Announcing the 2nd Clare Fiddle Camp, taking place this August from the 17th-21st.

I can’t wait to host this!

Email info@burrenfiddleholidays.com /call 00353 (0)89 238 0373 for more info and booking

I’m delighted to announce that Burren Fiddle Holidays will be running the second Clare Fiddle Camp this August!

The dates are August 17th – 21st inclusive, and classes will run each day from 11am – 2pm in Corofin village.

The fiddle camp is aimed at intermediate to advanced players, with lots of
discussion and time given to musicality in traditional tune playing, phrasing, rhythm, style, ornamentation, bowing and melody variation.

Everyone is welcome to suggest a tune – one to work on or learn from scratch with the group, looking at all of the different aspects. It will be a positive space for learning at your own pace, taking in any ideas and suggestions that you like, trying them at the camp and also bringing them away to work on in your own time.

The camp is aimed at players who are intermediate to advanced in terms of their experience with the instrument, and have some experience with the style of music. Learning will be mostly by ear, though some notes or sheet music can be provided on request.

I am really looking forward to this already!

For further info and accommodation recommendations etc, send a message by email to info@burrenfiddleholidays.com or through the contact form here, or call/text 00353 (0)89 238 0373.

Poster to follow!

Laura at Burren Fiddle Holidays

Happy New Year from Burren Fiddle Holidays!

May the new year bring hope, kindness and solidarity in creativity.

In reflection and movement into 2026 I’ve been inspired by pieces from fellow musicians honouring their creative year just past. It’s amazing what you can experience and achieve in a year of classes, gigs, travels, new friendships and collaborations, new music and recordings.

Here I dived deeper into accompanying songs and played with Áine O’Brien on her solo set as well as with The Kilfenora Roadshow. Festivals included the Micho Russell Festival and Corofin Trad Fest, the Cuckoo Fleadh, the Willie Clancy Week, Doolin Folk Fest, and Roadshows at Féile na Sionainne and the trad tent, Electric Picnic.

Favourite memories which made the world feel small and the connections great, were dancing with local folk under moonlight in an Andalucian mountain village; learning a Sliabh Luachra polka from Roby at a festival in Hungary; meeting friends from far away at a session on Inisbofin; and filming a music and dance around the campfire sequence with a group of musicians and artists.

I really enjoyed hosting fiddle holidays and gained some more insight into different musical worlds and genres from those I worked with. I worked with the lovely students I continue to teach each week. There was also a *mention* of me recording a few fiddle tracks.

Finally Burren Fiddle Holidays hosted its first fiddle camp! Taking place over a week in August, we covered so much – ornamentation, variation and phrasing, with lots on bowing technique and style and the crossover from classical music training to traditional technique. Moving from some of the most common session tunes to more unusual reels, jigs and slip jigs, we had great fun! I hope to run this again this year with an update to come shortly – watch this space – and as always, if you’d like to ask about fiddle classes and holidays, just give a call or send over an email.

Best,

Laura

New for 2025 is Burren Fiddle Holidays first fiddle camp.

I can’t wait to host this!

Contact by email, contact form, or phone for more information and to reserve a place. The cost is €150 for the week, and some beautiful self-catering accommodation is available subject to demand.

Well 2024, that’s a wrap!

Happy New Year from Burren Fiddle Holidays !

How to describe a whole year in a short post? I always wonder this, then I open my photo album and there it is all mapped out, a wealth of music and events. This past year has been no exception, and as usual I find myself having to make a short-list. I have some new video – if a photo tells a thousand words, a video tells how many more? They’re on my music page here if you’d like to head over and check them out!

I continued to teach my regular classes online and in Corofin. Thanks as always to my lovely students who keep me inspired and working as a full-time musician. We continued on our musical journeys together with a couple of heartening online recitals and eight of us who live locally flying the fiddle-section flag at the village Christmas market complete with guitar accompaniment.

Summer came around and in between hosting some lovely fiddle-holidayers I took some time to re-calibrate after the movement of the year before. June and July are my favourite months with the long evenings full of magic and festival time and I set off, meeting some old musical friends for the first time in a long while and making some new ones. Allowing for spontaneity creates the things you could not plan and Ireland is rich in spontaneity, and generosity. In 2025 I hope to follow the same path, with some time for fiddle holidays and also a new niche ‘fiddle camp week’ for August – watch this space! I can’t wait.

In August I jumped into a band with my excellent musician friends – The Kilfenora Roadshow. We worked together and showcased the band at a couple gigs. Trad informed and (largely but not exclusively!) trad at heart we are a whole range of influences from working as a musician in this part of the world – ballads, country and Irish, folk, Americana, original songs, adaptions of poetry and lyrics from lost eras, pop, bluegrass and more. All this is on a whole range of instruments, with a brilliant dancer also. I hope we’ll see you in 2025!

That’s it from me for now. There are one or two spaces for classes and holidays remaining, so if you’d like to work on some music together, please do get in touch. In the meantime, take care.

Best,

Laura

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.