CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF CALENDAR OF 2024-25 CIM IMPORTANT DATES
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 iconic duets and trios whose playing has shaped the Irish music tradition.
Spring Term registration deadline for returning students to keep their private lesson time
Spring financial aid deadline
Spring Term Registration Deadline for Group Classes & Family Discount
The Center for Irish Music is closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Redwing Ensemble class is an intermediate level mixed-instrument ensemble. Directed by Hannah Flowers, students will learn tunes and arrange them in sets to perform together as a group. This class has a strong focus on building ensemble skills including playing fluently, adding variations, listening to each other, maintaining excellent rhythm, using simple harmonies, preparing for performance, increasing knowledge of traditional Irish music, and having fun with each other and the music!
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.
The Center for Irish Music Advanced Youth Ensemble is a year-round program for experienced youth musicians who love to play with others. Musicians in this ensemble have a large repertoire of tunes, learn quickly by ear and have the skills to play Irish traditional music with great rhythm and style. Throughout the year, musicians from this group will perform at local festivals and events while developing unique and beautiful repertoire (and working on it in a group of mixed instruments), including the Irish Fair of Minnesota. This year, classes in September-November will focus on repertoire-building, group-building, arranging and preparing for the Ensemble concert.
Starling Ensemble is a fun and challenging class for intermediate-advanced musicians who are well on their way with Irish music. Starling Ensemble students know lots of tunes and can play them with solid rhythm and groove.
Save the date for the Center for Irish Music Ensemble Holiday Concert at the Celtic Junction Arts Center on Saturday, November 19th at 3:00pm.
Irish music is most fun when it is played with friends! Join Brian Miller for the Beginning Ensemble in 2021-22, an in-person class. This first-time mixed-instrument ensemble is open to musicians ages 9-12 who know about 10-15 full-length Irish tunes (jigs, reels, or polkas). This class is a great opportunity to meet new Irish music friends who play different instruments, and to improve your Irish music skills which include learning music by ear, rhythm, pitch and repertoire!
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.
Make up week for Fall Term private lessons.
First Day of Spring Term at the Center for Irish Music.
*In-Person Class* 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. Uisce Gorm currently has guitar, whistle, concertina/piano and fiddle. New members are very welcome! Contact us at admin@centerforirishmusic.org with questions.
*In-Person Class* Starling Ensemble is a fun and challenging class for intermediate-advanced musicians who are well on their way with Irish music. Starling Ensemble students know lots of tunes and can play them with solid rhythm and groove.
New members are very welcome, and should contact us at admin@centerforirishmusic.org to discuss.
Intermediate ensemble students are required to take private lessons from a CIM instructor. Private lessons with CIM instructors support learning the ensemble repertoire and reinforce technical & stylistic aspects of each student's instrument. Financial aid is available.
*Online Class*
“Sessions” are gatherings of musicians playing traditional Irish music together, usually at a pub, but sometimes at other places such as parks, festivals, or someone’s kitchen! One of the most common questions asked by newcomers-to-sessions is for a “list” of commonly played tunes, presumably so they can set out to learn them. Having a tune in common with others provides an instant connection and is a way to feel more comfortable at sessions while you get to know other players.
Local fiddler and teacher Mary Vanorny attends many of the sessions in the Twin Cities and other areas, and has a vast repertoire of tunes learned from those sessions. In this class, Mary will play the most common tunes from the Twin Cities sessions at a moderate speed so that participants can learn or play along from the comfort of their own homes!
Additional Information:
Open to all students, there are no prerequisites or private lesson requirements for this class!
Fleadh Information Meeting
*Online Class*
“Sessions” are gatherings of musicians playing traditional Irish music together, usually at a pub, but sometimes at other places such as parks, festivals, or someone’s kitchen! One of the most common questions asked by newcomers-to-sessions is for a “list” of commonly played tunes, presumably so they can set out to learn them. Having a tune in common with others provides an instant connection and is a way to feel more comfortable at sessions while you get to know other players.
Local fiddler and teacher Mary Vanorny attends many of the sessions in the Twin Cities and other areas, and has a vast repertoire of tunes learned from those sessions. In this class, Mary will play the most common tunes from the Twin Cities sessions at a moderate speed so that participants can learn or play along from the comfort of their own homes!
Additional Information:
Open to all students, there are no prerequisites or private lesson requirements for this class!
The Center for Irish Music invites you to dress up in your finest and join us at the Celtic Junction Arts Center for Éigse CIM, a Gaela Event!
Éigse is an Irish word used for festivals celebrating traditional Irish arts and culture. It is in this spirit that we gather to raise funds for The Center for Irish Music, Minnesota's only traditional Irish music school, dedicated to handing down the tradition.
For our in-person guests, the evening includes a cocktail reception featuring delicious hors d’oeuvres and desserts, a Celtic-art-themed silent auction, and a stellar traditional Irish music concert by Center for Irish Music instructors, who boast recording, award winning, and world touring artists among their number.
Virtual guests will have access to the Éigse CIM silent auction, as well as a high-quality livestream of the concert.
