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Classes & Workshops
Clas s Description
Fall 2020
Quarantine Classes
We hope that you are all keeping safe and well in these troubled times.
As we said last spring, “social distancing” is definitely not a term you’d think of in conjunction with Irish traditional music. But after getting together with some of you outdoors over the summer, it’s clear that the tunes we taught last spring are alive and well among you. So we’re going to offer Quarantine classes again this fall, hoping that the distraction of a musical challenge will keep us all engaged as the light fades.
When times improve, we’ll be able to emerge from quarantine as better players, and perhaps with a greater understanding of Irish music. And we will have some lovely new tunes to play together.
Here’s the plan:
We’ll be offering teaching recordings and exercises, exactly as we have before, but once again using e-mail and Google Drive. Each week we’ll send out the assigned tunes and supplementary recordings, as well as video clips and background information on the music. But instead of coming to in-person classes in Waterbury, you can work away at home, on your own schedule.
You can opt to go at a "relaxed pace" or a challenging pace, as you have time and inclination. The relaxed pace option will give you one fairly easy tune to learn a week. The "challenging" option will offer two tunes to learn. Sometimes the assignments will overlap, sometimes not.
In addition, we are going come up with a few new platforms for sharing music, including a private Facebook and/or YouTube page. We’ll video ourselves in a “virtual session”, playing session tunes for you to join from home. In addition, you will also be able to post videos or sound files of your own playing - not just class tunes, but also music you might want to share with others.
In the past, we only offered a limited number of places to musicians outside Vermont. But in these troubled times, we we are opening the class to Vermonters and out-of-staters alike - with the understanding that the audio files cannot be shared outside the class.
Tuition
To help reimburse us for the time we put into creating the recordings and and doing the background work, we’d suggest a reduced registration fee of $100. However, if you are experiencing difficult economic times, just send what you can.
You can either mail us a check made out to VSITM (Vt. School of Irish Traditional Music) at 70 Markham Rd., East Montpelier, VT 05651, or use our e-mail to contribute via Paypal. ( If you select payment to “friends and family”, there won’t be a surcharge.)
If this appeals, email us at benedictandhilari@gmail.com to register, starting October 1st, 2020.
Fall 2020 Theme
We’re excited about this fall’s theme, “The Legacy of John Kelly”. John Kelly had enormous influence on Irish music, not just in his day, but also through his children and grandchildren.
We'd like to express our gratitude to John Kelly's granddaughter, Aoife Kelly, for her wonderful website, http://johnkellycapelstreet.ie/.
Thanks for joining us again as we explore the flowing stream of the traditional music of Ireland!
