Aidan fulfils lifelong musical dream

ONE Ennis man is proving it’s never too late to learn a new skill and to fulfill a dream he never previously had the time to see through.
Aidan Deegan from Cusack Road, Ennis, at the age of 73, is the oldest music student at Maoin Cheoil an Chláir. For the past two years, he has been learning the guitar under the expert tuition of Terence O’Reilly. He is currently on summer break from his classes but is due to recommence classes for the new term in the second week of September.
Terence says Aidan is an inspiration to others to follow a dream they may have to learn music.
“Many people have wanted to learn how to play an instrument all their life and for one reason or another, probably because they were too busy, they never got to do it. It’s a great choice of activity and pastime for someone who has retired,” Terence explains.
He adds that he has students coming to learn the guitar from the age of eight upwards, with Aidan currently his oldest student. He has another student who is now 65.
Aidan says he sang socially for most of his life and has been in a number of choirs, including the Forever Young Choir, as well as in the Franciscan Musical Society.
“I chose to learn the guitar so I’d have an instrument to play when singing at sing-songs. It’s something I wanted to do for a long time but I only got around to it about two years ago. I retired from my work in the finance department of Aer Rianta, Shannon in 1999. I didn’t get around to going to guitar classes for a while but finally got down to it about two years ago.
“I’m hoping to learn to play different styles but predominantly songs that I can play the guitar and sing. I’m happy with how I’m progressing,” he comments.
He says he decided to learn how to play guitar purely out of his love of music and singing.
“I always wanted to learn how to play something. As a child, I wanted to learn music but predominantly girls went to music classes and not boys. There’s only one reason I’m doing this and that’s because I want to. I’ve no intention of doing exams or focussing on theory or anything. I just want to learn how to play the guitar. I practise a lot at home. I haven’t played for anyone else yet, unless you count my dog. He hasn’t run out of the room yet,” Aidan says.
He continues, “I find it’s great mental therapy to go into a room on my own and strum away. It’s also a challenge for me, which is important at my age because it keeps my mind active to focus on something.
“For me, guitar is the ideal instrument because it’s flexible and I can bring it around with me. I’m learning specific songs and generally I come to my classes with Terence with a song that I enjoy singing that I want to learn how to play. I’m mastering about two songs a week now, which I’m delighted about. I wish I’d done it sooner and I absolutely intend to keep it up. I couldn’t see myself taking up another instrument. I’ll concentrate on the guitar.”
Terence adds that if all of his students were as enthusiastic as Aidan, he’d be very happy.
“Aidan should be an inspiration to others. There are many out there who would love to learn an instrument but think that they’re past it now. Seriously, there’s no such thing as being too old to learn a new skill or specifically to learn how to play music. The same approach applies regardless of the age of the student. How well a student does at an instrument depends on how much practise they put in.
“It is brilliant teaching a person of Aidan’s age because they are genuinely enthusiastic about learning. They are also very willing to ask questions and are easy to work with. I’d love to have more people of Aidan’s age coming to classes,” he says.
He notes the guitar is a very sociable instrument and that’s what makes it popular for people.
“The other thing about guitar playing is that you don’t actually need to have that many chords to play. The likes of Christy Moore, for example, would probably only have about 12 chords but he can play so much. A fairly regular song would involve only about five chords.
“Aidan is picking up plenty of chords now and is able to learn more and more songs because of that. I usually start off with my students with finger style. With Aidan now, we’re concentrating on strumming.”
Terence adds guitars used to be quite expensive and not particularly good quality but nowadays the quality is much better and a good start-off guitar would cost about €150.
Aidan maintains that he’s lucky to have such a good teacher. “He’s very patient with me and knows exactly what I want to get out of learning to play the guitar, which is key to me enjoying learning,” he says.
Terence has extensive music experience, not only as a teacher, having travelled worldwide as tour manager with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and played in a number of traditional groups, including James Kelly. He was also in a band called Jabber Wocky with Austin Durack.
“We played two songs on The Late Late Show in 1976. Since then, I’ve done a number of television appearances mainly abroad but also on TG4,” he recalls.
Terence started teaching in Maoin Cheoil an Chláir about five years ago. Anyone interested in finding out about learning music at Maoin Cheoil an Chláir should contact 065 6841774.