A Sing Along with the Speks: Live in Ennis

I caught up with The Speks in Ennis where they entertained a family audience  as part of the St Patrick's Day festivities at Glor. The  'boy band'  dressed in primary colours and wearing wigs were quite at home on the big stage and looked like they were enjoying themselves as much as their young listeners. The charming set of favourite childrens' songs and nursery rhymes familiar to all ages were peppered with interludes of Irish dance tunes performed on traditional instruments. I particularly liked  Miss Molly Had a Dolly, given a distinctly Irish makeover when fused with the hornpipe the Beggerman. A key feature was the addition of  simple ostinatos to encourage audience participation.  More colour was added via illustrations of the rhymes projected on the backdrop screen and there was a range of nicely produced books and cds available in the foyer.

I spoke to Quince Spek,  aka Paul Quin in the bustling foyer following the gig and he told me that some of the band are together since their school days and acknowledged the influence of one of their school teachers in developing their style .  The Speks website is a mine of material,  recordings, lyrics , tips on  classroom use etc. and an excellent  resource for anyone involved in primary school education.

Ar fheabhas!

I

ESTA Ireland National Conference 2012

Ferenc Szucs sets out the objectives
photos Maurice Gunning courtesy IWAMD  

 I attended European String Teachers' Association ( ESTA ) Ireland conference held at the World Academy of Music Building at UL campus today.  Following an opening address by Ferenc Szucs, director of classical strings MA programme at the university,  the current president of ESTA International Bruno Giuranna addressed the gathering setting the international context. He made an impassioned  plea for all children to have access to musical education and had  interesting observations on the merit of an oral tradition and  of musical education versus martial arts.

Professor Bruno Giuranna 

Alec photo CD 

There were charming performances by students of the faculty. We heard  music by Schubert and Mendelssohn from an elegant piano trio featuring Hungarian musicians , Peter Sebestyen, Balant Varay  and David Szabo .  This was followed by a very interesting duo featuring American students Alec Brown and Johanna Hyde.  You can hear Alec talking about his music style in the clip below.  The tower is an interesting architectural  circular space with a lining of dark wood vertical beams and slanted panels and the stringed instruments sounded rich and sonorous in this acoustic. The conference closed with a general discussion on the aims of the relaunched organisation.

A new website is under construction and further information is available from email : info@estaireland.org

Forthcoming events at UL http://www.irishworldacademy.ie/comhaimseartha/index.html#/1/

ESTA UK Website http://www.estastrings.org.uk/ 

   listen to ‘Alec brown’ on Audioboo

Sing Out With Strings

Full House

Teachers group

CEO John Kelly with group

I went along to St Mary's Church, Athlunkard St Limerick to hear the summer concert of the Irish Chamber Orchestra's  local school's  initiative 'Sing Out With Strings' .  Following a burst of McAnanty's Reel from the ICO ,  the concert opened with a set of charming songs from junior classes in SouthHill Junior School  complete with actions.   Kathleen Turner  has a lively energetic presence with her young groups and has a relaxed easy manner in speaking to the audience in  a situation that must not be easy given it involves moving large groups of kids around.  The Galvone string group then played the Four and Twenty Blackbirds rhythm to accompaniment from the ICO.
An older group from Southill  Junior sang a set of new self composed songs and were followed by a group of 4th class boys from St Mary's Boys School.  The teachers ensemble  backed by ICO violinists played the chorale bit of Jesu Joy and this was very effective .  The highlight was the massed group of choir, teachers and what looked like 60 or so violinists in a rousing version of  the World Cup Football Anthem Wave Your Flag .  This was a terrific number . I liked the way the violins had a sequence of actions with their fiddles and bows when they weren't playing . CEO John Kelly adressed the assembly and there was time for a final encore of Wave Your Flag . Bravo tutti !