Noel Hill's Concertina Class/tour In Ireland

[Pam B]

Now that folks are back in the States from Ireland, I was wondering if there were any reports about the school and festival forthcoming? (I'm quite jealous, and wish I could have been there!)

 

Pam

[Maureen]

Hi Pam, Sorry you couldn't make it to Ireland this year. It was a such rich experience its hard to know where tto start to describe it. We started off in a hotel in Killarney which was having a very large Irish music festival ranging from set dancers in a crowded basketball court to super semi popularized groups such as Dervish, Slide, Beginish, etc. My favorites were the duet concerts with Noel and a young fiddler Liam O'Conner, Jackie Daly and Seamus Creach, and Joe Burke and his wife. Of course there were many spontaneous sessions in the hotel bars as well. Killarney is quie beautful with mountains and a big lake. The first day it snowed a little so the mountains were white while the lowlands were green with daffodils blooming.

After the 4 day festival we went to Ballyvaughan which is a tiny village in County Clare on Galway Bay. People shared rented cottages that had kitchens. the cottages ranged from the luxorious to the rustic. I had one of the more rustic 3 bedroom cottages which I shared with Linda and Toby. It was built more or less like a traditional Irish cottage with a central fireplace that burned peat and a thatched roof. For some reason it and some of the other cottages were filled with butterflies which ended up functioning as an alarm clock since you could hear them flapping on the window sills in the morning as the sunlight came in. We had chlly but very clear weather, almost no rain. It took us a couple days to get the hang of how to get a good blazing peat fire going. The trick is to let the peat get a lot of oxygen. but once we got the hang of it the fireplace was a popular gathering place. The village was very pretty and quiet and the people friendly. We started out eating at local restaurants but gradually turned to cooking at home more as time went by and exchanging meals with other cottages. Lessons started in the typical Noel manner although he may have been a little easier on us in Ireland since there were so many distractions, There was a music festival in Corofin, a nearby village, starting on Thursday that we went to. The first day was all concertina players which was interesting including Kitty Hayes a woman in her mid 70's who played kind of like Mrs Crotty and some younger players including a 9 year old who sounded a lot like Noel. Noel has taught a lot of the upcoming generation of concertina players I realized. The Corofin "festival" was in a town hall and aside from us was pretty devoid of tourists. Their was no amplification and I was struck by how much better the music souded without it. We had two other days at the Corofin festival, one just crowded sessions at the local pubs. It was striking how many concertina players there are in Clare.

The final weekend we did a little sightseeing. A bus trip to the Cliffs of Moher and on monday a vigorous guided hike up the hills of the Burren to an ancient ring fort with spectacular views of Galway Bay along the way. Being out of shape I was huffing and puffing anf bringing up the rear but it was an experience not to be missed. The guide with us was excellent from explaining about the unique plant life, to the archeology, to the local superstitions about the ancient sites.

When the time came to leave Ireland I think we had all grown attached to our Irish cottage and the peaceful village and wished our lives were such that we could have spent a more extended time there.

[Henk van Aalten]

Maureen

Thanks for your message. Brings back memories of my pre-concerina life when we spent two summer-holidays in Ballyvaughan, about twenty years ago!

You really very well described the atmosphere!

Needless to say that my pre-concertina life ended in county Clare and that I came back two years ago to upgrade from my old Hohner 20b to a lovely 30b Marcus.

 

Thanks again

 

Henk

[Animaterra]

Sounds lovely! *sigh* Maybe someday.

For now I'm trying to figure out if I can manage the Noel Hill NY class this summer.

 

Allison

[PhilMeyers]

I MUST go next year. Anyone want to buy one of my children?

[Stephen Mills]

PhilMeyers

I MUST go next year. Anyone want to buy one of my children? 

 

Perhaps. Do you have any Jeffries?