Aifric Boylan: The Tunes of Paddy Kelly. A renowned fiddle player from Aughrim, County Galway, Paddy composed numerous beautiful tunes – some quite well-known, such as the Corner House, and others less commonly played. In this elective you’ll learn a little bit about Paddy’s life and times, and you’ll get to listen to some recordings of musicians playing his compositions. For those who attend the workshop with instruments, we’ll learn a couple of the tunes too. Attendees will receive a booklet of the tunes to take home and learn in their own time. This elective is open to players of all instruments, and those who just wish to listen.
Ciaran O’Grady Button Accordion – a new addition this year to the program – a 1½ hour period on both Saturday and Sunday. The aim is: to provide an opportunity for current players of button accordions to connect, improve their skills, and learn a new tune or two, and assist interested folk to find out more about this instrument and begin playing. We plan to have a couple of spare B/C accordions available during the elective for those who don’t already have one. We encourage players of all sorts of button accordions to come along, i.e. with various button accordion configurations (e.g. B/C/ C#D, G/D, and single row melodeons), but, apologies, we won’t be catering for piano accordions. Ciaran O’Grady, on a B/C accordion, will lead tutoring during this elective (see his tutor bio). Philip Smethurst, also on a B/C accordion, will assist with coordination; he is keen to be contacted on email pjsmethurst@gmail.com to discuss your interests in this elective.
Donnacha O’Grady (to be announced)
Rennie Pierson: Intro to DADGAD Guitar Discover the rich, resonant sound of DADGAD tuning in this hands on workshop. Learn how to retune your guitar, explore essential chord shapes and open string techniques. Perfect for standard tuning players ready to try something new. No prior alternate tuning experience needed.
Ewen Baker (to be announced)
Helena Woolums: Sean-nós singing is unaccompanied/solo, traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. Sean-nós singing usually involves very long melodic phrases with highly ornamented and melodic lines, often with significant regional variation. Sean-nós songs cover a range of genres, from love song to lament to lullaby, traditionally with a strong focus on conveying the relevant emotion of the given song. Have fun exploring this more traditionally Irish style of singing with Helena.