highland Sole performances and two-man shows with his father.
“Music is not all about getting things perfect,” he said. “People who play music like that sound like robots. [Music] has to have a human element to it.”
Like any family, they don’t always see eye-to-eye, but their family bond continues to allow them to work together. This year’s June 7 show will be their sixth performance at the Saco River Grange.
“A band always goes through a definition process,” Scott said. “Ed always says we’re a family first and a band second, and that’s what makes it fun.”
Scott said the Highland Soles project gives them a chance to focus on something other than their relationship, which she said has played a key role in developing strong family ties.
“It’s nice,” she said. “It gives you a focus outside the stresses of normal life.”
Ed and Neil Pearlman spent a year working on “On the Edge,” a fiddle and piano music album released earlier this month, and performed together during a release party last week at the St. Lawrence Arts Center in Portland.
“It’s so great that we have this musical thing, and we’re a family,” Ed Pearlman said.