Incredible Week at the Noel Hill Irish Concertina School, Portland Oregon, 2000

The workshop was located at the Tilikum Retreat Center about 45 minutes outside of Portland. The setting was ideal on 99 wooded acres (70 foot Douglas Firs) with a large lake, walking trails and solitude nestled amid the orchards and vineyards of Oregon. Even a wild blackberry patch provided bounty for some homemade blackberry jam for breakfast. A very helpful retreat staff kept the kitchen running, had the coffee on by 6:00AM, with meals at 8:00, 12:30 and 6:00. This let the attendees just concentrate on concertina and having a good time.

The eating/sleeping/workshop facility was also very conducive to a great week. There were 18 sleeping rooms for the 20 students, so nearly everyone had a single room, on two separate floors, much like motel rooms except homier and without obligatory TVs. A separate dining room with 4 large round tables, with ample and good meals gave a nice area to interact after rounds of concertina playing. Also, many nooks and crannies for people to inhabit in an around the main building and grounds to practice the tunes and embellishments just learned. One of my favorites was to get out early while the mist was still on the lake - you could hear the concertina echo off the trees on the far side of the lake.

But, of course, the music is why we were all there. Many things worked well on the music front. First, Noel listened to each of us play a tune and assessed our general concertina skill levels. Based upon hearing us play, he broke us into two groups: one more advanced, the other less advanced. Noel allowed us to shift, if appropriate, during the week so that people could end up in the group that best suited them. Each day, he would then alternate back and forth between conducting teaching sessions first with one group, then the other. This technique seemed to work out very well for everyone. While one portion of the class was gaining instruction, the other portion would be out working on tunes just introduced. Therefore ample practice time was baked into every day.

Of the 20 students, all played anglo except for two good English players. Noel was able to adapt some of his techniques for the English and I believe the English players benefited as well, but the emphasis was clearly anglo.

The instruction itself was very clear. Over years of playing, Noel has developed recommended fingering patterns for the various scales that seem to optimize the ability to play with control and speed. We played in both the keys of G and D, using his recommended patterns, all tunes from the Irish tradition. His technique maximizes the use of the fingers that are the strongest and most controllable - therefore ample use of the index fingers. To really get the most out of the class, you really need to use this fingering for the tunes learned so you can immerse yourself in the whole technique. As you learn tunes with this new fingering, it becomes more natural and by the end of the week I had predominantly reprogrammed myself to this new fingering style.

In addition, a real advantage of Noel's technique is that for each note in the scale, there are recommended embellishments (either single note 'cuts' or double note 'grace notes') which were always consistent. Every time you want to embellish a "G" note, there is a specific way to do it with specific fingers - this helps simplify things. We started the week by getting grounded in these new fingering patterns and embellishment because it would lay the foundation for work later in the week. By repetition, you can quickly begin to get these embellishments into your fingers so that they can be called up when needed. Later in the week, Noel also gave us more intricate piping "crans" - embellishments that he had translated from piping techniques.

Throughout the week, Noel kept introducing new tunes to us, about two per day. He would introduce them both in printed music (with marked embellishments) and also on tape. For taping, he would play through the tune for us very slowly and gradually up to speed so that we could then use it for comparison in our practicing efforts. While playing slowly he would verbally annotate with specifics on embellishments and fingering. This taping (as well as an intensive Friday taping of tunes) is really valuable since it provides a good mountain of material that you can work on after the workshop is over. It also allows you to go back and pick up successive nuance in Noel's playing that you can try to duplicate.

After we had our separate time to practice, he would bring us back together and we would individually play for him what we had just learned. Noel then gave us good feedback that could help our playing: our playing posture and hand/finger positions; our rhythm; use of embellishments and even our fingering (it amazed me when he could from across the room tell when I varied from his recommended fingering patterns even slightly!). Aside from the fact that all of my fingers seemed to turn into thumbs when it was my turn to play for Noel, it was good to get his personal feedback.

Something I look for in a week like this is not only great music, but also good and interesting company. Noel mixed in a number of stories and personal experiences from his past including the influences from Seamus Enis (who probably more than anyone influenced Noel's concertina style). This gave a grounding to the music and gave us a sense of who you were learning from. Noel was available for individual questions and assistance throughout the week. Also, the other workshop attendees were an interesting crew with diverse backgrounds and interests. A tone of good-natured humor was over the workshop.

Then, there was the chance to listen to and hear Noel play - which is an experience all in itself. I, along with my fellow students sat there slack-jawed, shaking our heads - not quite understanding how it was humanly possible for one small instrument to produce the incredible and intricate sounds that we were hearing. Noel gave a concert for the students on Wednesday night, playing tunes for us that we requested - even playing one tune in four different keys. Hearing him play can really get you juiced on the possibilities of the instrument. You can hear the strong Irish piping legacy in Noel's playing, especially his incredible and haunting duplication of the piping drones and regulators in his playing. Also, on Thursday night we had a low-profile "talent night" where we all sat around with many people contributing songs and performing on other instruments that they may have brought along. Also, Noel performed again at the end of Thursday.

Another side benefit that I hadn't realized was the ability to play and test out an incredible array of high quality concertinas... For those who are afflicted with Concertina Envy, this was a veritable heaven. There was one Dipper, two Suttners, one Connor, about 4 Jeffries, 4 Wheatstones and about 5-6 Lachenals... Of course, Stagis were welcomed as well. This is especially nice since many of us were considering upgrading our concertinas and we were able to spend some time and do some side by side comparisons to help us determine what we would be looking for.

This workshop grew out of Noel's New York school and I suspect that there will be many repeat students in years to come. About half the New York attendees have been going each year for a number of years, and most of the people I talked with in this Portland class said they would be back to the Portland session next year.

As you can tell, I really valued the session. Any drawbacks? No big ones. No alcohol is allowed on the premises, but local pubs were available if you wanted to go off site. All in all, this was a great week with someone who is arguably the most talented Irish anglo concertina player in the world.

Related links:

• CONCERTINA.net Noel Hill Irish Concertina School information
• CONCERTINA.net Noel Hill CD information and sound clips
• Celticmusic.com Noel Hill interview
• Official NHICS web site