Irish Arts Week in the Catskills

[Lawrence Reeves]

Well, it looks like another fantastic year for the concertina crowd at the Irish Arts Week held in East Durham New York. There are three official tutors on the schedule this year, each offering a wealth of knowledge on the playing, and history of the anglo concertina in Irish music.

Monsignor Charlie Coen, from Woodford in east Galway. Many of his tunes are direct connections to the past in that region. His late father Mike was a fixture on the instrument as well as Connie Hogan , another historical name in the Sliabh Aughty tradition. Although Mgr. Coen is teaching the beginning class at Irish Arts Week, I would expect any student, no matter how advanced can come away with some new inspirations.

Edel Fox will have both a morning and afternoon class, alternating between intermediate, and advanced. Edel is an amazing teacher, and will surely present many tunes from her native Miltown Malbay area. She is also going to present a lecture on the Legacy of Mrs. Crotty. The afternoon lectures in East Durham are a great time. They are usually very informative, multi media type presentations, followed or presented with demonstrations. There is usually a follow up question and answer session.

Gearóid ÓhAllmhuráin, also splitting his duties between the intermediate and advanced levels. His teaching of tunes incorporates many settings or variations he has learned over the years, many from Paddy Murphy. You will get to push yourself by learning all the tunes by ear. He breaks down individual phrases, and explains the ornamentation he uses. His backround as an uilleann piper comes through in the choice of ornaments like cranns. His in depth knowledge of the concertina as played in years past is fascinating. He plays frequently on his Bb/F, and the sound is amazing.

Now, that being said about the “official” tutors, let me tell you about a few surprise names. This year there will be at least two guest concertinas in residence. One is Caitlín Nic Gabhann from Meath. She is a member of the group Crinniu. The other surprise guest concertina player this year is Kate McNamara. From Tulla, Kate will give a chance to hear east Clare concertina playing to balance out the mix.

In addition to the formal classes, and official concerts one will find a session to play in every night in almost any venue. Although some are set up with a group of the Art’s Week tutors to get things started, most are inviting, and easy to enjoy. There are many impromptu sessions (my favorites) throughout the town any night

Edited June 4, 2009 by Lawrence Reeves

[Azalin]

Sounds great. Thanks for the info. I am disappointed Tim Collins won't be teaching, but there are good alternatives. Tim is just my favorite teacher, he's really into teaching technique, not so much about tune learning.

[Lawrence Reeves]

I have been fortunate to have Tim, Gearóid and Edel in years past. It is amazing how much you can learn from different players/ recordings/ classes, and books. In the long run it is how you can put it all together to make your own playing unique. All of these players/ teacher absorbed the information they were exposed to to create "themselves", and we should aspire to do the same some day in our own playing.

[Azalin]

Anyone has Kate McNamara's email address? I want to see if she's available for a private lesson or two during the week.

[Lawrence Reeves]

These guest players are usually very accessible during the week. They often have a few obligations such as informal master classes. A few years back Chris Droney did one in an afternoon at Furlong's. Great stuff. They may be helping out if there are overloads in the 3 classes. As a rule the concertina classes have gathered as a combo event on Friday. Again it is sometimes the "unofficial" things that can happen. Aslo looking at the exchange rate vs the Euro, Irish Arts is a bargain. It is not really any more spread out than Willie Clancy week, which I have heard as a comment before.

[Azalin]

These guest players are usually very accessible during the week. They often have a few obligations such as informal master classes. A few years back Chris Droney did one in an afternoon at Furlong's. Great stuff. They may be helping out if there are overloads in the 3 classes. As a rule the concertina classes have gathered as a combo event on Friday. Again it is sometimes the "unofficial" things that can happen. Aslo looking at the exchange rate vs the Euro, Irish Arts is a bargain. It is not really any more spread out than Willie Clancy week, which I have heard as a comment before.

 

Thanks Lawrence. Catskills is my favorite ITM festival. It's not invaded by tourists, like Willie Clancy week can be, you can actually hear music in the pubs and there are listening sessions, which allows you to actually tape and listen to good music with excellent audio quality.