Coleman Irish Music Centre

Last year music pupils from form IV, V and VI took a trip out west to the Coleman Irish Music Centre in Gurteen, county Sligo. The trip will take place again this year for pupils in forms IV and V. Irish music is an integral part of the Irish Leaving Certificate Music syllabus and for many German pupils who join the school in form V and study Music it can be confusing! The Coleman centre runs courses which help introduce Irish music in a hands on manner.

Below is a summary of the trip by pupils from last year's form VI, Catherine Crossey and Justine Heffernan. Also after the link is an account by Clara Staeler and Philippa Peters, German pupils from last year's form V.

Today after a long, but pleasant journey (on bus, train and bus again) we arrived at the Coleman Traditional Irish Music Centre in Gurteen, Co. Sligo. The centre is named after a famous fiddle player, Michael Coleman who travelled to the USA and was one of the first traditional Irish music players to record their music.

We were greeted with a fantastic Irish welcome and were quickly whisked into the lecture hall. We began our first lecture learning about Michael Coleman himself and about Irish regional styles of music. We then split into three groups for workshops.

Our first workshop was an introduction to string instruments with live performances and explanations of the origins of each instrument. We were then given time to experiment on them. This gave us each a unique insight into the instruments. After a lecture on Sean Nós singing and traditional Irish Harp we moved to our next workshop.

In our next workshop we were greeted by a true gaelgóir from Connemara. He introduced us to the world of the Accordion. Here we were able to try our talents on the various types of Accordion; Button, Keyboard and Concertina.

A lecture on the Uilleán Pipes followed this workshop. We were introduced to each part of them and were given demonstrations of ornamentation and a live performance to cement the sound in our memories.

We restored our energy with a quick lunch before our next lecture about the Flute and its origins and different sounds and styles.

All three groups were brought together for some Céilí dancing followed by an enthusiastic session from the traditional players. We all had a great ending to the day when we were given Bodhráns to play. We were taught different rhythms such as hip hop beats and different reel and jig rhythms.

Overall it was a really enjoyable trip and a great chance to experience the real Irish music tradition. Thanks to Mrs. Malone-Brady and Mr. Clarke for taking the time to bring us agus go raibh mile maith agaibh chuig na daoine go léir san Ionád Coleman, bhí sibh ar feabhas.

Our trip to the Coleman Music Centre

by Clara Staeler and Philippa Peters

On February 3rd at 7:45 in the morning the music classes from forms IV, V and VI left the college to go to Sligo. After four hours of travelling we arrived at the Coleman Irish Music Centre. Our first impression was rather disappointing as we saw a small building, in a lonely village, in the middle of nowhere! As we entered we were welcomed with biscuits and tea which lifted out spirits straight away!

After this small break we were given the first presentation about Irish music, immediately followed by workshops on Irish instruments like the accordion and the fiddle. We were allowed to try out some of these instruments; some of us were very talented! After the presentations and the workshops we all came together to learn some Irish dancing accompanied by our workshop teachers. We did our best at the dancing but it was more difficult than it looked! Finally we had a short workshop of bodhrán rhythms, including hip hop!