Celtic News!

We've just finished our big March rush with seven performances in just over a week! Nothing against any of the other gigs which we absolutely enjoyed, but everyone especially loved the evening performance at Victor Intermediate School. There's something about having a crowd in the hundreds and being asked for your autograph afterward...

Tomorrow we begin a new era with our program as we start a second group, gearing up for next year, while the current group continues. This is far from "Celtic Junior" as we had a few years ago... rather, we are preparing to hit the ground running next year and I believe that the two groups--Celtic Senior and Celtic-of-the-Future (insert SciFi sound effect)--will be evenly matched by the end of this school year...

Special thanks to The Irish Musicians Association of Rochester, who wanted to do something special for the kids in appreciation of our partnership in bringing Teada here in December; we all went to the Cheesecake Factory for a well-deserved feast to celebrate the end of March!

Our YouTube and MySpace pages are up and running, and we now have recordings of newly introduced music on the website for students to practice with and learn from.

The latest news in Celtic

There are several updates to the Celtic website, including some new embedded video from our new YouTube channel. If you have any video of performances, please let me know!

We've received notice that the Celtic Music Society website sits first on the "music" list of Irish cultural resources assembled by BestUniversity.com, a resource for online learning and degrees.

We now have a number of events scheduled for March... the calendar is available here.

Finally, congratulations to our wonderful friend Jayne Pomplas, who has (again) been invited to perform with The Chieftains!

Celtic collects money for family in need

At the Irish Christmas in America concert on December 13, we raised and donated $135 for the Smith Family, who had three children injured in an accident on their way to school. All three children are now out of the hospital and continue to recover. Below is information on the Smith Family Fund, taken from www.erschools.org.

DISTRICT REACHING OUT TO FAMILY AFFECTED BY ACCIDENT;THIRD SIBLING HOME FROM HOSPITAL (updated 12-18-08)
Students, teachers, and staff in the East Rochester School District are doing all they can to make sure the family of three siblings hit by a school bus recently know that many thoughts are with them.
The students' classmates have made get-well cards and other items, which were delivered directly to the family.
In addition, the village of ER, with the help of school resource officer Scott Montcrieff, has set up a fund for the family's medical and other expenses and needs.
Second-grader Malik H. was released from Strong Memorial Hospital Tuesday, Dec. 16; his sister, fourth-grader Monefay, and brother, seventh-grader Akeem, were treated and released the afternoon of the incident. The accident happened as the children, along with a fourth sibling who wasn't injured, were being escorted through a crosswalk by a crossing guard on their way to school.
Those wishing to contribute to the fund can send donations to the Village of East Rochester Smith Family Fund, c/o the village of East Rochester, 120 W. Commercial St., East Rochester, N.Y. 14445. Checks must be made out to "Village of East Rochester Smith Family Fund."

Irish Christmas in America at ERHS

It was another great night last night as we welcomed the tour Irish Christmas in America, featuring Teada and Karan Casey. They did not disappoint... Teada was in top form and Karan's voice was every bit as sweet as it is on her many recordings. There were several great sets of quick reels and jigs, but for me the highlights were Karan singing The Parting Glass and the encore of her singing Silent Night in Gaelic.



For our opening set we welcomed guest musicians Jayne Pomplas (fiddle), Kevin Crouch (bouzouki), and Ted McGraw (accordion), and it was also the first performance for three new 8th graders, Austin, Alyssa, and Brittney, who look like the future of this group. Our set: 1) Reels: Swallowtail, The Banshee, Merry Blacksmith; 2) Jigs: Leitrim Fancy, Butlers of Glen Ave., The Tenpenny Bit; 3) Waltzes: South Wind, The Gentle Maiden; 4) Jigs: Morrison's, The Butterfly; 5) I'll Tell Me Ma, The Silver Spear. Congrats to the students on a great performance!



The show was followed by a truly great session at Timothy Patrick's with a couple of dozen musicians that went well beyond 1:00 am. (And thanks again for the sandwich, Mr. Malone!)

Special thanks to Mr. Regan who did an absolutely brilliant job with sound; Seth, who ran lighting for us; Bill Ertle, whoh got us our video and helped keep us safe while we worked on the set; and to our good friends in Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann who brought the tour to town and put the whole thing together. This is - I think - our 7th collaboration with CCE.

Hope you enjoy this video of I'll Tell Me Ma & The Silver Spear!

Spreading the gospel...

Last Wednesday was the first of a series of four Irish music workshops presented to 7th and 8th graders from across Monroe County. The workshops are part of a program know as Project ADEPT, which is run by Monroe BOCES #2 and offers enrichment and exporatory opportunitities for advanced students in grades 7 & 8. The workshops are providing an introduction to Irish Music for approximately 100 students who are learning basic playing skills and techniques, musical/cultural history, instruments, etc. The workshop is titled Celtic Music: Traditions and Techniques, and the remaining workshops are Nov. 17, 24, and December 2. We will also present a January workshop with some of our ERHS students for the fiddle club at Victor Elementary School.

Our newest addition...

It was just over a month ago that we announced the addition of a Dusty Strings lever harp to our collection of instruments...

Today our long-awaited Gold Tone IT-250 Irish tenor banjo arrived. The Irish tenor has 4 strings (instead of 5 as seen on the standard bluegrass banjo), tuned GDAE like a fiddle or mandolin, but an octave lower. It has a longer neck than the mandolin and violin, but not quite as long as the bouzouki or octave mandolin. Like all banjos, it has a drum for the body.

Our banjo has lovely mother-of-pearl inlays in a cloud design.

Be sure to check out the video of Max playing The Swallowtail Reel (which he's just learning!) on the banjo, right out of the box... mandolin skills transfer well!

Pics from ERAF Dinner

Thanks to our good friend and former Celtic mom Deb DiNatale for these shots!