Classes & Ensembles, Adult

Join fully-vaccinated flute player Norah for an opportunity to play the 2020 and 2021 Common Tunes outside, at regular session speed. Formalized as a class for safety and structure, we'll meet outside the Celtic Junction on Tuesdays from 8-9pm (max 10 musicians). Musicians will lead the group on one set each week, so this is a great way to practice leading sets at a session. Accompanists and melody players at an intermediate to advanced level are welcome! Meeting dates are April 26, May 3, May 10, and May 17.

Open Sky Ensemble celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2022! We have a great variety of instruments right now but are always happy to add more. If you know many tunes and have a fair amount of CIM instruction under your belt, come join this fun Monday evening adult ensemble!

This July, join fiddler Mary Vanorny for a late 'happy hour' session on Wednesdays at 7:15 pm CST, focusing on the Center for Irish Music’s Common Tunes repertoire, as found on our website: https://www.centerforirishmusic.org/resources.

An Luan has been together since 2010, and is always on the lookout for new members - especially melody players on fiddle, pipes or accordion!! This experienced group of musicians has a history of performing regularly around the Twin Cities with a large repertoire of session tunes and not-so-well-known tunes. They strive to play great music together and have fun while they are at it.

Experience the enjoyment and challenge of playing music with others in a mixed instrument ensemble! Together, the group works on new and old repertoire, with Dáithí Sproule, a world-class instructor and performing musician, as mentor.

Pub songs are raucous, tuneful, and above all, fun! But like the most intricate reel, you need skill and a concentrated approach to play and sing them well. Todd will teach the vocal techniques and rhythmic strategies needed to help you stand and deliver these wonderful ballads and drinking songs. All instruments encouraged.

We are lucky enough to have an abundance of old stories preserved in manuscripts dealing with Otherworld creatures and legendary kings, queens and heroes. In this class Dáithí and students will be reading translations of the old myths and legends — these always give rise to fascinating and entertaining conversations, often with lessons for the present. This class will be dealing with stories not covered in previous sessions.

If you are a student who has learned a few tunes, but still feel like you are in over your head when playing with a group, this is the class for you!

You don’t have to be able to play “at speed” or perfectly, the class will accommodate the participants’ skill levels as they progress to the inherent joys of playing music with other people. While our lessons are being conducted online, we will focus on playing with an accompanist or following another melody player. Melody instruments only.

Join flute and uilleann piper, Seán Gavin to learn one new tune each week for 4 weeks this Summer. Seán was the winner of the 2016 Seán Ó Riada gold medal in Cork and has a great wealth of tunes. Intermediate and advanced tin whistle players will learn from Seán’s deep understanding of the instrument itself, and his unique way of teaching the stylistic secrets of the Irish tin whistle! Don’t miss this opportunity to study with Seán online in a group setting.

Poetry has always been one of the glories of Irish culture. In this class Dáithí Sproule will share a selection of Irish language poetry in English translation, choosing examples from as early as the 6th century up to the present day and filling in the historical and literary background. Dáithí looks forward to students bringing their own particular interests and loves to the conversation.

In the class, Dáithí Sproule will share songs from the repertoire of this influential music group of the late 1960s, early 70s, renowned for their harmonies and innovative arrangements on guitars and keyboard. Though closely associated with the songs of Donegal, the band consisting of Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, their brother Mícheál and Dáithí himself actually sang a wide range of material in English and Irish, including some non-traditional songs. Dáithí looks forward to teaching a selection of this material.

Flute player and uilleann piper Seán Gavin has listened to thousands of hours of recordings of traditional Irish music with an incredible ear for intricate musical details that define personal and regional styles. In this listening class, Seán will guide students to listen and learn from musicians whose playing has shaped the Irish music tradition.

This class is for musicians interested in improving their rhythm, dancers interested in understanding the music they dance to, and for anyone interested in learning some basic Irish dance steps.

In this 6-week class, Danielle will discuss jig, hornpipe, polka, and slide rhythms. As a dancer, Danielle knows how vital it is that these tune types are played with *a* right swing and emphasis. This class will begin to explore what that means. Danielle will introduce a few tunes, discuss their phrasing, and teach some basic steps to practice to feel the nuance of the tune type in your body. You can dance with your feet, seated with your hands, or watch and learn.

Open Sky Ensemble celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2022! We have a great variety of instruments right now but are always happy to add more. If you know many tunes and have a fair amount of CIM instruction under your belt, come join this fun Monday evening adult ensemble!

The 60s were an amazing era for growth in Irish music, with the development of new ways of presenting and arranging the music and the incredible popularity of folk and traditional music among the general public — everybody knew and sang the songs. Dáithí is looking forward to walking down memory lane and playing and teaching some of the music from the time and telling the story of the folk clubs and folk and traditional acts of the era (some now little known or forgotten in America), an era that laid the foundations for everything that has come since.

This Fall, we will offer two sections of this class so students can participate remotely and in person at CIM. Please select "IPS22Fall-ONLINE" or "IPS22Fall-INPERSON" when registering.

Pub songs are raucous, tuneful, and above all, fun! But like the most intricate reel, you need skill and a concentrated approach to play and sing them well. Todd will teach the vocal techniques and rhythmic strategies needed to help you stand and deliver these wonderful ballads and drinking songs. All instruments encouraged.

Experience the enjoyment and challenge of playing music with others in a mixed instrument ensemble! Together, the group works on new and old repertoire, with Dáithí Sproule, a world-class instructor and performing musician, as mentor.