Who can tell me more about Willie Clancy Summer School?
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claudine
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- Tell us something.: Hi, I am a choir singer from Luxembourg trying to get back to Irish flute playing after a few years of absence from ITM.
- Location: Luxembourg
I would like to go to W.C. Summer School in 2002. As I have a husband, 2 kids and a job, I'd have to plan in advance, and I want to know if it is worth the effort (and the money). Can anyone tell me more about it? Have you been there? Is it fun? How do they work? I really need to meet some masters of irish music to learn to play seriously. C&F is a great help and support, but does not replace the lessons of a real master.
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StevieJ
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Hey Claudine,
Nobody's rushed to answer your question, so I'll try. I hesitated because my information is a bit out of date. I have been to "Willie week" 3 times, in 1985, 1993 and 1994. It is quite an experience.
I never bothered to register for classes, except in the last year, when I signed up for a kind of roundtable class with the old fiddle masters, including the now sadly departed Bobby Casey and Junior Crehan. (I was a fiddle player at the time.) This was not a class in the accepted sense of the word, so I can't comment on the main teaching classes. But I never heard a bad report. They are group classes, which have their limitations, but the teachers are indeed masters of Irish music. Mary Bergin used to be one of the whistle teachers, I don't know whether she still is.
Aside from the tuition, the week is an opportunity to immerse yourself totally in Irish music. To get the most out of it, you might want to consider leaving the husband and kids at home, unless they are total ITM freaks too.
Miltown Malbay is a town of about 500 souls, but with (when I last counted) about 30 pubs and bars. Many of these are simply the front rooms of people's houses and hold no more than 30 people when packed. During Willie Week there will be sessions in most of these bars from 10am until well into the wee hours.
One of the great things about the week is that no matter what your level you're bound to meet up with people who in the same league as yourself, or a bit better, whom you can hang out with and learn from. And in one of those 30 bars there'll be a session at which you can feel comfortable to sit in on. OTOH you can luck out and find yourself in a tiny bar in session, sitting with people like Mary Bergin Jackie Daly, the Kelly Brothers and any number of other greats a few feet away from yourself. (Of course at sessions like these you leave your whistle in your pocket and listen.)
Every evening there is a concert in the community hall, which is well worth attending, even if it's not your instrument that's being featured. As well as the morning classes there are various lectures and in the afternoon. Paddy Glackin used to host what could be called a kind of talk show during which he would invite famous guests to talk and play in a very intimate setting -- there might be only 20 people in the room. These could be fascinating opportunities to get to know more about master musicians, most of whom are amazingly modest and unassuming characters.
On the downside, even in 1994 I thought the event was getting a little too big for the town and was in danger of becoming a kind of circus in the evenings, with people coming in from all over the country more to drink than to appreciate music. The better musicians were tending to avoid the town bars and search out places in the surrounding villages to play in the evenings, making things difficult if you don't have a car.
But you have to go. At least once. Don't plan on sleeping much. You'll come back inspired. Oh, and take a good portable recorder for the sessions. In 1985 a friend and I stood outside the window of one bar all afternoon listening to a simply fabulous session with Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, Frankie Kennedy, Jackie Daly and Eoghan O Neill. The bar was too packed for us to get it. But he recorded the whole thing -- 2½ hours of amazing music. It blows my mind when I listen to it 16 years later.
PS You might have some intimidating experiences too. One lunchtime I was sitting in a bar with a piper friend of mine, who wanted to have a few tunes with a piper friend of his, who in my estimation wasn't that great a musician even if he played at 500 mph. I was playing along more out of politeness than anything else, feeling we were not making a great sound, to put it mildly. After a while I looked up to see Martin Hayes sitting about ten feet away from me, quietly sipping on a pint. I suddenly found myself wishing I'd left the fiddle in its case!
On another occasion I drove with a group of friends to a famous pub, the Crosses of Annagh, to have a quiet session in the back bar. We all sat down and got out our instruments and then someone noticed Jackie Daly and Maura O Keeffe sitting in the corner. There followed a strained 45 minutes in which nobody dared start a tune, hoping that his neighbour would... Even though they were all quite accomplished musicians, no-one had the neck to impose their music on the masters' ears.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2001-07-03 17:51 ]</font>
Nobody's rushed to answer your question, so I'll try. I hesitated because my information is a bit out of date. I have been to "Willie week" 3 times, in 1985, 1993 and 1994. It is quite an experience.
I never bothered to register for classes, except in the last year, when I signed up for a kind of roundtable class with the old fiddle masters, including the now sadly departed Bobby Casey and Junior Crehan. (I was a fiddle player at the time.) This was not a class in the accepted sense of the word, so I can't comment on the main teaching classes. But I never heard a bad report. They are group classes, which have their limitations, but the teachers are indeed masters of Irish music. Mary Bergin used to be one of the whistle teachers, I don't know whether she still is.
Aside from the tuition, the week is an opportunity to immerse yourself totally in Irish music. To get the most out of it, you might want to consider leaving the husband and kids at home, unless they are total ITM freaks too.
Miltown Malbay is a town of about 500 souls, but with (when I last counted) about 30 pubs and bars. Many of these are simply the front rooms of people's houses and hold no more than 30 people when packed. During Willie Week there will be sessions in most of these bars from 10am until well into the wee hours.
One of the great things about the week is that no matter what your level you're bound to meet up with people who in the same league as yourself, or a bit better, whom you can hang out with and learn from. And in one of those 30 bars there'll be a session at which you can feel comfortable to sit in on. OTOH you can luck out and find yourself in a tiny bar in session, sitting with people like Mary Bergin Jackie Daly, the Kelly Brothers and any number of other greats a few feet away from yourself. (Of course at sessions like these you leave your whistle in your pocket and listen.)
Every evening there is a concert in the community hall, which is well worth attending, even if it's not your instrument that's being featured. As well as the morning classes there are various lectures and in the afternoon. Paddy Glackin used to host what could be called a kind of talk show during which he would invite famous guests to talk and play in a very intimate setting -- there might be only 20 people in the room. These could be fascinating opportunities to get to know more about master musicians, most of whom are amazingly modest and unassuming characters.
On the downside, even in 1994 I thought the event was getting a little too big for the town and was in danger of becoming a kind of circus in the evenings, with people coming in from all over the country more to drink than to appreciate music. The better musicians were tending to avoid the town bars and search out places in the surrounding villages to play in the evenings, making things difficult if you don't have a car.
But you have to go. At least once. Don't plan on sleeping much. You'll come back inspired. Oh, and take a good portable recorder for the sessions. In 1985 a friend and I stood outside the window of one bar all afternoon listening to a simply fabulous session with Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, Frankie Kennedy, Jackie Daly and Eoghan O Neill. The bar was too packed for us to get it. But he recorded the whole thing -- 2½ hours of amazing music. It blows my mind when I listen to it 16 years later.
PS You might have some intimidating experiences too. One lunchtime I was sitting in a bar with a piper friend of mine, who wanted to have a few tunes with a piper friend of his, who in my estimation wasn't that great a musician even if he played at 500 mph. I was playing along more out of politeness than anything else, feeling we were not making a great sound, to put it mildly. After a while I looked up to see Martin Hayes sitting about ten feet away from me, quietly sipping on a pint. I suddenly found myself wishing I'd left the fiddle in its case!
On another occasion I drove with a group of friends to a famous pub, the Crosses of Annagh, to have a quiet session in the back bar. We all sat down and got out our instruments and then someone noticed Jackie Daly and Maura O Keeffe sitting in the corner. There followed a strained 45 minutes in which nobody dared start a tune, hoping that his neighbour would... Even though they were all quite accomplished musicians, no-one had the neck to impose their music on the masters' ears.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2001-07-03 17:51 ]</font>
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Guest
I noticed your message a couple of days ago - and looked it up (as I had not heard of it) - Intend to be there next summer - this is the web site: http://www.setdancingnews.net/wcss/wcssmd.htm
Great to read Stevie's reply.
See you there maybe!
Belinda
Great to read Stevie's reply.
See you there maybe!
Belinda
