Music
Under the Southern Cross
Celtic Southern Cross Summer School
Dave O'Neill's Celtic Guitar Class in the final concert with Paddy Beale on concertina
Jan 12th - 17th 2014
Jan 20th - 25th 2013 was followed by Newstead Folk Festival
Campaspe Downs Victoria
(Google
map)
(once was Music Not Under the
Mountains 2007 and before that, Music Under the Mountains 1999 - 2006)
All bookings for the Celtic Music School must be
made through Celtic Southern Cross
Application form etc is a word file - let us know if you can't read it or download it.
This link is to the pdf version of the
application form
More Photos of the School
2012,
2011,
2010,
2009,
2008,
2007,
2006,
2005,
2004, 2003,
2002
and
2001
Awards that have been won by Summer School students
back to Celtic Southern Cross
| Instrument | Tutor |
| Scottish Fiddle - Master-class Advanced and an Intermediate Scottish Fiddle Class | Chris Duncan & Emma Nixon |
| Irish Fiddle - Intermediate to Advanced - nearly full | Dave O'Neill |
| Scottish Piano - Intermediate to Advanced - nearly full | Catherine Strutt |
| Canadian Fiddle Styles - Intermediate to Advanced | Pria Schwall-Kearney and Sarah Davies |
| Celtic Guitar - Intermediate to Advanced, regular tuning | Jeremy Dunlop |
| Irish Pipes- Intermediate | Patrick Lyons |
| English Concertina - Intermediate | Mike Watts |
| Tin Whistle - Intermediate | Mischa Herman |
| Traditional Singing - Intermediate to Advanced | Jane Thompson and James Rigby (the Rainmakers) |
| Folk Harp - Intermediate | David Alleway |
| Celtic Mandolin - held off until 2005 | Luke Plumb and James Rigby |
| Folk Ensemble- sorry folks, won't be on until further notice. | Lachlan Green and Ruth Wise |
| Electives 4.30 -5.30 - free for all who attend the School | |
| Slow Jam - every evening before main session at night | Ruth Wise and many others leading the session |
| The Rhythm Monster - returning by popular demand. | Chris Duncan |
|
Clog dancing |
Jo Cresswell |
| Learning tunes by ear - how to make it easier | Ruth Wise ( we might also ask Ruth to tell us about her Uni dissertation on Scottish Fiddling in Aust) |
| Juggling and other circus tricks (in the pool?) | Elly Barrett |
| Swimming in the pool - after classes and on Wed. afternoon | |
Morning Walk with Lynda Purcell every morning 7.30 - 8am
 |
Lynda Purcell |
| Dancing - Scottish and Ceilidh, with a chance for some musicians to play for the real thing and a chance for the rest to get fit and to let off steam after a day of solid concentration in class. | Kay Callen and any schoolie available. Thanks to Matt Robertson, Kay Callan, John McPhee, Cathy Hutchinson and Caroline Barrell for some great dances in previous years. |
Costs
| Class | Accommodation | Total | |
| Adult | $290 |
$400 | $690 |
| Adult Accomm. only | $420 | $420 | |
| Under 16 accomm. only | $420 | $420 | |
| Under 16 (if in a class) | $220 |
$400 | $620 |
Students are requested to provide a $100
semi-refundable deposit to ensure
their place in classes.
I cannot guarantee a place if you do not send in your
deposit.
Application form etc is a word file
Full payment to be made by December 31st 2013 please. Add $30 to cost after this date
Don't forget, the theme (for fun, not compulsory) this year is once again, T-shirts. Have some fun with them.
The tutors are
Mike Watts - English Concertina
(Intermediate - not total beginners please)
Mike will take the student through the concertina intricacies including scales, tunes and chords, and repair and maintenance. Learn harmonies, rhythms, ornamentation.
Mike returned from a successful musical trip around England and
Scotland, where he conducted an English Concertina workshop at the Bromyard Folk
Festival. His 2008 class saw our first UK student fly out for the class!
This
class already filling up rapidly for 2014
Chris Duncan and Emma Nixon - Scottish Fiddle Intermediate to Advanced Master Class
Chris Duncan is described as a “core revivalist” by Ruth Wise in her dissertation on the Australian Scottish fiddle scene. That’s because he started playing Scottish fiddle music in 1975! In 2000 Chris was the winner of a World Music ARIA, and won the National Film and Sound Archive Best Folk Recording in 2007. Chris has a passion for raising the standard of Scottish fiddling in Australia.
Emma Nixon was a student at Music Under the Southern Cross for several years, learning from Chris Duncan, and traveling around the world to many other traditional music summer schools. In 2008 she completed a Master of Music in Scottish fiddle performance and research at Newcastle University in UK. Emma was awarded Golden Fiddle Awards for Best Fiddle Teacher in 2010 and 2011. In 2012 she won Best Solo Fiddle CD for ‘Chasing the Sunset’ at the Golden Fiddle Awards. Emma is a highly qualified and respected violin/ fiddle teacher in Brisbane, where she also runs the Brisbane Celtic Fiddle Club.
Between them, Chris and Emma have nearly 60 years experience of Scottish fiddle and its music. Performing and teaching at schools, workshops, concerts, dances, ceilidhs, festivals, weddings and more, they have individually been recognised for their music with numerous awards.
If you want to improve your Scottish fiddle playing, perhaps even your general fiddle playing, then this is the class for you. There’s nothing these musicians cannot help you with!
All tunes are taught by ear. Rhythm, ornaments, harmonies and Scottish style are added as the week progresses. After a combined morning session the class will separate, with Chris and Emma tutoring different aspects of Scottish fiddle music. Music notation is supplied at the end of the school.
Catherine is returning by popular demand, and the class can only have two to three students, so put your name down now. Catherine will be teaching the nuances of playing for Scottish dance, for Scottish music in general, and will include harmony, accompaniment, solo work and chord structures.
Traditional Singing - James Rigby and Jane Thompson (aka The Rainmakers)
With Nicole and John taking a well earned break after 5 years of teaching at the School, James and Jane from the Rainmakers are our exciting new tutors for 2014.
James has been one of our mandolin tutors for several years, and most of the Rigby family have been associated with the School ever since it moved from Tasmania to Victoria.
We welcome them both and any of their offspring who wish to join them in the Chapel sessions, and look forward to another year of singing excellence.
Daughters Maggie and Elsie won the Lis Johnson Award for singing at the 2011 National Folk Festival
Photo above: the amazing gaelic waulking song at the
concert with the Singing class 2012
Traditional Singing
This class will follow on from our workshop approach of the past three years, with new repertoire and exercises.
• physical and vocal warm-ups
• learn traditional songs and harmony parts
• vocal techniques
• chorus songs
• listening to celtic traditional singers
• improvising
• the singing session
and with Emma Nixon in the UK in 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIjiTPwBQY8
John's blog, An Australian Folk Song a Day (ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com) Visit the blog, marvel at the music, ooh and aah at the extensive lyric library which is now available to both all and sundry.
An Australian Folk Song A Day: Waltzing Matilda This was done at the School before the Concert. Thank you John, what a great experience that was and what a great thing you've done altogether with your Blog.
A
Victorian expat, Jem has been a Maleny lad for five years now, and a favoured
tutor at the Maleny Celtic Winter School. When not working as a bush
regenerator, he can be seen playing guitar with the likes of the Simon Bradley
Trio, Luke Plumb and Laura Targett or fiddling with Musica Viva band Fada or
Melbourne based Bulabos. Jem is a qualified and experienced teacher;
We welcome Jem to the School for 2014. He will be teaching
*Flat picking jigs and reels. *Approaches to accompaniment in standard tuning on guitar. *Simple solo arrangements. *Chord inversions in standard tuning. *Right hand rhythms - strumming patterns. *Listening to the greats.
Dave O'Neill Intermediate Irish Fiddle tutor
Dave spent some years in Ireland, and has a sound knowledge of the Irish music, plus is one of the finest tutors we've had at the School.
All tunes are taught by ear, so an ability to pick up tunes easily is essential. This assists players to join in the Irish sessions, where reading from music is not always appreciated. This is an Intermediate to Advanced class so you will be expected to be able to play tunes such as you would expect in an Irish session, or be competent on the fiddle with a good ability to learn by ear.
Dave is also fun to have as a tutor - the photo right is his guitar class at the final concert, with Paddy Beale leading the way out playing "Loch Lomond"
We thank Bridget Hickey, for her excellent tutoring for 3 years at the School, and for being inspirational in the sessions.
Pria Schwall-Kearney and Sarah Davies - Intermediate Canadian Fiddle.
Sarah Davies
This class will combine the
French-Canadian music of Québec, and the Scottish-derived music of Cape Breton
Island, Nova Scotia, taught by Pria Schwall-Kearney and Sarah Davies
respectively.
Québecois music is distinctively rhythmic, drawing on its French, Scots and Irish roots whilst remaining a unique style best known to Australian audiences through the playing of Genticorum and superband La Bottine Souriante. We’ll learn some of the history, bowings, grooves and of course foot tapping and crooked tunes. You might even learn some French!
Cape Breton fiddle music is highly energetic, having its roots in 18th and 19th Century Scotland, but preserving elements of Scottish music and dance that give it a unique sound, distinct from traditional Scottish music today. In this class we’ll learn some fun tunes, explore some of the distinctive rhythms, bowings and ornaments that give Cape Breton music its drive, and look at the links between Cape Breton music and dance.
Sarah and Pria are wildly enthusiastic about their chosen fiddle styles, and share an infectious energy that pervades any class they teach. As well as being fine fiddlers, Pria and Sarah are also fabulous step-dancers and foot-stompers, and this class will explore the rhythmic links between music, dance and foot percussion in Eastern Canada (non-dancers never fear, it’s not compulsory!). Students will be encouraged and assisted to learn tunes by ear, and depending on the needs of class members, the class may split into two groups at times to concentrate on specific skills.
Right: Pria Schwall-Kearney
About the tutors
Pria Schwall-Kearney is one of Australia’s most exciting young fiddle players, most known as a member of the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club, which she helps teach. Having recently returned from a year in Québec and Appalachia studying (and teaching) fiddle and banjo, she’s come back freshly inspired with a heap of new ideas. Pria has played and taught fiddle and step dance at most festivals around Australia, and in the second half of 2009 toured Australia and New Zealand with the Old Time duo Pigeonwing Strings (www.myspace.com/pigeonwingstrings). To find out more you can go to www.myspace.com/priaschwallkearney
Sarah Davies has taught fiddle and step-dance at workshops and festivals throughout eastern Australia, and has taught music privately to people of all ages, always with an emphasis on helping students to learn by ear, and to enjoy themselves! Sarah’s favourite music is Cape Breton fiddle music, but she also loves Scottish music, being a regular student in Chris Duncan’s class at Music Under the Southern Cross in past years. Sarah has performed and recorded with the groups Spoot o’ Skerry and Old King Cole, currently plays with Contratemps dance band, and recently composed and recorded the soundtrack for a short film. Sarah greatly enjoys passing on the wonderful tunes, steps and knowledge she has picked up on her travels to fiddle schools and festivals in Cape Breton and California.
Pria and Sarah have both recorded teaching CDs, Pria focusing on Québecois and Old Time music, and Sarah on Cape Breton, Scottish and Contra dance tunes.
Patrick Lyons - Beginner to Intermediate Uilleann Pipes
Pat started playing the
uilleann pipes in 1979, when he purchased the first flat set made by Geoff
Wooff. Growing up in an Irish family with music and dance as a given, it is only
natural that he would have done something like that. Though largely self-taught
(there was no other way), he picked up plenty of tips from pipers Declan Affley,
Geoff Wooff, Ian Mackenzie, and Ronnie Wathen. And he learned a lot of music
from other musicians, Marcus Hernon (flute), Éilis O'Connor (fiddle), Máire Ni
Chaoimh (fiddle), Páraic Mac Donncha (banjo), and John Hoban (singer), while
they were resident in Australia. He can be a bit of a purist, but that's no bad
thing.
This class is for intermediate-to-advanced players. Pupils must be competent in playing airs and dance tunes (size of repertoire not important), but they do not need to have the fine details. Attention will be paid to improving tone, getting around the tricky bits, and understanding how pipering relates to other aspects of traditional Irish music, especially sean-nós singing.
Pat has only missed one School in the 16 Schools (15 years) we have been offering classes, so has equal time with Chris Duncan, who has taught every year for the 15 years, but missed the one School when we had two back to back (never again), and Scottish fiddle was only on for the one week.
Mischa Herman - Tin Whistle - Intermediate
Mischa has become well known as the musical partner of Evan Davies on flute and whistle, and Mischa is also an accordion wizard, and we welcome back this talented musician and fine tutor, having had his debut at the School in 2013
Check out their website www.myspace.com/evandaviesmischaherman and their CD is highly recommended.
This class will be an Intermediate class so it is essential that you can play some jigs, reels and the occasional polka and slow air. You will be taught by ear, and will be given the ornaments and skills to make the tunes dance and sound really Irish.
David Alleway - Celtic Harp
- Intermediate folk harpThe Irish Harp, Scots Harp, Scottish Harp, Gaelic Harp or Clarsach has been at the core of traditional music for centuries. David was a member of the well known trio Moving Harps and currently plays with the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club and performs an early years music show in schools around Victoria. David is well known for his enthusiastic approach to this instrument and his classes arestructured to allow for players of different skill levels.
This is a great opportunity for harpists to develop a closer relationship with Celtic and folk rhythms and ornamentation. Plus it will be a great deal of fun. David is able to provide harps for several students if you do not have your own as yet. Depending upon the level at which the participants are already playing the following areas will be covered. 1 Basic harp technique, tuning, finger pacement & posture 2 History of Celtic Harp in Celtic music 3 Playing melody lines, tune decoration in different styles 4. Accompanying other melody players: working out chords and how to play them in different styles 5. Tuning to play with bagpipes, Irish and Scottish and chordal accompaniment styles 6. Accompanying singers 7 Accompanying yourself singing 8 Arranging tunes from basic melody lines
TOP
All bed linen and doonas are provided - you do not need to bring bedding
What to bring
The essentials to remember to bring are: mozzie zapper that plugs in, fan (it can get hot), towels, soap, swimming gear etc. Wet weather gear - watch the forecast. It rained for the whole week last year, but we had perfect weather in 2012
A recorder will also be a good idea to record the tunes as you will be learning by ear. You might like to bring your own coffee plunger. David Alleway will be selling organic, fair trade coffee at a good Schoolie price.
The nearest shops are 7kms away in Kyneton. Someone will make daily trips to Kyneton.
Anyone wishing to sleep outside at night will need to bring their own bedding as no cabin bedding may be removed from cabins.
The THEME for 2014 is yet again - T-shirts. No competition this time, just a lot of fun
Check out the photos of some of the weird and wonderful HATS (2010) and HATS (2011) that appeared at dinner time each night. If any student has a photo I'd love to see them please.
I'll also put up some photos of the 2013 neckwear wonders asap.
The way the School works
Registrations start at 2pm in the Conference Room at Campaspe Downs, and students are encouraged to arrive before 6pm when dinner starts.
We finish on the Friday, with a concert at 10.30, open to the public, then lunch at 12.30, and we farewell Campaspe around 1.30pm.
Classes run from 9am - 4pm Mon, Tues and Thurs and from 9am - 12.30pm on Wednesday. The Wednesday afternoon is free for practice, swimming, walking, sightseeing whatever.
The classes are dedicated, meaning that students don't move between different classes during the week. The tutors plan the week to develop skills, once a tune has been learnt by ear. Emphasis is on playing by ear, where ornamentation, rhythm, lilt, harmonies etc are all added as the week progresses.
All classes are of an Intermediate to Advanced standard. Students are expected to be able to play their chosen instrument well enough to be able to capitalize on learning the ornamentation etc, rather than just learning to cope with their instrument. Students are encouraged to learn by ear to help them join in sessions more easily. Sheet music is usually not given out until the end of the School, if at all.
On Monday afternoon from 4.30-5.30 we have a ceilidh available to all at the School, with dancing called by anyone interested in teaching a bush dance or a Scottish dance. Music provided by students and tutors if they aren't in the swimming pool.
We hope again to have the Chris Duncan Rhythm Monster elective plus Ruth Wise doing a Learn by Ear elective. Quite often an impromptu fiddle class or Gaelic language class or step dancing class may erupt, just to keep things on the move. Jo Cresswell has offered to teach us all to clog amazingly.
We have a slow jam session every evening before the main sessions, to allow players to pick up some of the more commonly played session tunes, and to reinforce tunes learned in past years at the School. Students who have gone on to become assistant tutors take the lead in these sessions. An Intermediate Scottish session precedes the regular Scottish session, after this.
The School is for the students, so "drop ins" are not encouraged, as the sessions are an integral part of the students' training within the School setting.
All ex-schoolies are always welcome however, just let Beth know if you'd like to visit
Travelling to Campaspe Downs
Trains
The trains run regularly from Southern Cross Station to Bendigo and stops at Kyneton. Someone will pick you up from the Kyneton station after 2.30pm on the Sunday - let Beth know your times please.
Bus
The shuttle bus from the airport leaves at 9.30, 11.30 1.00, 3.15 to Bendigo stops at Kyneton. It is essential you book this bus before hand. PLEASE NOTE NEW TIME - 1pm departure from airport. This one and the 3.15 are the best to catch as we can pick you up in Kyneton at 2pm and 4.15pm quite easily. Any earlier and you'll need to wait til the 2pm pickup.
Check out the new prices and times at http://www.bendigoairportservice.com.au/news.php
National Folk Festival FAA Award 2013
