This Sunday, July 23rd, the Irish Music School of Chicago (see www.irishmusicschool.com <http://www.irishmusicschool.com/> ) will host a delightful evening of traditional tunes. The concert will be held at the Irish American Heritage Center in the Fifth Province Pub, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. The Irish American Heritage Center is located at 4626 West Knox Avenue, just East of the Edens expressway (I-94) Wilson Avenue (4600 North) exit. For information about the IAHC, its location, and its activities, see http://www.irishamhc.com/.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for kids (17 and younger) and $75 for a family of 5 or more. The benefit concert will also feature performances from many of Chicago's top Irish musicians, like Liz Carroll, John Daly and Jackie Moran, the teachers, and of course the students themselves.
Proceeds from the concert will go to help to fund the Irish Music School students traveling to compete in the all-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, Ireland's biggest international music competition; this year's edition will take place in Letterkenny, County Donegal, in Ireland's picturesque northwest. It is an outstanding opportunity for these young people to meet and play with their peers from all over the world, deepen their appreciation of their music, learn more about Irish language and culture, and make new friends. The Students will attend a week long school called the Scoil Eigse before the Fleadh begins.
The Irish Music School of Chicago is founded on the philosophy that Irish music students should learn their music through examples provided by peers, instructors, and older musicians, particularly senior immigrant musicians who have been playing music since childhood. The school draws on the collaborative efforts of many different Chicago area Irish music teachers. Tunes are taught by aural transmission (i.e. "by ear") in a variety of learning situations ranging from structured classroom settings and private lessons, to the rough and tumble of a pub session; instructors and students alike make extensive use of recordings instead of relying on transcriptions. Many students practice together outside of school functions, and it is not unusual for one or both parents of a child student to attend lessons or sessions as participants. Several of the young up and comers in the group have a parent or older sibling that plays traditional music, and some of the parents played traditional music as children and have decided to re-visit the experience. For information about lessons and sessions please email sean@seancleland.com.
Bringing generations together for some tunes helps to create the kind of environment that allows traditional music to flourish, an environment where traditional music making as an activity is not the exclusive preserve of a supremely talented few, but a normal, every day leisure activity shared and enjoyed by many.