Classes

The North Texas School of Irish Music offers several different group classes, plus opportunities for private lessons.  Some of our offerings are suitable for adults as well as young people, so if you see something you’re interested in, just talk to us about the possibility of participating!

Sunday Group Classes

Ceol Álainn Group

Our Ceol Álainn group (kyOHL AW-len, Irish for “beautiful music”) will be playing both lovely slower Irish pieces, and lively faster tunes. This group for young people focuses on developing good rhythm and ensemble skills. It is led by our harp instructor Rebekah Passmore.  Rebekah chooses repertoire that is especially suitable for the harp, but the group is also a good choice for any young players who are newer to their instruments.

Adult Ensemble

Led by our Instrumental Director Clare Cason, this group aims to create a supportive environment for adult musicians (age 16 and up) to learn more about Irish style and improve their skill in playing tunes. Although we’ll spend some time playing session-style, we’ll also zoom in on a smaller number of tunes each semester, to give players a chance for focused practice on HOW they play the tune (rather than having to focus just on how many tunes one can play, or how fast one has to play them to keep up!) We’ll also do some listening and discussion to understand what makes Irish style different from other types of playing, and how we might want to direct our practice. Clare will provide audio recordings of the tunes, and resources such as chords and strumming rhythms to the guitar/bouzouki players, basic bowing and ornamentation suggestions for fiddlers, and solutions for flute/whistle for how to handle tunes that go below D. This group is definitely suitable for adults of an intermediate level, and we’re working on ways to provide opportunities for beginners or for those in the group who are starting a second instrument. If you’re a beginner but you’d like to participate, get in touch through the website and we’ll see if we can provide an environment that would be helpful to you.

Gaelic Youth Chorus

The Gaelic Youth Chorus is excited to perform Irish music at more events this year! The chorus is also taking a new turn, incorporating a non-performance portion to class, singing in a song-circle. This allows students to sing, hear, and share songs simply with a love for singing, and it keeps to the traditional Irish way, with focus on listening. The chorus will learn both Gaelic songs and traditional Irish songs in the English language. Then as far as the chorus’s performance component, we will perform several times each year with soloist opportunities available, and students may opt-out of any performances in which they are unable to attend. The goal is to learn and share the beauty of these traditional songs.

Instrumental Session Group– Middle School/High School

This group focuses on developing the skills, etiquette, and repertoire to enable young instrumentalists to take part in a typical Irish music session. Irish sessions are fun gatherings of musicians sharing tunes (mostly faster dance tunes) and conversation in a relaxed setting. This group is a good fit for intermediate and advanced players of Irish traditional instruments, and helps to learn tunes played both in the DFW area and in other cities also. Joining an Irish session is great fun and can build lifelong friendships!

Irish Social Dance

Our social dance group, led by Lisha Willeng and Jeremy Welch, gives participants a chance to enjoy and learn about the dance that is such an important part of Irish culture, and for which much of the traditional music was composed.  Not only is the dancing terrific fun, but experiencing it helps us have a better understanding of how to play the music!

Private Lessons

Currently at our Sunday meetings we have opportunities for lessons in the following subjects:

  • Irish language
  • Singing
  • Irish Piano
  • Fiddle
  • Harp
  • Tinwhistle

Besides those listed above, if you’re interested in lessons on another traditional Irish instrument (bodhrán [Irish frame drum], flute, uilleann pipes, tenor banjo, accordion, concertina, mandolin, bouzouki, or Irish guitar), contact us and we’ll see if we can put you in touch with a teacher either locally or online.

Private lesson payments at our Sunday meetings are arranged directly between the student and the instructor, and are separate from the group class tuition