The festive, or festival, season is here

The last couple of months have been busy for the Tunes Class and it has been great to see many new players join us.  Kate Fraser's steady speed class has proved to be popular and it won't be long before we hear more of her students joining us playing in sessions.

With Christmas just about here the Tunes Class term has come to a close, the last couple of weeks having been dedicated to practicing our dance sets for the Woodford Folk Festival ceili.  Many members will be away during January, some at the the Celtic Summer School in Victoria and others at various festivals.  The Tunes Class will restart on 6th February.  Those that remain in town are sure to find a session or two around the place.

The next term will bring in a few changes.  Nicole Murray has handed over the running of the group to the members themselves with the various tasks being shared.  Kate Fraser will continue to run the Steady Tune Learning fortnightly while the intermediate group will move their emphasis towards developing skills and creating more sets.  There isn't much point in developing these skills without putting them to good use so plans are afoot to run more ceilidhs throughout the year, including one during the Maleny Celtic Winter School of course. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody, keep those tunes coming!  We look forward to seeing all the regulars, and hopefully some new faces, on the 6th.

Kate's classes-
February 6th, 20th, March 6th, 27th (change of date due to Alasdair Fraser concert).

New Slow Tunes Programme

Maleny Tunes Class continues to develop and nurture community music. This week, fiddler Kate Fraser offered to formalise the beginners' class a little more, in addition to the patient work of Tania Owens, by running a series of programmed nights where you can be sure there will definitely be a beginners' class. Pop them into your diary, come along and really make some progress!

Kate will work on tunes over several weeks, giving you a good chance to work on them, and the repertoire will be selected from tunes the intermediate class is playing. The aim is to create a wider community of players who share each other's tunes.

Kate has also started a moderately paced session every second Sunday at the Maleny Hotel. Its on early in the afternoon, so you can still head on over to Finbar's at 4 for the session there too!

Kate's Dates (Slow speed beginners' class):

September 5th & 19th

October 3rd & 17th

November 14th & 21st

December 5th & 19th

See you there!

Nicole

The Maids of Mitchelstown

Last night we learned a lovely slow reel, The Maids of Mitchelstown. There is a slow practice version in the sidebar to the right for playing along with. To hear the fabulous arrangement by the Bothy Band, look for them on youtube, or have a look at this link where the tune has been used to accompany some random pictures of knights in shining armour....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4iPD6Epl4w

We also revised The Leprechaun, a tune Steve taught and which we are combining with The Kesh and Biddy the Bold Wife for a new céili set. For those who asked, here is a basic version of the dots.

Next week Nicole will run Tunes from the Vault, so send her the tunes you would like to revise. If there is the demand, Tania will run a slow class too.

Tunes Class Cranks Up Again!

Tonight is the first Maleny Tunes Class for 2012. There will be carrot cake and a slow reel!

This Wednesday, 1 February, 7pm - 9pm, we're back with our friendly combination of Irish tunes and supper. Bring your instrument, learn tunes by ear, and join in a growing community of musicians enjoying tunes together.

This year the class will be taught by class founder Nicole Murray, with excellent local musicians Steve Cook, Jeremy Dunlop and Tania Owens, to cater for slower players as well as more experienced players.

This week, Feb 1, Nicole will be starting up the year with a new tune, taught at quite a slow pace with lots of repetition of phrases. After supper we'll speed our new tune up a bit, and play a couple of tunes we've done before.

On Feb 8, Nicole will run Tunes From the Vault, where we revise tunes that have previously been taught. We'll work in longer phrases, still with repetition, and Tania will be available to work with slower players and those who have never met the tunes before.

Jeremy will teach a new tune on Feb 15, at a slow pace, with lots of repetition. After supper the tune will go a bit faster and he might visit a couple of other tunes too.

And on Feb 22, Steve will run the Ceili practice. This is a chance to put the tunes together into sets suitable for playing in sessions and for dancing. Steve will move a bit faster, but Tania will be available to coach slower players before supper.

There are 5 Wednesdays this February, so Nicole will finish the month with Tunes From the Vault.

Our planning has moved as far as March! So in March:

7 March - Nicole teaches a new tune.

14 March - Nicole visits Tunes from the Vault, with Tania helping out slower players

21 March - Jem teaches a new tune.

28 March - Steve runs Ceili practice, with Tania coaching slow players before supper.

The cost of tuition has not changed, its still $12 per class including supper. Please invite your musical friends who would like to play Irish tunes to come to the class. Its a tunes class, rather than an instrument class, so they will need to be able to play a few tunes on their instrument and know the names of the notes to get the most out of the class.

All of the teachers may be available for private and small group lessons if you and your friends would like to improve on your instrument.

See you on Wednesday!

Cheers,

Nicole