Frequently Asked Questions
What are Classes Like
Each class starts with learning a new tune. The music is taught by ear in the class, but audio or video recordings and sheet music will be available to the students after the class for review at home. During the class, the tune will be broken down into sections, and each section repeated until most of the students have it. Teaching by ear is part of the Irish music tradition, and it’s a skill that improves with practice. So if a student has had no experience with this learning method, no worries– even if he or she can only pick up part of the tune in the class, they can work on it more at home using the tools provided. After we work on the new tune for each class, we will spend the rest of the class time reviewing and polishing the tunes learned in previous classes. By the end of the year, our intermediate/advanced class will have learned 12 tunes, and our beginner class will have learned 7 or 8. Ensemble playing is very different from playing solo. Things like timing, rhythm, and tempo all become very important. When you play as a group in this type of performance you don’t have a conductor leading you, so students must all learn how to work together and stay at the same tempo. Irish music is played with a variety of rhythmic subtleties that don’t translate well to written music. Each type of tune has distinctive rhythmic and stylistic features. We will be talking about this in the classes as we polish the tunes, and students can work on imitating these style elements using the recordings at home.