When I was 16, our school PE teacher took our class to the local swimming pool to try diving off the high board. There were 3 levels of height and each of us took it in turns to go from board to board, conquering our fears and leaping off. Each time the board got higher and the number of...

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In the week that the world turns its eyes to Ireland ahead of St. Patrick's Day, what better way to celebrate it than by learning to play some traditional Irish music. Today, we're delighted to release two new courses for schools so that you can bring Irish traditional music in to your...

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To celebrate International Women's Day 2018 we wanted to bring to your attention some of our favourite female Irish artists with a listening and responding lesson. We have focused on six artists for classroom listening with a further listening list below. We chose these six bands, musicians and...

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Recently we asked teachers what their biggest challenge with teaching music was. There were a wide variety of different responses which showed some of the daunting aspects Irish teachers find with teaching music in the classroom. Below we have picked the 3 most common responses and provided some...

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Getting to see and hear a master musician up close is an exciting and inspirational experience no matter what age you are. With the exception of places like The Ark in Dublin or festivals like Tradoodle in Monaghan, there are very few opportunities for children to attend concerts or gigs where...

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The Irish Primary School Music Curriculum in its introduction section talks about music education as part of a balanced curriculum which aims to develop the whole spectrum of a child's intelligence. It talks about bringing the child to an awareness and appreciation of his/her unique cultural...

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I asked my dad recently about how he learnt music in primary school when he was growing up in Belfast in the 60’s. He told me about the BBC radio show "Singing Together" which broadcast every Monday morning at 11am. Classrooms across the country would tune in and sing along to songs covering...

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Learning music is hard. A lot of people I speak to talk about their experience of starting an instrument when they were a child and, when they didn't find it engaging, they gave up. Often, with hindsight, there's a sense of regret from giving it up. So what is it about it? Why is it hard?...

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Parents can often be concerned about the cost of instruments when they are encouraging a budding young musician at home. What I'd like to share with you is that when it comes to the first few years of making music, you don't have to spend much to begin musical explorations with your children. In...

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The picturesque village of Drumshanbo in County Leitrim is host to one of the most popular Irish music schools of the summer. The Joe Mooney Summer School follows Willy Clancy in Clare and Tubbercurry in Sligo and comes just before Scoil Achla on Achill Island. It would be quite the summer to...

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