July 28th - Achill Island

Hi folks!

Haven't heard any world news since we've been on the island - hope everything is okay.

After we last wrote, we got to a pub session. We knew the tunes they were playing when we entered the pub, but for the rest of the time we were there, we could hardly play anything! The players seemed to be a mix of locals and outsiders like ourselves that are here for the school. Last night was different - we had much better luck. We went to a very old and tiny pub, with just a couple of musicians at first. When they saw we had instruments, they invited us to join them. When they showed us the list of tunes they usually play, it looked like a list from my Celtic group and Dave's session! They were very good about asking all the musicians who came in about the tunes they knew, and then tried playing those, or inviting them to start a tune. Everyone was very welcoming, and it was a lot of fun. They were surprised when I told them that we have 'closed' sessions at home, and one of the gals said "we're nicer than that!" However, having said that, a local guitarist who was playing with us was clearly a beginner, and wasn't able to keep up, and yet no one turned him away. Michael sang a song, and when someone does that, everyone in the pub has to be silent. The pub owner thanked him when we left, and one of the ladies in the audience told me that it was nice to hear the flute ( I don't think there's a regular flautist in their session.) The pub was made of stone with a thatched roof, and had no TV or telephone. The musicians were sitting, but most of the audience was standing up listening, as it was very tiny and crowded. They didn't seem to mind doing that though.

Instrumental classes haven't changed much since the first day. In my class (Karen) the teacher has us playing most of the time. We've been learning about 3 tunes by ear per day, and I'm finding that I'm forgetting the earlier ones! Luckily I've been taking a recorder to class most days. Michael's teacher does things very differently - he plays a couple of bars of the tune, and then goes around and listens to each person play it, so they don't get through nearly as much material, and don't get nearly as much opportunity to play. Michael's finding it somewhat boring having to listen to 20 other people play the same couple of bars, especially since a couple of them are struggling and should be in a lower level class.

Aside from that, we drove around in the afternoon and saw a deserted village. Today we're going to take a scenic drive if there's time. Tonight we're attending a recital of our teachers.

deserted village on Achill