It is not even 10pm yet and I am exhausted! I just got in to my dorm (which is blissfully quiet) from practicing outside in the last of dusk, plugged into my digital recorder. This poor little device has been working incredibly hard today and has everything I learned in the first three hours of flute and whistle classes today, as well as almost an hour of music from a beautiful song swap this afternoon.
In Nuala Kennedy's Intermediate/Advanced Flute class, we are learning a set consisting of Jean Mauchline (jig), Cutty's Wedding (strathspeye), Malts on the Optics (reel), and Tune for Maura (reel). The last two of these are relatively new to the Celtic repertoire, written respectively by Hamish Moore and Cathal McConnell. I am feeling a little in over my head with the playing by ear, but twelve hours later I am surprised at how much I remember after hearing so many other tunes all day. I can remember most of the first three tunes, disregarding ornaments because that is a whole different blog post!
Kathleen Conneely takes a slightly different approach in Intermediate/Advanced Tinwhistle, passing out A-B-C notation sheets for us to use as reference in learning the tune - which today was Strike the Gay Harp, a song that I have actually played before with Ethan from one of those old collections sold in Colonial Williamsburg. I'm really looking forward to taking this one home and adding in some of the cool slides we learned today!
I have a lot more to say about all the people I've been meeting, the other two classes I took today (including dancing!), and some of the performances, but I will get into some of that tomorrow.
Tonight I was feeling a little icky during the staff performance and decided to come home a little early, listen through some of my recordings, and continue to rehydrate my body. I've downed several bottles of Gatorade and water, eaten the blandest of healthy foods, and restricted myself from alcohol and regular coffee (but I will admit I had a cup or two of decaf - an introvert needs all the help she can get). Listening to my body, I heard that it was time to go quiet down, take some me time, and rest. I'm still not up to 100%, but I am just so glad to be here and taking part in all this wonderful activity!
In Nuala Kennedy's Intermediate/Advanced Flute class, we are learning a set consisting of Jean Mauchline (jig), Cutty's Wedding (strathspeye), Malts on the Optics (reel), and Tune for Maura (reel). The last two of these are relatively new to the Celtic repertoire, written respectively by Hamish Moore and Cathal McConnell. I am feeling a little in over my head with the playing by ear, but twelve hours later I am surprised at how much I remember after hearing so many other tunes all day. I can remember most of the first three tunes, disregarding ornaments because that is a whole different blog post!
Kathleen Conneely takes a slightly different approach in Intermediate/Advanced Tinwhistle, passing out A-B-C notation sheets for us to use as reference in learning the tune - which today was Strike the Gay Harp, a song that I have actually played before with Ethan from one of those old collections sold in Colonial Williamsburg. I'm really looking forward to taking this one home and adding in some of the cool slides we learned today!
I have a lot more to say about all the people I've been meeting, the other two classes I took today (including dancing!), and some of the performances, but I will get into some of that tomorrow.
Tonight I was feeling a little icky during the staff performance and decided to come home a little early, listen through some of my recordings, and continue to rehydrate my body. I've downed several bottles of Gatorade and water, eaten the blandest of healthy foods, and restricted myself from alcohol and regular coffee (but I will admit I had a cup or two of decaf - an introvert needs all the help she can get). Listening to my body, I heard that it was time to go quiet down, take some me time, and rest. I'm still not up to 100%, but I am just so glad to be here and taking part in all this wonderful activity!
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