Music workshops a success

Music workshops a success

Thu, 21 Sep 2006

A full week of workshops organised by the Manx Heritage Foundation (Aug 28 to Sept 2) proved enlightening and often gruelling for Manx adult musicians. As the first of its kind, the Foundation had decided it was time that Manx adult musicians got some attention, and so organised for professional musicians Maire Breatnach and Cormac de Barra to visit the Island. In conjunction with newly resident guitarist, Malcolm Stitt, a week of workshops ensued including fiddle, voice, harp, guitar, stage craft, arranging and sound technology for musicians. The workshops were well attended with anything up 15 participants. As the workshops were for adults only, the standard was high and this encouraged musicians to think a little harder than some of them were used to. The individual workshops concentrated on new techniques in ornamentation and tunes were taught orally to the groups to demonstrate these techniques. The stage craft and arranging workshops concentrated on musicians in groups and gave an opportunity for them to try out new formats and gain feedback on their performances. The sound technology workshop gave musicians a rare insight into the workings of the sound desk as well as an opportunity to experiment with sound equipment to gain a better understanding and so improve their performances.

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