Scoil Eigse

This morning we started Irish Music School. The Scoil Eigse is similar to an American day camp. Tutors and students from all over the world come to study traditional Irish music from 10-2:30 each day this week. Ellie, Gwen, and Chapin are all taking fiddle classes and Jay and I are studying traditional singing.

Classes take place in a boys’ school attached to the Mullingar Cathedral. Things were definitely a bit disorganized when we got there today and finding our classrooms was a bit chaotic but everyone got settled and had a great morning. We found each other for lunch and sat in a cute little courtyard area with picnic tables. Conversation was filled with stories of classmates and tunes learned. We had time during lunch to grab a cup of coffee from a little local place that happened to be Right Next To A Yarn Store. Gwen was so excited to finally find a yarn store!

Chapin hasn’t played much Irish fiddle and at the

beginning of the class the teacher had all the students in his class play a tune to show what level they are, etc. Chapin said he played an American fiddle tune because he didn’t know any Irish to play. Gwen’s teacher found out that she is competing in lilting for the All-Ireland and made her lilt in front of the class.

I’m stepping outside my box in studying trad this week. It’s certainly outside of my comfort zone as a mostly

liturgical, classical and musical theater singer. . .but we reached our family maximum for cost for the camp and it didn’t cost anything extra for me to sign up too so I figured I’d give it a go. I have a hard time with ornaments and always feel like an imposter when I try to sing Irish trad. I’m hoping that this week will give me a bit more confidence so that I can feel more comfortable when opportunities come up to sing with Jay and the girls.

They have venues and stages set up all over town for concerts through the week. The Cathedral is even turned into a concert venue with lots of tech and lighting set up. After our classes for the day ended at 2:30 we were all pretty tired and it was raining again We decided to head back home instead of going to the tutor recital at 3:00. As we were leaving for the day we passed a little ice cream shop. We were once again amazed at how

inexpensive it is to eat in Ireland. We all got ice creams (not necessarily small ones) and the total only came to about 10 euros. Chapin declared “one large ice cream at Ices [where he works back home] would cost about $10!”

Back home mom and dad had replenished our groceries and were all relaxed after a day without us around. They made a lovely dinner for us and it was rainy/misty. But I didn’t come to Ireland to sit around…so I made everyone go see nearby Roscommon castle. It was wet and chilly but I’m so glad we got out to explore just a little bit! Tomorrow is going to be a Long day, so early bedtimes were a must for tonight.