Maoin Cheoil an Chláir returns home

ONE of the coldest winters in living memory wreaked destruction around Clare and one of its effects was to force Maoin Cheoil an Chláir out of their home at Erasmus Smith House in Ennis.
Thankfully, now some nine months after the music school was forced to relocate, they are moving back in and this Saturday will see an open day at Maoin Cheoil.
Pat O’Connor and Terence O’Reilly are teachers at the school and Terence says they got the news during their time off. “We closed at Christmas for the holidays and then, of course, nobody expected it to be as cold as it was. Then we got a text saying there was no school to come back to.”
Pat says there was very serious damage. “The pipes burst up at the very top of the building and came all the way down. It went right down to the basements. There are new carpets now and it’s been painted. It was very bad altogether. Some of the plaster was coming off the walls and there are new ceilings gone in.”
They were lucky enough to be able to move into a building adjacent to their base but there had been a lot of concern for the future of the school. “For a while it looked like the whole thing was going to fold, nobody knew where they were going and where they were going to go and if they could get a building that was going to be suitable. Next thing, the building came through and it saved it,” says Pat.
Pat teaches traditional fiddle, while Terence teaches traditional guitar and ukulele. The school was opened by President Mary Robinson in 1994 and Terence says it offers more than one option to students.
“It’s a great school. This is kind of the home of music in Clare. If you’re in Limerick and you want to study music you have a school of music to go to and this would be the equivalent in Clare. The great thing about it is that you have the classical and the traditional and that’s unique. In that sense, it’s ahead of most schools.”
The school is open from Monday to Saturday now, with people receiving tuition from about noon to 10pm. There are around 20 teachers, each of whom have varying numbers of students. Terence says they come from different age groups. “My oldest student is 74 and my youngest in 10.”
Students usually take classes on their own but can learn in groups. “Most people would learn one to one. It depends on the person really. I think one to one is best in a way because if there’s something in your playing that needs working on, it’s hard to do it very well in a group. But on the other hand, if you have groups, the people in them can spur each other on. There are different needs,” says Pat.
They both work with music away from Maoin Cheoil but say they enjoy the actual teaching. “Ninety-five percent of the time it’s rewarding. You do get a small amount of people who come in but they aren’t interested and they aren’t getting anywhere. Then you have people who are very good and it’s a pleasure to teach because you could play with them like you’d play with anyone Then you’ve got people who might not be very musical but they want to do it and if you make a bit of progress with them it’s as good as making huge strides with a brilliant player. You get as much satisfaction out of that,” says Pat.
“Then you get the student that will go beyond you,” Terence adds. “Last year, I had a girl to whom I was teaching tablature and she was brilliant. I said to her to go into the classical teacher next year, he’d take her much further than I could.”
There is a concert around Christmas and playing in it can give people a lot of confidence, Terence feels. “This place might be full and they’re up there playing. The first year they might be very nervous and later, they’d be much more confident. It can be a great way to meet people too.”
The Maoin Cheoil an Chláir open day will be on Saturday from 10am to 2pm and anyone who would like to find out more about the school or to meet the teachers is welcome to come along. Maoin Cheoil can be contacted at 065 6841774.