“The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music & Dance is a weeklong summer celebration of Acadian, Cape Breton, Irish, Québécois, Scottish and other Celtic-influenced traditions that contribute to the vibrant culture and authentic character of Downeast Maine.”
In addition to daily Irish flute classes, I’ll be holding a series of workshops:
Songs are People Too
The singing of songs is a very different beast in Ireland. It is traditionally unaccompanied, with calls for ciúnas! (“a bit of hush!”); it can happen at the drop of a hat (session or not), in the pub, or in the home. Most incredibly, people actually listen! It can be an intimidating prospect, and virtually impossible to initiate in North America where it simply isn’t built into session culture. So, let’s get together and sing some songs. Let’s talk about how we learn them, how we transmit them, and why it’s important. Let’s talk a bit about why singing in sessions is so aberrant in America—and let’s also destigmatize being “just a singer”.
The Humours of Madake
Open to All Instruments
The shakuhachi does not historically appear in any music from any of the Celtic Nations whatsoever. To be fair, neither did the bouzouki until The Great Folk Scare of the 1960s. So what role does an instrument like the shakuhachi—a Japanese bamboo flute—play in the music of Ireland, Scotland, and so on? None! But that also doesn’t mean it can’t. Furthermore, the same can be said for any instrument across any genre.
To this end, let’s look at a very simple, but very beautiful 17th-century Irish tune (that I learned as Lord Ullin’s Daughter) called Eibhli Gheal Chiúin (or Fair Gentle Eily) and a Japanese folk song called Hamabe no Uta (or Song of the Shore) written by Narita Tamezo in 1916. These two tunes, separated by half a globe and several centuries, share some surprising melodic similarities.
I’ll be giving you a brief overview of shakuhachi notation; in my first shakuhachi lesson, my dad wrote out the melody to Scarborough Fair in shakuhachi notation, which simplified the learning process for me tremendously. Contrast that with 5-line notation which I have never been able to read or comprehend. The great Steve Cooney, after his own struggles with staff notation, developed his own system; maybe this can be inspiration for you to develop your own! Maybe you can use this medley of two disparate musical disciplines to break down reservations you’ve had about genre-blending. Or maybe you’ll just like the tunes! No pressure to reinvent the wheel here.
Tunes I Learned in Dingle
Open to All Instruments
I’ve been very fortunate to spend a lot of time in one of the world’s most perfect places: Dingle, Co. Kerry. One of the best parts about West Kerry is that the polka is king. So if you’ve always loved polkas—or maybe more importantly if you don’t—come inoculate yourself with a few of these humble yet infectious tunes.
A lot of people who play backing instruments struggle with polkas, so this will be a great opportunity to get some ideas (hint: think Chuck Berry more than Christy Barry).
If time allows, we’ll try to get a slide in and if we’re really ambitious, there’ll be a waltz in it for you as well…