INSIDE THE “House of Lords” yesterday, luminaries in the world of traditional Irish music at the Willie Clancy Summer School lit up the day of their young audience with exquisite fiddle-playing.
The handwritten “House of Lords” sign appears on the door of Room 27 at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Spanish Point where all week students have come to hear the different playing styles of school veterans Vincent Griffin, Ben Lennon, John Joe Tuttle and Peter Matthew.
The children, aged between eight and 11, sitting across the floor with tape recorders in hand to capture the sound, are spellbound by the soaring sounds.
Tutor Maura O’Keeffe joins with the “lords” to play. Later, she says: “This is really special because it gives the kids a chance to interact with the older generation. Thirty classes come here during the week to listen to them play.”
Feakle native Vincent Griffin is teaching at the Clare school since its inception 39 years ago and was a tutor in the first fiddle class. “It makes me feel good to see how the children progress. Nothing gives me more satisfaction,” he says.
Well-known fiddle player Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh has been coming to the school for 20 years as a student and tutor and recalls, aged 11, bringing his own tape recorder to record the masters back then.
All week long, classes have been continuing across Miltown Malbay in the fiddle, concertina, banjo, harmonica and pipes with thousands descending on the west Clare village for the celebration of Irish music.
Explaining the school’s appeal, tutor in the scope of Irish music and former director general of RTÉ Cathal Goan says: “I think there is a sense that there is a great respect and love for the music at the heart of it.”
Upstairs at St Joseph’s school, virtuoso fiddle player Martin Hayes is explaining to his teenage charges on their second last day that “you need to be a little obsessive to be any good at this stuff”.
Treating his students to what he calls his “impenetrable theory of Irish music”, the self-deprecating Maghera man remarks that renowned fiddle player, Junior Crehan “didn’t have an iPod”.
“Instead of spending time imagining music, we just tend to go for the headphones all of the time and listening to someone else’s version of the tune. If we’re not in the world of imagining these tunes, we are never going to get to the point where we are playing or singing our version of the tunes.”
