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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.
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 not covered in the previous class.
Explore the lyricism and melodic beauty of Irish traditional song with an eye to versions from other regions such as England, Scotland, and North America. Dáithí will share songs of love, history, local lore, and the Otherworld form his wide repertoire, provide simple helpful guide-lines to their performance, and play rare recordings of some of the great source singers. Dáithí’s background in Celtic lore and language, as well as his lifetime of stories and travels with musicians and singers, will fill in the fascinating background of the songs. Dáithí believes that everyone can and should sing, and if you’re going to sing, why not sing the most beautiful songs you can find? This class will feature both unaccompanied and accompanied song, and some songs in the Irish Gaelic language.
Outreach performance featuring members of CIM's youth ensemble program.
Outreach performance featuring members of CIM's adult ensemble, An Luan.
Outreach performance featuring members of CIM's adult ensemble, An Luan.
Join us for the Irish Arts MN St. Patrick's Day Celebration at the Landmark Center! No CIM classes or lessons today.
Outreach performance featuring members of CIM's adult ensemble, Open Sky.
