Hello! Season’s greetings from Burren Fiddle Holidays.

What a year it’s been. My last post mentioned moving location, and I am now settled in – I didn’t go far, I’m right in the heart of Corofin! It’s such a beautiful area with lots of sight-seeing options, history and a big variety of music sessions between the village and the surrounding areas.

For fiddle holidays there are some changes to the accommodation options. Following on from my last post, I still have a collaboration with my fellow fiddle-player and friend near to Kilfenora. I have a new self-catering collaboration also with Des at The Red Gates, a beautiful place just 5 minutes from Corofin. If you’re interested in a tuition and accommodation package please get in touch, and I’ll make sure our availability matches up. My last post gives an idea of my availability for fiddle weeks, weekends and one-off classes, and how to contact me – this will be similar for 2024. I’ll paste a link to The Red Gates below:

Accommodation

Teaching this year has been great as ever and really rewarding. It’s been such a benefit for my own playing as well; I learn so much when students ask me questions; when I need to demonstrate something; when I get tune requests. Thank you to all my students this year for your enthusiasm and attitude to learning, and to those who came for holidays and one-off classes.

The online recital this year didn’t quite squeeze in before Christmas, so it’s in the diary for the end of January to brighten up this winter month.

Best Wishes for the New Year, and I’ll see you in 2024,

Laura

Happy 2023 from Burren Fiddle Holidays!

I have some important news to share with you. Burren Fiddle Holidays is on the move this year, in search of another beautiful location and home to become a musical hub and haven.

This means there are a few changes to fiddle holiday options while I get things sorted. For tuition with accommodation I have an Airbnb accomodation collaboration with my great friend and fellow fiddle player who lives near Kilfenora. She has a lovely two-bed self-catering apartment where you can stay, and I am on hand for all things fiddle tuition on-site. It’s a cool spot, a little bit deeper into the Burren, with loads of session options and site-seeing nearby, and historical sites too! Fiddle tuition without accommodation is still available, still near to Corofin but from another lovely house. I have some availability for fiddle weeks in June, the last two weeks in July and in August. If you’re interested in coming to stay, please get in touch with some date suggestions and what you’d like to work on musically, and I will check re rates and availability. For fiddle weekends and one-off classes there is always some flexibility, so please do get in touch also!

In other news I’ve been busy teaching a diverse and lovely group of students regularly, both in-person and over the internet. We have online fiddle recitals at the end of each term, which are great fun and a chance for everyone to check in with each other. The local market in Corofin is still going strong too, so sometimes those of us who live within striking distance all meet up there to play.

Festivals are all back with a bang since last year, and the vibe is great! I think many of us musicians had time to evaluate why we play and what makes us happy musically, as well as time to work on our music. Now that we are back playing after a long hiatus, the enthusiasm is mighty and there has been a lot of joy! There have been some lovely community projects too, and not just in the trad music world – Government grant initiatives for artists continue to come to fruition and we’re seeing some great local events in art, folklore, music, theatre etc. It feels like a creative window has been opened and the ideas keep flowing through.

Some festival highlights last year were my favourite – The Willie Clancy Week – as well as Feakle and Ennis Trad Fests. I also played a concert at Galway Arts Festival with the talented Nuala Kennedy. There is no slacking for festival goers, with the last two weekends seeing the Micho Russell Festival in Doolin and the Trad Fest in my local village, Corofin!

Take care and see you soon!

Best, Laura

I write from home today as my favourite traditional music festival – The Willie Clancy Week – takes place online for a second year running. We’ve got a ban on any kind of indoor social or sporting activity here in Ireland at the moment as the pandemic continues; my understanding is that this may only change pending the introduction of a vaccine passport, details of which to be announced on the 19^th of this month. My mood felt cloudy earlier as I realised that we still have a long road ahead, then I went for a walk in the Burren and that all lifted. Despite the clouds, some good things have happened in the last few months.

A village market now takes place outside the village hall in Corofin. It’s once a month of a Sunday. On Sunday 31^st May I played there with fiddle students and friends, and what weather we had. This past Sunday was rainy and so we were unable to play inside the hall, however we all enjoyed it so much the first time that I’m on the look out for the next community event to bring us all together (any suggestions are welcome!). Some local pubs and hotels have put great effort into their outdoor dining set-ups and spaces, making places that are possible to play in even when it’s raining, and even in some cases organising music according to the forecast; I am thankful for these opportunities to hear and play live music again.

The Sunday before last I hosted a second online fiddle recital for my students, following on from the one at Christmas which was really successful! We had seven students and myself playing, and an audience of two parents and two grandparents. Again the online format allowed us to get together from different locations – Ireland, the UK and Canada. A few others of us were missing in transit or enjoying well-earned stay-cations. It was a social occasion as well as a performance opportunity, and it was commented on how our music has evolved since the last time.

In-person teaching takes place less often these days, however as we can have visitors from one-household or many households if vaccinated, my doors are open. Similarly it is possible to stay at Burren Fiddle Holidays again, with proper distancing measures in place. I’ve enjoyed hosting three sets of guests so far, from Dublin and Sligo, and teaching one introductory fiddle class.

My last post referenced sound recording and video making, and I can report that I’ve made at least some progress with the former. Step one was buying some equipment – I now have a Tascam USB audio interface with 4 microphone inputs (In case I might want to record other people as well!) and the use of a condenser and a ribbon microphone. The Digital Audio Workstation I’m using is caller Reaper – it’s really affordable and as far as I know it’ll do everything I might ever want it to. I’ve a couple of rough tracks I won’t share with you yet! I’m secretly ambitious but also a perfectionist. I’m introverted yet I need social interaction for motivation and inspiration; this combination of traits combined with the lack of social activity over the last few months means that progress is not where the ambition in me would have hoped at this point! However at the very least it is a longer term project and means that I’m open to other recording projects as well.

That brings us up to date. I hope you’re all doing okay out there. If anyone would like to join the fiddle crew for online lessons – please do get in touch with me here at Burren Fiddle Holidays.

Best Wishes – Laura

Hello from Burren Fiddle Holidays. December 1st marked ‘an end’ of sorts to the second Coronavirus lock-down in Ireland. This one was as strict as the very first back in March, but without the closure of the schools and universities. It’s been good that these have been able to stay open. The middle-ground restrictions-roll-out which we have moved to now seems so much more free again as we swing backwards and forwards between restriction levels. As we await the vaccine I think many of us in the effected industries will become strategists out of necessity as we try to plan for differing eventualites.

As a teacher I’ve been organising my first ever online Christmas fiddle recital. Interestingly this format would never have entered my mind previously as many of my students locally would have been able to meet in person. Now that we are all online, it seems a great way to connect all of us, regardless of which countries we live in; location is no longer a barrier. I’m really looking forward to it!

In familiarising myself with an online format which involves many people as opposed to my usual format of one-to-one teaching, I am opening a window to other opportunities for group music. I’m also planning to improve my video making skills and knowledge of sound recording. During a time when many things are in limbo, we need to branch out as well as sustain, or to branch out to sustain.

I hope everyone has a safe and musical Christmas.

See you all next year!
Laura

Hello from Burren Fiddle Holidays in continuing times of Coronavirus. As I read over my last post, I was surprised how fearful and unsettled it sounded in places; by how complete the lock-down was, such that the act of four people being allowed to meet outside again was suddenly liberating. By now restrictions on numbers allowed to gather together have been revised many times, most recently yesterday, which marked two weeks of the schools and universities having reopened.

Life is still slower than pre-virus, however many pre-virus habits have returned. Wood-chopping took a break for the summer as the weather was warmer, and the electric oven is now in use again. The summer weather wasn’t as good as for the total lock-down of spring but there were still moments for some outside music sessions and conversations. Thank you to my friends for organising these and keeping me sane as a result! The car got it’s certificate of road-worthiness and it is back on the road, balancing the less-travel-is-good-for-the-environment with the need to get out. Re bread making, I imagine flour producers are doing better than they have in many years as the increased interest in cooking and baking seems to endure! Buying new things is still at an all-time low, even for me, and grocery shopping is no longer something stressful, just something routine for which you have to wear a face mask. It’s amazing what you get used to.

We are now allowed to have up to 50 people indoors, so some theatres, galleries and venues are going ahead with staging socially distanced and managed events. The ‘Wet’ pubs as they’re calling them – the pubs which don’t serve food – should be allowed to reopen on the 21^st of this month – the ones outside of Dublin, that is. Those which do open have to allow for distancing and it’ll be table-service only for a maximum group size of 6 people from 3 households. As far as I understand live music is allowed, however there won’t be much space for us musicians – ruling out anything resembling the former glory of the music session. As I write this I don’t want to sound bleak, however; as we have a government survival strategy for ‘living with Coronavirus’ over the next six months, it is clear we need one for society too. From a music standpoint, I’ve been following a group called the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland (MEAI) who have been doing their best to address this from an industry perspective; they’ve been requesting support packages which would enable financial survival for musicians, artists, event managers etc as well as the continuation of creativity in a restricted setting; so far success has been mostly for the larger venues and record producers…it is hoped that some kind of artist package will become available for the independent gigging musicians too.

Closer to home, the Burren Fiddle Holidays survival package revolves around teaching; since the accommodation offered as part of the fiddle holiday package is shared, this will remain closed for the moment. In-person fiddle holiday tuition is available, though I know it has been too risky for the most part for you all to get here! I’m teaching most of my regular students online this year, however in-person lessons are available too with safety precautions. I have hand-sanitizer, soap and anti-bacterial wipes (masks are available too if you would like) and I will have wiped down the chairs and door handles in preparation for your arrival. If you’d like to book in for lessons – online or in person – let me know. There are still some spaces left for the autumn term.

Lastly, I wanted to write that the individual survival package also revolves around keeping the music and conversation going and – even though restricted – to be social whenever we can. I know it’s Ireland and winter is approaching – that’ll mostly mean the end of outdoor music – so we’ll have to play indoors in tiny groups! It might take a bit of extra effort to organise and get motivated but it will be worth it. Hope to see you soon.

Hello everyone. I woke up this morning with a sense of clarity and lots of ideas for a news update from Burren Fiddle Holidays HQ – it’s about time! It’s been just over 8 weeks since the schools and universities closed here in Ireland and slightly less since we’ve been in lock-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When this hit on March 13, I’d been so excited by the promise of my last post. It was days from St. Patrick’s Day, typically the signal of the start of the tourist season in Ireland – also of better weather, festivals and music gatherings to come after a long winter. I’d been looking forward to hosting fiddle holidays and guests from many different parts of the world. What followed for me – and for many of us, though I know our circumstances may differ substantially – has evoked a whole range of emotions and questions.

Life here is simplified and I am lucky that Burren Fiddle Holidays is located on my neighbour’s farm. We had a 2km distance allowance for exercise (now extended to 5km), but on the farm 2k is more like 3 or 4km when you are already quite a distance from the main road! Thankfully the Coronavirus did not halt the change in seasons. There have been lambs, calves and a new foal born. The grass is growing like mad. There are hares in the fields and all of nature seems to appreciate the cleaner air and the peace and quiet. There are more bees and insects than I’ve seen in years, and we have had only about 3 days of rain since this started. 3 days in 8 weeks? Amazing.

The car still has petrol in the tank despite having been filled over two months ago. And its National Car Test which indicates road-worthiness has been out of date since the end of March, but it doesn’t matter – the test centres are closed. Things are not running by the book. My oven is broken (there are actually steps under way to fix this!) but in the meantime I’ve been using the solid-fuel range. I’ve been gathering wood from the hedges each day to burn, which also heats the main room in the house and provides hot water. I’ve used it to make soda bread, as it’s now more difficult (though not impossible) to get the strong flour I use for the bread machine. Twice I thought I might like to replace an item of clothing which had worn out, so I looked on EBay for some which were pre-loved . Not finding anything that I wanted, I thought better to make do with what I still have. I have a very basic lifestyle anyway, but this time of lock-down is a test in sustainability. What do we really need to live?

I’ve been learning some new tunes, including some of Tommy Peoples compositions – thanks Ken for the copy of Tommy’s book. Here’s ‘The Fairest Rose’. I learnt this in 2006 during Tommy’s class at the Willie Clancy Summer School. It is still a work in progress.

Emotionally there was the initial thought that ‘weren’t the school closures very sudden and a bit drastic’? How would lock-down work on our comparatively small island? Things in those first few days still looked the same, but the feeling in the air could be described as apocalyptic sci-fi.  A couple of days later came the shock realisation; people are getting really sick and many are dying. Our health service is under pressure on a normal day, so how is it going to cope with a pandemic which is growing exponentially? I quickly understood that we need to play our part, however small, to follow restrictions and limit the number of cases that our exceptional and already over-worked healthcare workers have to deal with. Going shopping for groceries has become a mission to be planned like never before, and the big supermarkets are a bit of a minefield involving social-distancing logistics which others sometimes don’t adhere to, and high levels of stress. The idea of making a trip like this on my own makes me a little uncomfortable.  This is somewhat ironic, when there have been times when I’ve wanted nothing more than to escape my immediate surroundings.

Here’s a clip of me playing some polkas. Excuse the lateness of the hour, the wood-gathering clothes from earlier in the day, and the Coronavirus hair style! I recorded this in memory of Maurice O’Keeffe, whose festival I would have been at this past Easter. The tune names I have for the first two are Bill the Weaver’s (one of them) and The Glountane Monument polka (one of two). The third is from Martín O’Connor’s first album.

Economically, many of us have been unable to work at all. Even as the first stage of restrictions lift on May 18, many will still not be able to. Some friends who work in the arts and the hospitality industry wonder if they will have to find different types of work in the meantime, and have started planning. This is of course difficult, when you realise that thousands of people are in the same situation. I really miss playing music sessions, hosting guests and students and teaching in person! I have been very lucky in so far as some of my regular students switched over to online lessons and I have been able to work on a part-time basis. Thank you to my students!  Until recently, it felt like talking about work or financial survival would be insensitive, considering so many others were fighting to survive at all. However, We – the able (touch wood) – need to be able to survive ourselves in order to look after and care for those who need it most. Neither are emergency payments from the government sustainable in the long-term. What with music being such an irrepressible form of expression, I’m looking forward to working face-to-face as soon as it is safe to do so. After the 18^th, all going to plan, we will be able to have socially-distanced gatherings of up to four people outside. I am anticipating classes and sessions here at the farm, facilitated by this most beautiful weather we’ve been having. August is suggested as the month when some of the cultural things may be able to start happening again. I post below an Irish Times article by John G. O’Dwyer written in early March. It is about activity holidays in Ireland and features Burren Fiddle Holidays. I initially felt I couldn’t post this, but I share it now as something to look forward to when we have a better understanding of the virus and how to manage it:

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/learn-at-your-leisure-on-an-activity-holiday-in-ireland-1.4179705

I leave you, hoping that you are all safe and well, and sending my thoughts to those of you who have suffered under the effects of the pandemic. For anyone who is in need of distraction and has always wanted to learn fiddle, or would like to improve and take a few online lessons, please do get in touch through the contact page or email info@burrenfiddleholidays.com directly. I would be delighted to hear from you.

With Best Wishes,

Laura at Burren Fiddle Holidays

Happy 2020 from Burren Fiddle Holidays!

Looking forward to meeting you this year and playing lots of music!

2019 was a busy and diverse year here at Burren Fiddle Holidays. Here are some of the highlights:

The music year began with a brisk dusting-off of the cobwebs in February. January’s working and reflecting on music at home transitioned into some teaching work with children who are learning traditional music locally in Ennis. This was for Music Generation, a national Irish music education programme with the excellent mission of providing accessible and affordable music education in all genres to kids and young people. It is great as always to work with kids, to see the potential in each of them, to facilitate development of skills and inspire love of music wherever possible.

March brought the annual Corofin Festival – two miles from home – which thankfully last year was not threatened by the snowy ‘Beast from the East’. I had the pleasure of hearing some great musicians up from Waterford playing with some who are based more locally. On Sunday a blast of Kilfenora music followed, the likes of which is not so often heard these days.  

During the Corofin festival and also later in the year, I was happy to be able to facilitate classes in other instruments – namely guitar and accordion –  as well as teaching fiddle. For the first time there were two classes running simultaneously at the house and how lovely it was to catch strains of other musical creativity happening in between the fiddle music. If you’re a fiddle player looking for classes and your friend or partner is looking for classes in another instrument, do enquire. Even if you’re not a fiddle player and are interested in staying, or are just passing through the area, send a message and I’ll see what can be organised.

June brought the end of the spring teaching-term for some of my younger local students who I teach regularly. If you head over to the Burren Fiddle Holidays Facebook page and click on videos, you’ll see a video of us playing together in Cruises pub, Ennis. Thank you Eoin O’Neill for letting us join the session! It was much appreciated and it was really important as it was the first experience of session playing for the students.

As this blog increases in size, I realise I cannot begin to mention all the many great sessions I participated in or led last year, not to mention the festivals. Here are a few photos, however, to give a flavour of the season.

Sending a big thank you to all of the fiddle-holiday students who came for both introductory and in-depth tuition and who stayed in the farmhouse in 2019. It is always a pleasure to share what music I can, to learn of the traditional music scene in other places and to widen connections in the trad music world.

Laura

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Greetings from Burren Fiddle Holidays!

The summer busyness continued into October and I’d like to thank those who came on Fiddle Holidays this year, in particular Diane, Ally, Michelle and Mattias. I hope to see you all again in 2019!

Festivals attended included Cruinniú na mBád (August), a musical wooden boat festival in Kinvara, Co. Galway. Also more recently The Pádraig O’Keeffe Festival (October bank holiday) and The Ennis Trad Festival (November). All of which were deserving of posts in their own right – I’ve should write more often!

Some news I’ve been meaning to share for ages is that the summer brought a new viola to the instrument collection, woohoo! I got it from Kate Thompson of Wild Goat Fiddles, Kinvara. It’s a hand-finished Chinese instrument, setup by Kate at her workshop. It was relatively inexpensive and yet it has a lovely sound and is lovely to play! I was so happy when I got it. My friend brought it to my gig, so it was there that I  got my first chance to play it for any length of time, and I couldn’t stop smiling. When I got home I played it until 2am. At the bottom of this post there’s a video of me playing a reel ‘The Watchmaker’ on the viola, inspired by the fiddle player John Weir, who I’ve heard playing it in G minor lately. I think it’s a great tune and I like it in that key.

Some less-exciting news which is also worth mentioning is that I got a new webcam. This greatly improves the video and sound quality when I’m giving Skype Lessons. The Watchmaker video was recorded using said Webcam, as I attempted to practice, test equipment and create new blog content all at once. The result is a slightly-scowling expression, the odd careless note and by the time I got everything kind-of-okay it was dark outside! The microphone input level is quite low to allow for the volume and depth of the viola sound. For the next video I will try raising the level and sitting slightly further away. I initially recorded in a quality which was too high and when I uploaded to Youtube the video corrupted; half the quality again also had the same problem. The result below is now so compressed that the video doesn’t do justice to the webcam quality at all. I include a Webcam screenshot of one of the higher quality videos for reference. P.S. I do smile sometimes, especially when not struggling with technology, and Santa is bringing me a viola shoulder rest.

Burren Fiddle Holidays is now accepting reservations for music-filled holidays in 2019. If you’d like a musical stocking-filler for yourself or a loved one please get in touch! I hope you all have a lovely festive season, filled with plenty of tunes in good company –

Laura

P.P.S: Here is the link to Wild Goat Fiddles; http://irish-music.net/wild-goat-fiddles.htm . If you’re looking for a fiddle, viola and/or bow, I would highly recommend a trip to Kate’s workshop.

It’s been a busy few weeks here at Burren Fiddle Holidays, I count only 5 nights in the last 21 which weren’t filled with music! Between the Willie Clancy Week, The Munster Fleadh in Ennis and new summer sessions springing up all over the place, we have been absolutely spoiled for choice. Add a few gigs and some teaching as well and it is complete immersion.

This post should really be dedicated to the Willie Clancy Week, which has always been my favourite festival (if I had to choose…). I have been every year since I was 14 years old and it is a habit I hope never to have to break. This year I had a friend and fiddle student staying, she was attending the fiddle classes at the summer school, and we would often meet afterwards for an update and some tunes in Miltown. I myself remember attending classes over 5 years, always with different and diverse teachers. I love to hear about people’s experiences and the different styles and ways of teaching fiddle, especially relevant now that I am teaching myself.

I know most nooks and crannies in the town where one might find music from early afternoon to late into the night, except for

some very fancy smoking areas, which have appeared or been expanded on significantly since the advent of the smoking ban! So, to these places I went, and found many a good session over the time I was there; from Tuesday to Saturday. It is great to be in a living tradition where you are part of a continuous cycle; to know you are playing the music of past generations and in doing so to transcend time for a few moments or hours. In this regard special mention should go to a street session I had the privilege of joining on Tuesday, led by Antóin MacGabhann, Seamus Sands, Mick Mulcahy, James Keane and James Kelly, and later joined by Antóin’s daughters Bernadette and Caitlín (to name but a few). Playing outside in Ireland is usually on the cooler side, but our weather these past few weeks has been so amazing that I played from 9pm until after midnight with no mention of temperature. Antóin has been playing and championing outside sessions for many years and I admire his passion for sharing his music and spirit with others in this way. I leave you with an on-street recording of Antóin and Seamus recorded in Miltown by a 14-year-old me. I always admired the sweetness and sensitivity of this playing and the subtle but unrelenting rhythm.

Farrell O’Gara/The Providence Reel – Antóin MacGabhann and Seamus Sands

I became friends with Sasha Hsuczyk whilst studying at UL and, it being five years since I’d seen her, I’d been looking forward to re-living our college days. ‘Any interest in going to Kerry?’, she asked. ‘Sure’, I said. ‘Why not?’

I remembered the last time I had been to the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area) for Scoil Cheoil an Earraigh, the spring music school organised by the famous Begley family. On that occasion, I was delighted to spend half an hour speaking Irish. Thanks to Joe from Macroom, who listened patiently and didn’t mind the mistakes. It’s great to find someone who is encouraging when it comes to speaking a language which is not native to you, and no longer widely spoken. In particular, I remember a gorgeous, quiet Sunday afternoon session. Played completely in E-flat, the musicians were Conor Byrne, Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh and Carol Lieder. Giving more concern to finding a place to stay the night and being without transport at the time, I didn’t get to explore the area. I remembered my last look at a winding road down to the sea and knew I wanted to go back sometime.

Fast-forward to 2018. We had an international session on the Saturday night; tunes with Sasha (California and Pennsylvania), Anton Zille (Moscow), Caitríona Moskovskova (Moscow), Donal Cullinane (Kerry/Dublin) and Cathy Cook (west Cork). Specifically, we played  Sliabh Luachra tunes, and more specifically, the tunes of legendary fiddle-player Denis Murphy. Distance is no obstacle when it comes to the research Anton has done into Denis’ music! On Sunday I had some free time for a scenic drive and found Clogher beach just as the sun was getting low in the sky. I took the Slea Head route from Drumquin to Ventry, which looks out over the now-deserted Blasket Islands. This route was at times terrifying (rocky cliff to my left, and a sheer drop to the ocean on my right!) but always stunning. From there I made it to Ventry and back to Ballyferriter, where the Begley’s held court for a final evening of tunes for the sets (set dancing) and of general madness. A lady from South Korea sang amazingly in both Korean and Irish, whist Brendan Begley sang a song of emigration – ‘little did she know as she stepped on that liner (…that she would never return to Kerry)’