Celtic Southern Cross Summer School
2009
Music
Under the Southern Cross
Campaspe Downs Victoria
(once was Music Not Under the
Mountains and before that was Music Under the Mountains)
Sunday 11th January to Friday 16th January
2009
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.
More Photos of the School
2008,
2007,
2006,
2005,
2004, 2003,
2002
and
2001 back to
Celtic Southern Cross
Beth's pick of Melinda's photos (word
document)
We are proud to
announce that one of our School students has won the 2008 Declan Affley Award at
the National Folk Festival, and another student has won the 2008 Chris Wendt
Award at the NFF
Congratulations to Ruth Wise for winning the Declan Affley Award, and to Jack
Wilson for winning the 2008 Chris Wendt Award (and with another student, Lucy
Wise on guitar did a wonderful set of tunes on the big stage)
Declan Affley Award
2008
Ruth Wise - Margaret River, W.A (fabulous Wise Family member)
2007 Tom de Ridder from the Atherton
Tablelands
2000 Leueen Morgan - Tasmania (now residing in Melbourne),an
assistant at our School in 2007 and 2008
Chris Wendt Award
2008 Jack
Wilson - Melbourne
2007 Khalida de Ridder -
Atherton Tablelands
2000 Spootiskerry (Sarah Davies, Evan Davies, David Foster)
Westbury St. Patrick's Day Celtic Competition Award
This is a major event in the
Tasmanian Irish music calendar, and over the 10+ years of it's existence there
have been five Summer School students (or tutor) take out the prestigious first
place in the competition.
2008 Bridget Hickey - Tasmania (Damien Hingston was a very close
second and he is our Novice Piping Tutor for 2009)
2007 Sirocha Bruckard - Tasmania
2006 Tom's sister Khalida, an assistant at our School in 2006
2000 Leueen Morgan - Tasmania
1999 Kathy Hickey, whistle tutor at our School for quite a few years now
We are so proud of you all
The FOLK FEDERATION OF TASMANIA is
supporting a Tasmanian musician to attend the 2008 School with a $500
scholarship
All can apply but preference will be given to applicants under 19. Entries close
31st May.
If a class is full, apply anyway as we will accommodate a recipient of this
scholarship.
Application Form for FFT Scholarship (also available from
FFT website)
| Electives - free for all present | |
| Slow Jam - every evening before main session at night | Variety of musicians |
| Alexander Technique - a must for all fiddlers. We encourage all musicians to think about their posture to prevent illness. | Ken Maher will be a welcome return to the School to assist us yet again with keeping our bodies in tune. Actual day yet to be determined |
| Bush Walk every morning 7.30 - 8am | Lynda Peters |
| Chalkboard concert - a time to show off, basically | |
| Dancing - Scottish probably, but a chance for some musicians to play for the real thing and a chance for the rest to get fit. | Matthew Robertson |
Costs
| Class | Accommodation | Total | |
| Adult | $270 | $360 | $630 |
| Adult Accomm. only | $360 | $360 | |
| Under 16 accomm. only | $360 | $360 | |
| Under 16 (if in a class) | $200 | $360 | $560 |
| A limited number of double bed cabins with ensuite are available if you do not wish to be in a group cabin | Extra $70 per cabin per
week Sorry, all booked out already |
Students are requested to provide a $100 non-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 2008 (Christmas) please
2009 Sunday 11th Jan - Friday 16th January (followed by Newstead Folk Festival one week later)
The theme this year is "Wear all your School badges since 1999 when we started, otherwise wear a funny badge"
The tutors are
Mike Watts - English Concertina (for people who can play a bit or a lot - not total beginners please)Mike will take the student through the concertina basics including scales, tunes and chords, and repair and maintenance
Mike recently 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!
Catherine Strutt
- Keyboards, Intermediate to Advanced -
winner of the ABC Award (again!) for The Red House
Catherine features on several CDs with Chris Duncan, Fyvie's Embrace and their latest beautiful offering, The Red House. This extremely talented musician has become renowned for her exceptional accompaniment to the Scottish tunes. Catherine's knowledge of the music and the keyboard provides a chance in a lifetime for anyone wishing to develop a keen ear and understanding of the music, playing chords, melody, harmony and learning to hear where the tune is going and how to get there.
There is a limit of four in this class so don't miss this wonderful opportunity.
Chris Duncan - Scottish Fiddle
Advanced - winner of the The National Film and Sound
Archive award for Best Folk Recording of 2007: The Red House
Chris
is Australia's favourite Scottish fiddler with a fun approach to teaching, placing great emphasis on rhythm and lilt in the playing of Scottish tunes.
In great demand around the world as a musician and teacher, we are privileged to be able to offer Chris' talents once again. In fact, the School was first started as a result of Chris' desire to teach Scottish fiddle in a dedicated and welcoming manner. With three CDs out now, Chris is demonstrating world status in Scottish fiddling.This class requires a very high degree of playing ability, and a high ability to pick up tunes by ear.
Sorry, class FULL. Put your name on the waiting list please
Emma Nixon - Scottish Fiddle Intermediate - - FULL, put your name on the waiting list please
Emma has been a student at the Celtic Summer
School for several years, and a highly qualified and respected violin teacher in Brisbane. She has founded the
Scottish Fiddle Club in Brisbane and is currently back at Uni (again) in
Newcastle, UK doing a folk music degree. Emma also is one of our fiddlers on the
Begged Borrowed and Stolen Sets CD.
Emma will be a most welcome addition to our
tutoring team, and will be teaching the rhythms and nuances which make Scottish
fiddling so exciting. The standard for this class will be quite high and will
not be suitable for beginner or novice players. Learning by ear is essential.
Traditional Singing - with Nicole Murray and John Thompson (cloudstreet) - Intermediate - only 2 places available
A week of technical skill
development, individual coaching and ensemble work.
warming up the voice for maximum results;
traditional singing - techniques and approaches;
harmony singing, - both part singing and techniques to develop your own harmonies;
singing with others, blending voices together to create more than the sum of the parts;
an opportunity for each participant to have some individual coaching;
performance skills development
By
the end of the week, we will have two choral pieces ready for performance, as
well as other repertoire for you to take away and share. We are planning this
series of workshop sessions for intermediate singers who are at least confident
in holding a tune and wish to further their skills.
cloudstreet’s John Thompson and Nicole Murray are teachers and performers who tour internationally. Their music is based around the dynamic use of inventive and exciting vocal harmonies, backed by guitar, flutes, concertina and percussion. John and Nicole's magnificent harmony skills have quickly made them favourites on the folk music circuits in Australia and the United Kingdom and they bring all of their wonderful skills to their workshops and coaching sessions. From their base on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, they take their music around the world, breathing new life into some of the great songs of the folk tradition.
Nicole Murray is a singer, songwriter, musician and visual artist. A passionate, thoughtful and empathetic teacher (B.Ed), Nicole has a joyful enthusiasm for encouraging others to develop their vocal, musical and performance skills.
John Thompson is a singer, musician and songwriter. As well as working with cloudstreet, John is a regular performer in his own right at major Australian festivals. A barrister in a (recent) past life, John has an exquisite understanding of the tension between artist and “day job”, and how to nurture the one to benefit both.
"…a delightful duo who not only inspire one another but put an indelible smile on the faces of their audiences. Strong harmonies, side-splitting stories and ballads brought to life in a way we hadn't seen before. Heartily recommended." - James Fagan and Nancy Kerr
“...I was impressed by the meticulous preparation!”
“...the singing was like a shaft of sunlight through the grey clouds.”
Link to Cloudstreet website
Irish Fiddle Intermediate. Tutor yet to be advised but class is nearly full already
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 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.
Patrick Lyons - Advanced Uilleann Pipes - Full, sorry, put your name down for 2010 and get lucky
(right photo - Patrick getting tips for Trouble in the Kitchen and Leueen Morgan during a School session)
Teachers of the uilleann pipes are rather thin on the ground but this is not a problem for Music Not Under the Mountains summer school. Here, we have Patrick Lyons to run our piping classes. Pat, who has been playing uilleann pipes for over twenty years, will be teaching intermediate to advanced pipers.
This class has advanced over the years from beginner to Intermediate-Advanced, so if you have the jigs and reels and you want to improve your technique and come to grips with some of the classic traditional tunes, this is the class for you.
Particular attention will be paid to improving tone, getting around the tricky bits, and understanding how piping relates to other aspects of traditional Irish music, especially sean-nós singing. Pat will also cover aspects of pipes maintenance, reed making, and getting the best from your instrument.
Damien Hingston -
Novice Uilleann Pipes
Damien Hingston a.k.a Spud Gun O'Hara, will now start off a fresh bunch of recruits. This class is almost full from a past waiting list so call me on 03 63973427 to discuss this class - it is unique.
Damien has been playing Irish Music for the last 10 years or so. Initially playing Tin Whistle, that all changed when he chanced upon a recording of piper Willie Clancy. From the moment he heard the sound of a full set of pipes being played in all its glory he was hooked. After some research, he discovered the Music Under the Mountains beginner pipe class. Pausing only to order a set of pipes, he signed up, and hasn't looked back since.
This will be the teaching method for all Novice Pipers. Be prepared. You will need to have some knowledge of the pipes and be able to play a simple jig and a simple reel. It is not an absolute beginners class.
Barbara Scott - Tin Whistle - Intermediate
Kathy has decided to take some time out and we are pleased to bring Barb Scott into the fold as our new whistle tutor but I'm leaving Kathy on the page (right) for a while as we really like her.
Barb Scott has been playing whistle since the mid-seventies. It has led her into some fun and interesting places !
Ever an enthusiastic exponent of whistle playing, Barb also plays several other instruments, but whistle will always
be her first and best. Her musical career started in the ‘70’s, playing in the dance band Flying Pieman and after
many years of playing in Irish sessions, shifted into Eastern European music. With the Balkan village dance band
Kavalcade, she also played kaval and tambura. She currently plays and sings with the Brunswick based community
choir, Shaking the Tree and regularly plays at Irish sessions around Melbourne.
Barb began teaching whistle about 15 years ago at festivals and music camps including Maldon, The Dandenong
Ranges Festival, The Lake School in Koroit Rose's Gap and Turramurra (run by the Geelong Folk Club) as well as
classes at Melbourne’s C.A.E., community houses and from her home in Melbourne. She specialises in teaching the ornamentation that makes Irish music unique and believes that a very important part of learning to play music is
in learning to listen.
A Generation or Feadog D whistle is preferable for the class. (but we don't mind Sweetones - Beth)
Barb Scott minus her whistle
David Alleway - Folk Harp Sorry this class is FULL - put your name on the waiting list for 2010
As a prime mover in Moving Harps David is well known for his enthusiastic approach to this instrument. 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 placement & 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
Wonder Woman and kitchen mug monitor Lynda Peters being interrogated by Beth - "the mugs are breaking out of the herd again"
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, towels, soap etc.
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 in 2009. Thanks to David Alleway for providing several large plungers this year, but he's unable to continue this treat for us.
The nearest shops are 7kms away in Kyneton. We 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.
You may also like to bring some mozzie repellent. And a fan. And a swimming cossie. And your own coffee plunger!
The THEME for 2009 is to find all your badges from past Schools. I thought it would be the 10th anniversary but I can't count and that was this year, so 2009 will be "Not the 10th Anniversary Celebrations"
If you are new or can't find them, just find a funny badge we can all get a good laugh out of.
The way the School works
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.
Apart from the Harp class and novice Uilleann Piping Class which can handle beginner harpists, 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 not given out until the end of the School, if at all.
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. The names of some of these tunes can be found on our Music Under the Southern Cross Newsgroup
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.
Travelling to Campaspe Downs
Trains
The trains run regularly from Spencer St. Station to Bendigo and also stops at Kyneton. Someone will pick you up from the Kyneton station after 1.30pm on the Sunday - let Beth know your times please.
Bus
The shuttle bus from the airport at 9.30, 1.30 and 6pm to Bendigo stops at Kyneton. It is essential you book this bus before hand.
