Wow, it's a long time since we updated this blog but that doesn't mean we've been idle .With most of the tunes class up to speed for playing at dances the Maleny Tunes Class and the Maleny Ceili Band are now a single entity. Dozens of new tunes were learned during the second half of 2013 and several of those, and some older tunes, were combined to create new dance sets. These were put to good use at several events - Maleny Celtic Winter School, Maleny Wood Expo, the reopening of Maleny Community Centre, Mooloola 150th Anniversary, Maleny Music Weekend, a street performance for Maleny Christmas street party, and culminating in playing for the Irish ceili at Woodford Folk Festival.
This year is off to a fine start with a similar format to last year - Steve Cook conducting most classes with Jem Dunlop joining us from time to time sharing some of his great tune collection. We are excited to be trying something new - Maleny legend Cath Ovenden, winner of a 2014 Golden Guitar award for her Tunes of Joe Yates album, is teaching us a swag of traditional Australian tunes which she has collected from isolated communities for over thirty years. Cath will be presenting some of them in concert in May with our ceili band backing her.
No player of Irish tunes would miss St Patrick's Day so we will be fully immersed in the music at Finbar's 15th to 17th March. From 2pm to 7pm on Saturday and Sunday the session players will be exploring every tune they can think of, then sitting back for the evenings to enjoy the bands Buckley's Chance and Barleyshakes. There may even be another session on Monday evening. It's always good craic at Finbar's so come along.
Our Wednesday classes continue, occasionally adding additional workshops such as guitar accompaniment. Each Sunday from about 5pm you'll find many of us playing at Finbar's and on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month there is a session at Maleny Hotel from 1pm until about 4pm. New members are always welcome at the classes and sessions. The Maleny Celtic Winter School will be held on 11th to 13th of July this year providing a weekend of solid tuition. Why not start now and reap the full benefit at the Winter School.
