The 'Nash' Ensembles On the Ground at Shannon

Pic courtesy Shannon_Airport via twitter 

Mr Corry's Group

The weather outside was frightful but inside was quite delightful as for a third year in a row , the 80 plus 4th class participants in the Swinging Strings programme headed to the wide expanses of the departure lounge of Shannon Airport for a performance extravaganza . This year it was an exclusively  Nash Event  we joined the choir under Ms Carrigg and the band under Ms de Buitleir for a variety show of song , dance and instrumental items making a combined corps of  160 students, guests and teachers

Our special guests were tenor,  Mr Tony Murray and star of the stage Mr Ken O Shaughnessy who narrated our special retelling of the Three Little Pigs complete with startling sound effects on strings by Ms McMahon's 4th class. MrWalsh's group doubled up on percussion to give an extra oomph to Mr Corry's class rendition  of our string samba.

Narrator Mr O Shaughnessy with Ms McMahon's 4th Class

Mr Walsh

Students loved these cool fridge magnets 

Two Tenors 

After the show, there was a fab  lunch  for everyone upstairs at the Limestone Café  and going home a goody bag for everyone.  We sang all the way there and back . Thanks to Dorothy Quinn and  all at Shannon Airport  for their warm  welcome and hospitality. We had a wonderful and memorable day!



ps This is our third year to return to this wonderful venue as part of our inclusive music endeavour.   Every student at ENS from 4th 5th and 6th class has now participated at this event . You can read my reports from the 2012 and 2011 events here by clicking on the dates.  You can hear some voices from the day on the audioboos below.

Play On Group

Ms McMahon's Group with Suzie 

Mr Walsh's 4th Class

4th Class Mr Wals

BRAVO TUTTI!!

How do you get to Shannon Airport. Practice. Practice Practice ! 

Swinging Strings Programme

Mr Walsh             Scale on D  Joanne  Martin       
                              Twinkle Twinkle   
                              Foxtrot   Peter Martin 
                              Open string riffs Barn Dance Michael Row the Boat Marines' Hymn

Ms McMahon     Three Little Pigs  Sounde Effects including Blues  Peter Martin
                             Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 
                             Riffs Mo Gile Mear, Can Can and Waltzing Mathilde  Tremelo on Goodbye

Mr Corry              Beguine  (Peter  Martin)    with auxiliary percussion from 4th class Mr Walsh
                              Ireland's Call and Amran na bhFiann      
                             You'll Never Walk Alone  Tremelo D 

r 

Real pros Waiting patiently to start.

Smiley Faces on Bus Home

listen to ‘Ens on tour’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Bus home airport’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Tenor Tony Murray  ’ on Audioboo

FlashMob Final Day Fun

Flashmob Fun 1 Ms McMahons class at Cathedral

Well ! What an exciting and energetic day we had today as the beginners module of Swinging Strings programme came to a close for this year . There is nothing like live music so we took our newly acquired strings skills on to the streets of Ennis  to add to the soundscape  and the busking scene of the Clare county town today.

Venue 1 Ms McMahon and class took up their positions outside the Cathedral . There was lots of room and we loved the square paving stones . Among the audience was Fiona Walsh of Ennis Gospel Choir  and her lovely little dog .

Venue 2 The rain held off as Mr Blake and his class took up position in Barrack Street outside The Gourmet Store. The accoustics were very good here and Anne and David the proprietors gave us a warm welcome. Ger Loughnane was among the passers by at this spot.

Venue 3 Finally, Mr Corry and his class made their way to the Temple Gate .  All the windows opened to hear our set as an American  tour group had just checked in . A serenade under their window was not quite what they were expecting! 

Cornet Player  A Going Home Fanfare 

Our programme 

Foxtrot 

Blues 

Twinkle 

Ireland's Call

Classical Twist with Vladimir at Glór Schools' performance

Thanks Ms de Buitleir for this piece from the school website www.ennisns.ie

Thanks 

Attentive young violinists

Classical Twist' @ Glór

Monday, 30 April 2012 12:58

Ennis N.S. band, along with all the 4th classes ‘Swinging Strings’ pupils, went to Glór last week for Vladimir Jablokov’s “Classical Twist” performance. Virtuoso violinist Vladimir comes from four generations of professional musicians in Bratislava.  Question time  Vladimir with fellow Slovakian John and friend Damien.  He arrived in Ireland in 2004 without a word of English and began busking in Grafton Street. He went on to form the Slovak Dulcimer Ensemble and eventually the Slovak Festival Orchestra. They have since played everywhere from Áras an Uachtaráin to the National Concert Hall to Carnegie Hall in New York. More questions  Vladimir developed the Classical Twist – classical pieces with a modern twist – concept in 2010, and has been delighting both school audiences and general audiences all over the country with it since. Our pupils were very impressed with the virtuoso violin playing, and a few brave souls got up on stage to dance along with the music. Hopefully our young violinists were inspired to go home and practise like mad …

 Have a listen to the audience reaction following the concert.  
and a post performance interview 

listen to ‘Vlad’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Vladimir Jablokov’ on Audioboo

Our First Public Performance in Shannon Airport February 2011



100 violin players first public performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szsBz54ji1w



Swing Strings Blog nominated for award.

Great news. The Swinging Strings blog is nominated for an two awards in the Irish Blog Awards. We were nominated in in the Education & Science and Music Categories. The winners will be announced in March. Fingers crossed.

Final rehearsal for School Bands Spectacular

  


Well done everyone A super smooth rehearsal in the hall today . Looking good and sounding good ! 
Remember : no slumped shoulders or grumpy expressions . No Balotellis in Swinging Strings
  SMILE    IT IS GOING TO BE GREAT!

Well done to MS ODea's Class for super practice session  this week.

The expanded ensemble

Violins Up everybody

The Ennis  NS Band at rehearsal

Mr Blake's class wait patiently for their turn

http://bit.ly/fvxNMP  An Irishman's Diary Tuesday 8th February   This is a link to the piece from the newspaper the Irish Times .   What is the main  point  the writer is making?

Week 3 Getting ready to play at School Bands Spectacular

NEWSFLASH  SWINGING STRINGS INVITED TO PLAY WITH  ENNIS NS BAND AT SCHOOLS BAND SPECTACULAR AT SHANNON AIRPORT

It was a busy day today . We practiced some of the new ideas that Dorothy, our guest from the National Concert Hall,  introduced last week . Every class practiced our fingers down sequence  to Backing Tracks from Magic Carpet . Can you remember it . Here it is

Open A   //// // 1 down //// // 2 down //// // 3 down //// // 3 again //// // Lift up 3 //// // Lift up 2  //// //
 Lift up 1 //// //   THE END

We made a start on our programme for our next engagement at Shannon Airport.
Mr Corry's Class  Marines's Hymn     Down Bow Retakes on D  Line 1 ,2  and 4   GD on Line 3
Ms O Dea            Santa Lucia      pizz on D and A
Mr Blake             Marines Hymn, Santa Lucia , Mo Gile Mear, Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Bravo to Mr Francis McInerney who joined the class today and made a big contribution on double bass . Conor Grogan was our second bass player today .

Swinging Strings Debut performance at Ennis National School Hall

The Swinging Strings Violin Ensemble                

The 4^th classes at Ennis National School   in their inaugural performance at

             12 pm Wednesday 15^th December.

With director Cathy Desmond  and Ennis National School Band, director Mrs De Buitleir  and  class teachers Mr Dara Blake, Eamonn Corry and Ms. Elizabeth Spring

Programme         

Mr Corry’s Class    O Come All Ye Faithful

                                Away In A Manger   

                                Rudolph Retakes  featuring Frank on Bass

                                Leader Leah

                                 **********************************

Ms Springs Class    Toreadors March    Bizet   

                                We Will Rock You Queen  

                                Fox Trot 

                                Leader Naomi                

                              ************************************

Mr Blake’s Class     Good King Wenceslas   (quavers on  G and G’)

                                Crescendo and decrescendo tremolo

                                Finale Jingle Bells (Down Up Bells )    featuring Patrick on bass                 

                                Leader Raphael

                               *****************************************♫

The Swinging Strings programme; The aim of this project is to deliver an inclusive group music making experience through whole class participation in an instrumental music programme. It aims to widen access to the Ennis National School Band and enhance our effective delivery of the Primary School Arts Curriculum Over 80 students and their teachers are participating.

Check out the project’s dedicated website www.swingingstrings.blogspot.com which contains some great photos, regular updates  on the programme and  videos clips etc.

For further information  email;   cdstringschool@gmail.com

Acknowledgements:  Thanks to the Clare County Council Arts Office for its   support from the Artist in Residence Scheme  and to those who donated instruments including the Flanagan, McEnnis and Hobbs families, and Custy’s Music  Shop in Ennis

Well done 4th classes and Ms Spring, Mr Blake and MrCorry . Great concert today!  The house band were brilliant . Congrats to director, MsDe Buitléir 

The Swinging Strings Violin Ensemble   

Over 100 students were involved in today's performance