Irish music comes in so many different forms and styles and one of those popular styles is the polka dance. But how did polka music come to arrive on Irish shores? This blog is structured as a lesson plan which looks at a number of elements around polka music including: The history of polka...

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We’re lucky to live in a country with such a rich musical heritage. When one thinks of Irish music, traditional music immediately springs to mind, such as that that was played so skilfully by Joe McKenna in our first Classroom Concert. Within traditional Irish music, skills and knowledge are...

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'Diatonic? Isn't that some sort of sports drink?' Music can seem like a daunting subject to teach particularly when there are lots of new terms to learn that you may not have heard of. The Irish primary music curriculum has produced a great teaching guideline which you can view here. Included...

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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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