Year 2 Swinging Strings at Ennis NS

We are delighted to announce that the Board of Management and Principal Mr. McInerney have decided to continue the Swinging Strings programme with all incoming 4th class students commencing  in early September . The project will again be coordinated by Fíona de Buitléir


Attention- 4th class students !   Have a good look at  this site  to get an idea of what is in store in the classes ahead.






***NEW for September2011*** 


It is planned to offer an optional after school orchestra class. The class will be open to any 5th class student who would like to continue learning a string instrument.  Places will be limited . Further details will be made available in early September.  Send  an email to cdstringschool@gmail.com if you wish to pe placed on an mailing list for updates. 
Cathy Desmond BA HDip LTCL

Music Education in Ennis

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC TUITION LOCAL PROVIDERS.

There are many opportunities to access instrumental tuition locally.  Some of the main providers are listed here.

Stringschool   Cathy Desmond.    * Announcing  New for 2011

After school group  tuition programme in violin /cello  at Ennis NS for 5^th and 6^th  class students .  Application form will be issued in  first week of school term

email  cdstringschool@gmail.com    to reserve a place  and for further information

website   http://www.swingingstrings.blogspot.com/

Ennis Brass Band offer free tuition and instrument loan  in return for regular commitment. Classes run on Thursday evenings in Band Room at Ennis Community College.   www.ennisbrassband.com 

Traditional fiddle classes  run on Thursdays and Saturdays  at Cois na hAbhna  with Trish Clarke and Brendan Larissey

 http://www.coisnahabhna.ie/    for more details

Summer Music in Galway   Youth Opera Programme offered in Ennis for three week period beginning 25^th July for children of all ages who enjoy singing www.summermusicingalway.com

Custy’s Music offer tuition in traditional Irish instruments  in small groups at their town centre premises.  www.custysmusic.com  Good information point for sourcing local teachers.  

Clare Music Makers   Bank Place  Tuition in many instruments . Tuition  is mostly on a one to one basis  and a range of ensembles are offered.

 Email  claremusicmakers@eircom.net

Maoin Cheoil an

Chláir  College Rd.

Tuition in range of instruments  including some traditional instruments.  Tuition on one to one basis. http://www.maoincheoil.com/

Ennis Guitar School Mike Varden  offers  individual and group tuition at the premises in Elevation Park Business School and in many schools including Ennis NS www.ennisguitarschool.com

Swinging Strings Violin Teaching Project Completes Year 1 With Performance

Information note for parents;
The in school violin  programme has concluded for this academic year.   We are very pleased with the students' progress over the course of the programme .  It is proposed to offer an after school orchestra programme next year for students who would like to pursue study of a stringed instrument further and  details will be available shortly. There are many good local instrumental tuition providers available locally and I will be issuing a guide to what is available in the next few weeks.

Should you wish to purchase an instrument, I recommend the Stentor Student 1 available from local supplier Custy's Music Store , Most students will be ready for a 3/4  size at this stage  with taller students ready for a full size instrument. Mention you are a student of the programme.

I wish to acknowledge the  excellent work of  Fiona de Buitleir in coordinating this project, Ray McInerney and Tom Glynn for their support and encouragement.   The enthusiasm with which teachers Dara Blake, Liz Spring , Eamonn Corry  and support staff Deirdre Larkin engaged in the project was crucial to engendering similar enthusiasm in their students. I enjoyed working with the students and their teachers very much and look forward to the next stage.

Sincere thanks to you all .


Cathy Desmond  BA HDip LTCL
Director Stringschool   email cdstringschool@gmail.com

Final Graduation Concert

Mr Blake and class Ms De Buitleir and Ms Desmond

Ms Spring and class

Ms Larkin and Mr Corry

Stave and notes on ENS crest

Ms Spring with her cert and launch article

Maeve leads the ensemble

The Swinging Strings programme finished Level 1 with a performance for third class today.  The programme is printed below . Following the performance , all graduates were presented by a certificate by their teacher Ms Desmond . Lots of smiles all round  after all the hard work during the year.  

Vivaldi on G
Toreadors March
Wintertime in Russia
Athacama Crossing
Darling River Monkey
Foxtrot
Blues
We will Rock You 

Graduates  Level 1
Ms Spring 1.   Ali Flannery2.   Kayla Brigdale3.   Siofra Mc Inerney4.   Orlaith Quinn5.   Zoe Brigdale6.   Maja Socha 7.   Sarah Mulvihill 8.   Naomi Obadeyi  9. Sarah Purtill -Mc Carthy10. Karolina Fogel11. Leanne Meaney
12. Danielle McCullough 13. Estefany Carr14. Emma Guilfoyle15. Maeve Gleeson16. Levi Nlemoah 17.Patrick McInerney 18. Lee O'Loughlin 19.Bruce Pigott 20.Seán Dolan 21.Cian Gormley 22.Rían Corey
23.Stephen Kennedy 24.Gavin Flynn 25.James Costellom 26.Darren Hayes

Mr Blake, Raphael Agbaja, Raana Bennett, Jack Brennan, Patrick Bugler, Katie Clohessy. Ana Dias, Chloe Garland Conor Grogan, Gerard Kavanagh, Eliaz Kunz, Cadhla Lynch, Conor Mahoney, Molly Marshall, Sean Meere, Emmanuelle Moreira Dylan Myhill, Shauna O Beirne,  Darren O Brien, Lydia O Connell, Shauna O Dea, Ross O Flaherty, Megan O Loughlin, Bradley O Reilly, Megan O Shea, Julia Przado, Stephen Rocke, Caldwell Rynne, Cian Shannon

Mr Corry, Ms Larkin, Shawn Benson, Graham Callinan, Rhona Coghlan, Nicole Doherty Arianna Gama Aoife Gleeson, Euan Greer, Suzanna Haziri, Niamh Howard,  Aidan Jordan Shauna Kearney, Kalum Mahony O Riordan, Sean Makalimam  Aoife McMahon,  Jack McMorrough, Melissa Mongans, James Nugent, Johnny O Keefe, Tara O Shaughnessy, Nicholas Ogbuagu, Frank Roche, Melissa Shanahan, Ellen Smith, Leah Sullivan, Harry Talty, Liam Wall, Eadaqoin Walsh Harry Yeung

                 

Getting Ready for finale performance and jamming with Queen

Programme today
Vivaldi on G 
Two String Reggae
Toreadors March    (Mr Corry's favourite )
Foxtrot 
Darling River Monkey  Scale
Blues

Today we had two new visitors to our class. Ms Spring's class were joined by Ms O Connell and Mr Blake's class  were joined fiddle player Ms Foran.  Mr Mc Inerney popped in to listen  We showed both both visitors some of the steps from the last two terms . We started with some open string pizzicato tunes . Everybody liked the two string reggae   The next step was using our bows. By now lots of you  are moving to an inside bow grip  . Remember to bend your thumb.  Finally we put on the Youtube clip of We will Rock You at the top of the blog on the right  and jammed along with Queen.  Remember we have to change to the D string to play the right notes with the band . Here are the finger patterns .

NEXT WEEK Final Perfromance

A special thank you to Meghan who stayed behind during sos to help me pack up . Here she is with her Love Live Music Pencil.



We Will Rock You

D String  3      2       1      0               11
              We   will  We    will         Rock You

Visit from NCH

Mrs Carrick, Dorothy  and Mr McInerney talk to the band

Big crowd for last lunchtime concert

Today we welcomed a return visit from Dorothy Conaghan, a violin teacher all the way from the National Concert Hall Dublin  who visited us last November . She worked on the  inside bow grip .  Mr Corry's class worked on a Swedish Folk song . Here is the riff

E E E E E E E E (x8) D D D D D D D D (8) E E E E E E E E (8)  D D D D (x4)  E_ E_ ( long x2)
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1           0  0 0  0 0  0  0  0

Ms Spring's Class  worked on a Twinkle Variation to  the rhythm Down  Em Ma  Up  Em ma  

Bend your knee means changing down a string and all 3 fingers go down   (Aon Do Tri  Trasna )

Mr Blake's class worked on another variation starting on A and going on to the highest string E  This time the rhythm was  Eist liom is Eist Liom.

In the afternoon we all joined the audience for the last lunchtime concert and to cheer on  Tara and Ariadne, Shauna, Shauna, Rana  Sarah and Aoife  who volunteered to play violin .

In the afternoon we worked on the Swedish Folk Song with the band .

Elephant Alligator Donkey Goat

Leah on Bass at Shannon Airport Bands Spectacular

The  moving team




Mentoring Team Mr Corry's class with their Love Live Music Pencils

 

This might seem a strange title  for our post this week but this helps us to remember the notes of the open strings on double bass

Here is the bass notes for the tango La Cumparsita

D z z z D z z z                 Gm z z z G z z z  D z z z D z z z  Gm  z z z G z z z  

Cm/G z z z  Cm/G z z z   Gm z z z G z z z  D z z z D z z z  G z z z G z z z

We learned how a chord is made up

C  E  G    The chord of C has 3 notes with C on the bottom

The play list today was

Chopsticks           Triplets
Athacama Crossing
Macchu Piccu Mountain
Wintertime in Russia


We worked on our Echo Twinkle with boys against girls . Some people were really good at this especially Shauna in Mr Blake's class who played  the whole tune solo for the class. Bravo Shauna !

Frank tries out the Stringschool Double Bass

Leaders today were Ellen, Cian. Stephen and Elias Leah and Lee helped demonstrate the open double bass strings and Conor in Mr Blake's class and Shauna in Mr Corry assisted at the piano Bravo tutti ! Thanks too to Naomi for help in setting up