Author: maldonm

Intermediate, Past Classes

Thurs. 6pm | 2021 Winter 2 | Class | Intermediate

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intro

Feet & Voice

We will be learning to dance to the human voice. Through song and lilting we will explore the voice repertoire. The voice is the oldest instrument. It has been said that if there was music there was dancing. In areas where instruments were hard to come by dancers often danced to lilting. Ronan Regan recently came and talked at our tea time where he spoke of house “parties” and homes where there might only be one fiddle. Players would pass the fiddle along each taking a turn to play. There was a lot of listening and conversation about the music. Rather than formal teaching. This term we will look lilting and dancing to the voice.

Both the beginners class and the intermediate class will be covering the same material. Please feel free to join both classes if you’d like extra accountability. There will also be a woodshed for each level. Woodsheds are a place for you to practice the material.

class 1

Many of the link and notes for this class are the same as the beginners class 1. Here is a link to that page for your reference.

We will start with the song Cúnla

Sometime spelled Cúnla, Cúnnla, Cunla and Cunnla. You will find the song in English, in Irish and Macaronic (English/Irish). 

class 2

6pm PST | 7pm MST | 8pm CST | 9pm EST on ZOOM Class | Intermediate Feet & Voice: the intermediates continue to work with the song Cúnla. Beginners, you are welcome to come along for some extra practice! 

class 3

class 4

class 5

class 6

resources

Tea Time Talks

24 | Tea Time Talk | Ronan Regan

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Rónán Regan Feb. 10th

2/10 – Ronan Regan

Rónán Regan is a Traditional Irish musicians and dancer. He wrote his thesis on the Leitrim style of music, specialising in the musical styles of Ben Lennon (Recipient of Civic Reception Award from Leitrim County Council in 2007 and TG4 Music Award, 2011) and Jim Connolly and completed his Masters in traditional music performance, with modules in sean-nós dance in University of Limerick, 2005.  

Rónán released the instructional DVDs ‘Dance Sean-Nós’ with Maldon Meehan in 2005 featuring the renowned box player Johnny O’Halloran from Inish Bofin and ‘Dance Sean-Nós for beginners‘ in 2009 featuring guest dancers and the virtuoso box player P.J. Hernon from Connemara.

Tea Time Talks

23 | Tea Time Talk Sean Williams

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Sean’s musical interests focus strongly on Irish-language songs and fiddle tunes, but also musics from Indonesia, Brazil, and Japan. Her books include Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song-Man, which she co-wrote with Lillis Ó Laoire, and the textbook Focus: Irish Traditional Music. Sean was very fortunate to have studied with the sean-nós or old-style Connemara singer Joe Heaney in the last several years of his life, and counts him as one of her most important musical influences. She has also learned sean-nós songs from Gearóidín Breathnach, Máirín Uí Chéide, Lillis Ó Laoire, Celia Ní Fhátharta, Bridget Fitzgerald, and many others. 

Tea Time Talks

22 | Tea Time Talk Preston Wilde

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Preston has been playing traditional Irish dance music on the uilleann pipes (pronounced ‘ill-yun’) for over 20 years.  The uilleann pipes are Ireland’s national bagpipe and differ from their more famous Scottish cousin in that they are a bit quieter, lower-pitched, and have a much broader musical range.  Where the Scottish bagpipe is intended for marching into battle the Irish bagpipe is intended for enjoying communal dancing and maybe a pint or two.  Due to their larger musical range and more nuanced tonality, the uilleann pipes enjoy a resplendent repertoire as well as a plethora of playing styles in contrast to the militarized homogeneity of the Scottish piping tradition.  Preston’s focus has been on the older pre-famine Irish piping canon (1760’s-1850’s) as well as fiddle music from Cork, Kerry, Clare, Belfast, Sligo, and Fermanagh.