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School’s ‘in’ for summer

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Celebrating its 10th anniversary next year, John Rainsford talks to Garry Shannon, founder of the Meitheal Summer School

School’s Out For Summer was rock singer Alice Cooper’s mischievous hit single from 1972. Now one of Ireland’s best known traditional music schools is aiming to refute the stereotype by opening its classrooms in high season.
The man behind this ‘slightly’ non-conventional initiative is Ruan-born, Garry Shannon, whose family background reveals just why he remains as ‘Mad For Trad’ as ever.
“My earliest musical memory is of a travelling bard, whom my father brought home, to play mouth-organ,” explains Garry. “My parents were not musicians but they had a good store of songs and could dance the Caledonian. I remember my grandmother in Ballynacally playing a bit of fiddle. The principal of Corofin National School, Naoise Cleary, also imbued us with a love of the Irish language and our local heritage.
“Our teachers, Lena McNamara and Nora Minihan, gave us a good grounding in the basics of music but my formal introduction to instrumental music came through the local Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann branch, founded in 1973. My first music teachers there were John Byrt of the old Kilfenora band, followed by Tom Barrett, Tony Linnane and Gus Tierney. Thereafter, I took an interest in céilí bands, through Fr Joe McMahon, who included me in St Flannan’s Band when I was a student there. Indeed, I teach French and Irish in St Flannan’s College today.
“Music became a social medium for me to meet friends and enjoy life. I took up the flute in my teens and, though I had a brief flirtation with the fiddle, the flute has remained my favourite instrument since. It was an easy transition from the tin whistle. I played a flute made by Brendan McMahon from Ennis for many years and now find myself breaking in one made by Martin Doyle, who lives in Liscannor.”
He adds, “I have spent a lot of time in céilí bands but I derive more satisfaction from the challenges presented by musical arrangement, which I do mainly by ear. I have been able to indulge this pleasure as a teacher of young groups in Corofin and with the 103-year-old Kilfenora Band over the past 20 years but also through the Meitheal Summer School, whose 10th anniversary we hope to mark next year.”
Nine years ago, Garry came up with the idea of setting up a summer school with a difference and consulted fellow musicians Denis Liddy, Tim Collins and Padraic O’Reilly. He felt the project could be done more easily as a group effort but as the planning phase turned to the task of realising deliverables, he failed to delegate core tasks as he should have. In the end, he wound up doing it mostly himself, although he is grateful for all the support he received from those friends and acquaintances.
The Meitheal Summer School started out in 2004 as an experiment based on the Folkworks Residential Summer School, based in Durham in the north of England. Meitheal is located in Villiers Secondary School in Limerick which was founded by Hannah Villiers in 1821. Her concept of bringing large numbers of people together for a traditional summer school with workshops was not new.
However, the notion of a five-day lock-up in a boarding school, constantly exploring diverse and new ways of approaching Irish traditional music, captured the public’s imagination. The idea of coupling this with the presentation of awards and opportunities to appear at other events and festivals proved an interesting innovation. So Meitheal has become a regular fixture on the Irish traditional music calendar and many artists trace the source of their musical addiction right back to their sojourn at Villiers each July.
One of the greatest attractions of the summer school is its collaboration with other festivals and organisations. From the beginning, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann has supported the project by way of promotion and advice seeing Meitheal as a product of its own initiative. This has helped to give the broadest possible understanding of the musical traditions and practical skills involved. The lectures and workshops offer students an intense engagement with a wide variety of music, song, and dance subjects including some aspects of recording and performance.
Garry says, “The concept I came up with was for a residential (total-immersion) experience in traditional music through innovative activities and covering every aspect of the traditional musical spectrum. In addition to the norm, the students experience arrangement workshops, composition workshops, orchestra practice, table quizzes, a traditional music disco and the opportunity to compete for very valuable awards such as the Comhaltas Tour of Britain, a gig at the National Concert Hall and several other scholarships and opportunities. We plan to stage our reunion event this year in the Dome, at Fleádh Cheoil na hÉireann, in Cavan.
“In all this I am very fortunate to have a super-efficient course director in Ernestine Healy and some excellent staff, especially Orla Healy and Dermot Sheedy. My wife, Anne, is a marvellous source of support in the running of the week and it could not be done without her work behind the scenes. The Clare County Council arts officer, Siobhán Mulcahy, has also been very generous and we value our partnerships with Comhaltas, the National Concert Hall and the University of Limerick.”
Running Meitheal is a 24/7 responsibility starting in October when Garry spends several weeks lining up tutors for the following year. November is spent putting the brochure and promotional package together, while December involves editing and replicating the commemorative DVD. January sees the event promoted and February is spent in discussion with all the stakeholders involved and ironing out the terms of the various collaborations. In March, he deals with applications and in April, May and June he plans the actual week, which is run in July. August is spent planning the annual reunion event.
Despite all this hustle and bustle Garry grew up in the rural idyll of Bealacana, Clare with parents Mary and IJ. Music was a great source of pleasure and achievement, becoming the glue that still permeates every aspect of his life today. Matt Molloy was an idol for most flute players of his generation, as were The Chieftains, De Dannan, Stockton’s Wing and, latterly, Lúnasa.
“Musicians remain musicians if it comes to them easily, if it integrates their friendships with their peers, if it brings them happiness and if it offers vocational opportunities – at least it has been so in my case,” he says. “As a youngster, I found Fr Joe McMahon and Frank Custy to be great facilitators. Through them, music became a fun part of my teenage life. Later, through Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, I found that music offered me an unsurpassed richness of experience in the form of travel, professional satisfaction and the excitement of public performance.
“When I was younger, I imagined myself travelling the world with a band but I also had other vocational ambitions and am still pinching myself, in surprise, that they have all come true. With the professional satisfaction derived from Meitheal and the fun and marvellous performance opportunities of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, I feel privileged that musically, I have the best of both worlds,” Garry says.
The Meitheal Orchestra, he believes, provides an opportunity for all students to engage in the dynamic and creative aspects of music. It also reflects the wealth and innovation of a number of Ireland’s leading traditional musicians and composers, who are adding new material to the genre all the time. The orchestra challenges students to develop technical skills, musical knowledge and critical thinking, while greatly broadening their musical experience. It also has a social dimension, which unifies the group in a finale concert at the end of the week.
“Music, culture and sport are essential components of Irish nationality. It is through them that our life experience is made whole. Music, in particular, provides practitioners with a network of lifelong friendships and a recreational outlet, which makes them happy. In these recessionary times, it is also important to bear in mind, that anyone who plays music will never go hungry,” he says.
Garry will be appearing in concert with Kilfenora Céilí Band on July 7 at the National Concert Hall to promote their new album, Chapter 8. The show also features the West Clare Set, with maestro Michael Donnellan and singer Don Stiffe. For information and tickets, call 01 4170000 or see www.nch.ie. This year’s Meitheal Summer School runs from July 16 to 20 in Villiers School, Limerick. For further information on the event see www.tradweek.com, email meitheal2@eircom.net or call 087 6704465.

 

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