Niamh gave an important talk on the historical role of women in Irish music and pointed us in the direction of positive change towards equality and safety for all musicians. She shared the following links for your enjoyment:

• Presentation Slideshow

• Lucy Farr

• Julia Clifford

• Macalla

• Belfast Harp Orchestra

• Irish Women in Harmony (Dreams)

Niamh introduced us to a new publication, "Folk Tunes from the Women" and taught us some of her own compositions. The book is available from her bandcamp site, along with several fine albums including her latest, Donnely's Arm. Thanks a million, Niamh, for a great lesson. 

Niamh introduced us to a new publication, "Folk Tunes from the Women" and taught us some of her own compositions. The book is available from her bandcamp site, along with several fine albums including her latest, Donnely's Arm. Thanks a million, Niamh, for a great lesson. 

Caoimhín taught us two lovely slow reels today. The first, he learned from the great Mary Bergin at a workshop, a compisition of her own. It's got a lovely lilt to it in the key of g. The second is a John Dwyer tune that he wrote for his brother, Finbarr, entitled The Beara Minstrel. Thanks a million to Caoimhín for such a wonderful class. 

Anne has three tunes to share with us today. The sheet music is below and the video will be uploaded once it has been processed.

Billy taught us two lovely jigs, and gave us a great insight into what it was like growing up in London with the constant flow of musicians visiting the house.  Seeing  and hearing Julia Clifford's Stroh Fiddle was a real treat also. 

Connie O'Connell is a renowned fiddle player and composer from Cill na Matra in County Cork. We are privileged to have him lead our December workshop and teach us a few of his favourite tunes.

You can read a lovely biography and listen to some of Connie's playing here on the UCC Website.

Connie has generously made a book with recordings of his compositions available free of charge. Here is the link for this fantastic project. 

Aoife taught us some gorgeous tunes from the playing of Julia Clifford. The Cliffs of Moher has a twist at the end that will turn heads when you play it. 

Her duo album with Paudie is the quintessential Sliabh Luachra album and I recommend you listen to it on repeat!"Didn't She Dance and Dance"

Aoife is available for private lessons and can be contacted at: aoifenichaoimh@gmail.com 

The password for workshop videos is shared on the monthly newsletter. Sign up for access here!

Paudi is a stalwart of Sliabh Luachra Music. His workshop is full of wonderful tunes and words of wisdom.  "Didn't She Dance and Dance" is a fantastic album to listen to. Paudi and Aoife make a lovely duet.

Check out Paudi's website, where you can purchase their music and inquire about private tuition.

MP3: The Anniverary Polka, Daybreak, The Kerry Bar

Matt Cranitch is renowned as a fiddle-player and teacher, both at home in Ireland and abroad. He has performed extensively at concerts and festivals, on radio and television, and has presented lectures, master-classes and workshops on various aspects of Irish music. He has won All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil titles, as well as The Fiddler of Dooney and Oireachtas Crotty Cup. Author of The Irish Fiddle Book, first published in 1988 and now in its fourth edition, he has also contributed to other books on Irish traditional music. He has made various albums, including those with Na Filí, Any Old Time and Sliabh Notes, in addition to Éistigh Seal which consists entirely of slow airs. With Jackie Daly, he has recorded The Living Stream and most recently Rolling On. He is an authority on the music of Sliabh Luachra, and received a PhD from the University of Limerick for his study on the fiddle-playing tradition of this region. He has taught a number of courses in Irish traditional music during various years at University College Cork. A long-time consultant for the Geantraí series on TG4 (Irish-language TV), he is a former adviser to the Irish Arts Council scheme for the traditional arts, and has served on the board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive. In recognition of his contribution to Irish traditional music, he has received various accolades, including: University College Cork Hall of Fame Award in 2003; M.J. Quill Irish Cultural Center NY Award in 2014; Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival Award in 2017. We are privileged to have Matt as our teacher for the September workshop!

Password  shared on the www.irishfiddlessons.com monthly newsletter .

Password  shared on the www.irishfiddlessons.com monthly newsletter .

Emma taught us some lovely polkas from her album, "Mo Cheantar Féin" (My Home Place).  It was so lovely to hear some background on the tunes and pick up some tips for playing in the Sliabh Luachra style. 

Emma is also available for private lessons and can be contacted via email here: emmaoleary@hotmail.com 

Gerry taught us five beautiful airs including "The Green Linnet" and shared a wealth of knowledge and stories with the class.  We were treated to a demonstration and discussion of the Stroh Fiddle at the end of the class which was also very interesting. It was an absolute treat to have Gerry with us for the July workshop and we look forward to inviting him back again in the future. 

In the meantime, Gerry is available for private online lessons and can be contacted at: gerrymharrington@gmail.com 

Gerry is a prolific preservationist of traditional music from Sliabh Luachra and has recorded many wonderful albums. His discography is available here on bandcamp:

Áine taught us all about her father's (Connie O'Connell's) book of compositions, Bóithrín na Smaointe (Memory Lane), which can be found in full here on the UCC website: http://epu.ucc.ie/connieoconnell/

Tunes can be listened to in MP3 format, with Connie and Áine playing them beautifully accompanied by piano. There are many great tunes in this collection.

At this workshop, Áine taught us tunes in sets, as this is how she always learned music growing up. It makes a lot of sense to learn tunes this way. 

Firstly, she taught us a slide set, "The Mouse in the House" and "Ben's Birthday". You can hear the stories of these tunes in the video of the workshop which has been uploaded to Viemo with Áine's permission. Following this set, she taught us a lively set of polkas, "The High Nellie and The Return of Youth". 

Áine is available for private online lessons and can be contacted at: aineoconnor01@gmail.com

The four tunes from the workshop are shared below. We'll surely play them at the next monthly session- and all of them after that too!  Thank you for a wonderful workshop Áine!

Áine produced a fine album with her husband Francis on Flute, backed by Brian Mooney on Bouzouki. The album contains some of the most beautiful sets from the famed fiddle duet of Connie O'Connell and Denis McMahon, along with others from the playing of another legendary duo: Jon Joe Harnett (flute) and Moss Murphy (fiddle). I can't recommend this music highly enough. It is available here on bandcamp:

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Maire's working documents from when she made the Re Joyce album: "the gist of two hornpipes" (Track 4) from the collection -The Gypsy and My Fiddle 

Máire taught us great music she had picked up from Maurice O'Keeffe, Paddy O'Connell and Willie O'Connell. Máire generously shared a weallth of resources for the group to explore:

• Two polkas which are transcribed on the Seamus Connolly Collection in Boston College. I don't know if people are aware of this amazing resource but its where Seamus gathered all his recordings that he had made over the years and also came over to Ireland and got lots of his musician friends to record tunes for him as well as musicians in the States who recorded for him also and this was all put into the Seamus Connolly Collection and published online by Boston College. It's a brilliant resource as you can download transcriptions of the tunes as well as listen to them being played. https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/ 

• The tunes I recorded for him are here - Seamus has a particular interest in Sliabh Luachra - he was a great buddy of Julia Cliffords so he asked me to focus on Sliabh Luachra so there's a few Sliabh Luachra tunes including the polkas we did this morning from Maurice O'Keeffe here 

  • https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/solr-search?q=Maire+O%27Keeffe 

• The Joyce Micro site on the Irish Traditional Music Archive site is here https://www.itma.ie/joyce

• Interactive scores for Old Irish Music and Songs 1909 - the book we did the Rejoyce album from are here 

  • https://www.itma.ie/joyce/music-collection/old-irish-folk-music-and-songs-1909

• Re-creations of the music of Joyce by a number of musicians are here 

  • https://www.itma.ie/features/video-playlists/pwjoyce  

Máire can be reached at okeeffefiddle@gmail.com for private lessons. A huge thank you to Máire, who has been so generous with her time, resources and knowledge. 

Teddy O'Neill's Jig also which I often play after Fannings Jig and which came from the manuscript of Padraig O'Keeffe where he had written down the tunes for Paddy and Willie O'Connell.

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"A tune is like a Christmas tree. You have to make sure the ornament isn't too big for the tree. The ornament makes it nicer, but you don't want the ornament to be bigger than the tree. Keep your polkas and your slides nice an light."

Niamh passed on some valuable pearls of wisdom when it comes to playing in the Sliabh Luachra style and taught us lovely tunes from the great composer and musician, Terry "Cuz" Teahan. Niamh has a lot of experience in teaching students of multicultural backgrounds and is available for private lessons. She can be reached at niamhnicharra@gmail.com. 

Her workshop today focused on her research and personal experience with Terry "Cuz" Teahan and her tribute album to Cuz is linked below. Niamh is also a prolific recording artist and the link to her latest album, Donnely's Arm, is also embedded. II recommend downloading her whole discography from Bandcamp- hours of great music!

Thank you Niamh for sharing your wonderful music!