DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY - FIDDLE WEEK FOR FIDDLERS AND CEILI BAND FUN FOR ANY OTHER MUSICIANS WHO WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE EXCITEMENT AND POWER OF CEILI BAND PLAYING

Welcome to CCE FiddleWeek 2007

The O’Neill-Malcom Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE), the local Washington metro branch of the Irish-based organization charged with promoting Irish culture, and Mitch Fanning (Director of FiddleWeek) are pleased to announce CCE FiddleWeek 2007.

The purpose of FiddleWeek is to offer violinists and fiddle players of all ages and levels of ability a unique and fun-filled opportunity to improve their playing through the study of traditional Irish music.  

Students will be taught traditionally – in group classes, arranged according to ability and level of experience with traditional Irish music.  Each group will have an opportunity to perform at a closing concert and ceili dance.  Each student will also have a private lesson (half hour) with one of our teaching staff during the week. 

The teachers for the week are all accomplished performers of traditional Irish music as well as excellent instructors.   In addition to our teaching staff of local talent, through the aegis of Comhaltas we’re pleased to feature the fiddling and class teaching of Brendan Mulvihill and Jimmy Eagan for the entire week.   

Each class will learn a variety of traditional tunes – hornpipes, jigs, reels, mazurkas, barndances, airs, and highlands among others.   The tunes in each class are not only fun to play, but great ear training exercises and playing them will give students the opportunity to learn or improve left and right-hand ornamentation technique as well as memory skills.    

In addition to class and private instruction, students will have an opportunity to play in traditional Irish sessions and hear faculty performances throughout the week.   Students may also participate in classes in bodhran (Irish drumming) and basic Irish step dancing which will be offered during the week.

Do You Qualify to Participate?

FiddleWeek is designed to accommodate beginning, intermediate and advanced fiddlers and violinists of all ages and levels of experience.  However, because of the demands of ensemble playing, the fast tempi and ornamentation of many of the tunes, prospective students should know that FiddleWeek beginner classes are not designed for people that are new to the instrument.

The beginning class for FiddleWeek 2007 is best suited for the student that has studied the violin or fiddle for 8 months to a year.  If you have substantially completed Book I of the Suzuki method or can play well in the keys of A, D and G, have a good ear, sense of rhythm and tempo, then you are well-prepared for a great week!  The intermediate class is designed for violinists or fiddlers with two to four years experience.  The advanced class, for fiddlers with four or more years experience.

After review of your application, you may be asked to audition before the start of camp for placement purposes

Dates & Times

May 15                                    Registration Deadline (please register early!)

July 9-13                                  FiddleWeek (M-F, 9:30 am – 4 p.m.)

Daily Schedule

9:30 – 10                                 Daily orientation, tuning, warm-ups

10 – 11:30                               Classes – Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced

11:30-1:30                               Lunch

                                                Traditional Sessions, personal practice

                                                Private lessons, playground, bodhran, dancing

                                                Ceili Band coaching with Jesse Winch

1:30 – 3                                   Classes – Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced

3 – 4                                        Daily Faculty Concert

Faculty concerts are open to family members, who are also invited to attend the final ceili and concert on Friday evening, 7-10:30 p.m. at the Washington Waldorf School Auditorium.   There will be a nominal admission fee for the Friday evening ceili for guests and the general public.

Location

Classes and final concert and ceili will take place at the Washington Waldorf School, 4800 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD  20815.  (http://www.washingtonwaldorf.org)  

The school is not affiliated in any way with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, but is the home of The Bog Band, a group of 8^th grade traditional Irish fiddlers who helped inspire FiddleWeek. 

Sangamore Road is between Massachusetts Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, near Glen Echo.

Are you from out of town?  Please let us know if you’re interested in special rates at a nearby hotel.  Depending on the number of out of town registrants, transportation to and from the hotel can be arranged. 

Cost Information

Tuition for CCE FiddleWeek is $350 for all registrations received before May 15^th 2007; $400 after May 15^th.  A single half-hour lesson is included in the tuition.   There is one free lunch (pizza on Wednesday) for all registrants.  Other days will be “brown bag.” 

Tuition for the ceili band workshop with Jesse Winch is $100 for all registrations received before May 15^th; $150 after May 15^th

The Teaching Staff & Performing Artists

Photo by Michael Stewart

Brendan Mulvihill

http://www.brendanmulvihill.com

Brendan Mulvihill's roots in Irish music run deep. Brendan's grandmother, Bridget Flynn, was a fiddler, and her brothers were all musicians as well. Brendan's father, the late National Heritage Fellow, Martin Mulvihill of County Limerick, Ireland, was a renowned fiddle player and one of the most highly respected Irish music teachers in America. Even with these powerful influences, Brendan's style is uniquely his own.

Brendan’s strong tone, remarkable bow work and unsurpassed musicianship come from a deep love of the music and from a surprising influence. Though inspired by many traditional Irish musicians, Brendan also developed a passion for classical music. This classical influence can be heard most clearly perhaps in his playing of the baroque music of Turlough O'Carolan. The final distinctive result of Brendan’s many influences was best summed up by a quote printed by the Washington Irish Folk

Festival, "...It's often said that the difference between a fiddle and a violin lies not in the instrument but in the player. If that's the case, then Brendan is not the player one should look to when trying to draw such distinctions. Here is a man whose heritage, background and training epitomize that of the fiddler, but whose full, firm tone, exquisite bow work and subtle, sensitive musicianship bear all the hallmarks of the classical violinist…."

Brendan immigrated to New York with his family in 1965. In the ‘70s he traveled to Ireland playing throughout the country with his contemporaries and building a huge repertoire of tunes. During this time, he won the All Ireland Fiddle Championship. Later, Brendan moved to Birmingham, England where he played in ceilidh bands and with the many Irish musicians who had also settled in the English Midlands.

In 1975, Brendan returned to New York, where he soon began playing with accordion player Billy McComiskey and singer/guitarist Andy O'Brien. The three eventually made their way to Washington, DC, ostensibly for a week-long gig in The Dubliner pub as The Irish Tradition. The week turned into several years, and The Irish Tradition became a seminal influence in traditional music, helping to establish it as a permanent and integral part of Washington's musical fabric. During this same time period,

Billy and Brendan traveled back to Ireland to win the All Ireland Fiddle/Accordion Duet Championship.

After recording several albums, the Irish Tradition disbanded. Brendan remained in the Baltimore/Washington area, using the region as a home base for his travels. Brendan appeared at the Eigse na Laoi at University  College, Cork, Ireland in 1993 and again in 1995, where he played sets with uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, fiddler Martin Hayes and accordionist John Williams. Brendan and pianist Donna Long toured the country in 1994-95 as part of the Masters of the Folk Violin tour sponsored by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. In 1995, the duo was featured in the Washington Irish Folk Festival's evening concert, which was broadcast worldwide. In 1998 Brendan played in the PBS broadcast, Performance at the White House, for President and Mrs. Clinton and their guests. Brendan is an original member of The Green Fields of America all-star Irish concert tour. Brendan has also been interviewed by Noah Adams on NPR's All Things Considered and has appeared on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.

The Washington Irish Folk Festival published the following about Brendan’s current playing style,

"...The raw, unbridled energy of his youth has given way to a seasoned, sophisticated and mature immersion in an art form in which each individual note can speak volumes." In the current and past few years Brendan has been leaving this impression on people at such venues as the Milwaukee Irish Festival;

the Dublin, Ohio Irish Festival; the Kansas City Irish Festival; the annual St. Patrick's Day concert at Gaston Hall, Georgetown University; the Baltimore Irish Festival; the National Folk Festival; the Friends of St. John's College concert series; the Washington Folk Festival; the Smithsonian Festival in Washington, DC; the Celtic Colours International Festival in Nova Scotia; the Philadelphia Irish Festival; the Washington Irish Folk Festival; the Institute of Musical Traditions; National Geographic; and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. He has also toured with Billy McComiskey and guitarist Zan McLeod at The Prism Coffeehouse in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Tir na nOg pub in Somerville, Massachusetts; the Celtic Trader concert series in Charlotte, North Carolina; and many others. Brendan currently plays Wednesday nights at Nanny O'Brien's pub in Washington with singer/guitarist Brian Gaffney.

Michael O Suilleabhain referred to Brendan as "...A rare genius.…" This same thought has been shared by others and that is why so many have sought him out as their teacher. Sharing his talent with students of Irish music, Brendan has emerged as a highly respected and sought-after teacher. He taught for several years at the Augusta Heritage Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia, the Ceilidh Trail Summer School in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the Milwaukee Irish Festival's summer school and most recently at the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, NY. Brendan has also taught several rising young fiddle players in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area. Brendan received the 2005 Maryland Traditions Folk Arts and Culture Apprenticeship Award for teaching the art of traditional Irish fiddle playing.

Brendan is currently working on a book of Irish music. He expects it to be published this year.  

   Jimmy Eagan

   http://www.jimeagan.com

  The history of Irish traditional dance music in the United States has been  extensively documented. Tens of thousands of words have been written about the  invaluable contributions of musicians from Ireland -- and their American-born  children and grandchildren -- who emigrated to New York, Boston, Chicago, and   San Francisco.  These great musicians are rightly recognized for having preserved and carried on their honored traditions, and they continue to do so today with great pride and ever-increasing recognition. Somewhat less thoroughly chronicled, one might even argue overlooked, for their importance to the growth and popularity of Irish music in America, are the great and neighboring cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The famed trio "The Irish Tradition" began playing in Washington and Baltimore in the mid-1970s, and their massive influence is still being felt to this day. The group's singer, Andy O'Brien, and accordionist, Billy McComiskey, both eventually settled in Baltimore, about thirty-five miles north of the nation's capital. The group's fiddler, Brendan Mulvihill, continues to live in suburban Maryland, just outside Washington D.C., to this day. Andy, Billy, and Brendan are owed an incalculable musical debt by everyone in the Washington/Baltimore area who plays or enjoys Irish music.

Brendan Mulvihill's legendary status as a performer of Irish music on the fiddle needs no elaboration. He virtually redefined the sound of the fiddle, and continues to explore and expand its possibilities every time he puts bow to string. This same single-minded devotion to his music has also made Brendan an in-demand instructor, whose high musical standard has been passed on to many of today's talented fiddlers who have been fortunate enough to benefit from his tutelage. Donna Long, Jesse Smith, and Brendan Callahan are but three of the wonderful fiddle players who have learned from Brendan Mulvihill, and they have all made recordings that clearly demonstrate his singular influence, as well as showcasing their own considerable talents.

The name of Jim Eagan can now be added that exclusive list. This, his début recording, is one of the most exciting musical events I can recall being part of in many years. Jim has audaciously chosen to dedicate his inaugural CD entirely to the compositions of Ed Reavy. Jim was already planning to make a recording when he found himself at the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York, in July 2002. Also present that week was Ed Reavy, Jr., a tireless champion of his father's music. An informal meeting was arranged while in the Catskills, which led to a more formal visit to Ed's house, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in October 2002. Jim came away from that second meeting (at which Ed's brother Joe, and Ed's and Joe's wives, both named Mary, were also present) with the blessing of the Reavy family, and firmly committed to the idea of making an album-length recording of Ed Reavy's music. (For a full description of Ed Reavy's life and music, please visit the website at www.reavy.us .)

Jim was born in Baltimore in 1979, and continues to reside there. He fondly recalls being enchanted by the violin even at a very young age. "My father began taking violin lessons when I was five, and soon thereafter, I started taking Suzuki classes from the Baltimore Talent Education Center." (It should be noted that Jim's parents, Earle and Donna Eagan, are well-known and much loved by their fellow Baltimoreans for their unstinting devotion to Irish music in general and their son's music in particular; they can be counted on to appear at virtually any local event at which he is performing.)

Until the age of fifteen, Jim exclusively studied classical violin, both through Suzuki classes and at the Baltimore School for the Arts. Jim's roots in Irish tradition truly sprouted from Irish step dancing, which he began studying from that same early age. Initially a student of Annette Cribben, who resided in Baltimore, and later a student of Kevin Broesler, who commuted from the New York area, Jim qualified for the World Championships in Dublin in 1991. This exposure to the jigs, reels, and hornpipes while learning his steps was instrumental in developing his desire and ability to play Irish traditional fiddle. Even now, Jim will occasionally get up and perform a step at a concert or session.

While in high school, Jim's interest in the dance music of his own Irish heritage became more pronounced. Jim was first exposed to the fiddling of Brendan Mulvihill while competing at a Feis at Glen Echo Park. They later met and his first lesson was arranged. From ages 15 to 18, Jim studied with Brendan Mulvihill. "In fact," says Jim, "the fiddle I play now is one I acquired from Brendan. It's an old German fiddle that I've had for three years now. I'm not sure who made it, but Brendan was always fascinated by it and I like it just as much." (Typical of fiddles associated with Brendan, the scroll on Jim's fiddle is adorned with an intricate carving of a lion's head.)

Brendan is a primary influence on Jim's playing, which is reflected in his musical style. He distinctively pays homage to Brendan in the second part of "The House of Hamill" (track 12). During his final run you will hear a series of bow triplets and rhythmic bow bounces, signature ornamentations of Brendan's, which Jim reverentially reproduces here.

Jim, like his teacher Brendan Mulvihill, eventually found himself fascinated with the music of Ed Reavy. Brendan has been known to refer to Reavy's compositions as "paradise tunes" for the fiddle, and Jim couldn't agree more. "I might have heard some of the more popular Reavy tunes," Jim says, "on this or that CD or maybe being played in a session or a concert, but mostly I just went through the book ["Where The Shannon Rises"] and eventually took it all in. It got to the point where every tune was a keeper." Jim is not exaggerating - he literally plays every single Reavy tune that has been published to date. "Some of the tunes, naturally, seemed difficult at first, but they just grabbed me, and I also enjoyed playing some of the tunes that I'd never heard anyone else do. After I've been playing them for awhile, it's as if they flow right out of the fiddle. The tunes just seem to play themselves." When Jim visited the Reavy household in October 2002, to the delight of the assembled Reavy clan, he played a sizable chunk of the book, with variations and without rehearsal.

Jim is also rightly proud of having put together all the tune sets on this album. For, unlike the recordings of Coleman, Morrison and Killoran, which have provided untold numbers of musicians with ready-made medleys, there are scarcely any commercial recordings of Reavy himself playing his own tunes, whether in couplings or even singly. So, faced with the prospect of putting together an entire album of Reavy's compositions, Jim was naturally forced to combine tunes based on his own intuition rather than based on precedent. The results show how successful he was: The "John Roarty's" set (track 1) and the "Reilly of the White Hill" set (track 5) are but two of the many selections which sound as if they are old medleys being faithfully re-recorded (in the fashion of Coleman's "Tarbolton" set), rather than the brand-new sets which they actually are.   If you're wondering about the inclusion of "The Irish Washerwoman" (track 6) on the present recording, Jim explains: "It's Reavy's setting of the old jig, but I put alot of my own variations in it." And thus, the tradition continues to develop and strengthen.

For the past several years, Jim has immersed himself in Irish traditional music. Jim's first trip to Ireland (1996), was to compete in the Fleadh Cheoil, the all Ireland music competition. Jim was awarded third place in the 15-18 age group category for fiddle. Soon thereafter, he began teaching privately. In 1997, Jim was invited to the Augusta Heritage workshops as an instructor, and has continued each year ever since. In the late 1990s, Jim spent several years as a member of the John Whelan Band and toured Ireland, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. At this writing, he is a member of O'Malley's March, the popular Baltimore-based group led by Mayor Martin O'Malley ( omalleysmarch.com ) and the band "Custom House".   He also co-hosts two weekly sessions in Baltimore with flutist Laura Byrne: Sunday afternoons at the James Joyce Pub in downtown Baltimore, and Tuesday evenings at J.Patrick's Pub in south Baltimore's historic Locust Point neighborhood.

Jim relentlessly listens to Traditional music and he particularly admires the playing of fiddlers Sean Maguire, Frankie Gavin, Tommy Peoples, Sean Keane, and Jesse Smith, as well as piper Robbie Hannan, flutist Matt Molloy, accordionist Billy McComiskey, and pianist/fiddler Donna Long. Jim is fond of playing in duets, and is especially enthusiastic about his ongoing musical association with piper, and fellow Baltimorean, Eliot Grasso. They can be heard on track 7, playing what Jim calls, "a real Donegal-sounding set of tunes." Jim would like to acknowledge the contributions of the other musicians who play on this album: guitarist Andy Thurston, bouzouki player Mark Evans (who's new CD "A Rival Heart" [ www.rivalheart.com ], includes an appearance by Jim), banjoist Peter Fitzgerald, and, on percussion...

Yours truly,

Myron Bretholz June 2003
 

Jesse Winch

Jesse Winch is the son of Bridie and Patrick Winch, Irish immigrants who met and married in New York City in the early 1930’s. Patrick played the tenor banjo and encouraged all of his five children to play the Irish music he loved so well.

As a ten-year-old, Jesse took up the drums and two years later started playing with his father and button-accordion player P.J. Conway for house parties and parish dances. He played in his first ceili band in the late 1950s with the legendary Felix Dolan.

In the early 1970s, Jesse started playing the bodhran with encouragement and inspiration from such players as DeDanann’s Johnny McDonagh. He is a founding member of the award-winning band, Celtic Thunder, and also plays regularly in the DC area with the Bog Wanderers Ceili Band.

Jesse has served on the teaching staff at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV during “Irish Week” teaching beginning bodhran and ceili band, at the Swannanoa Gathering in Ashville, NC during “Celtic Week,” at the North American Convention for Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, and throughout the year at the House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD.

Myron Bretholz

From World Folk Music Association

http://www.wfma.net/bretholz.htm

Myron Bretholz of Baltimore, MD, has been playing bodhran (Irish drum) and bones for over fifteen years. He has played on and/or produced over thirty albums, by such artists, as Ceoltoiri, Clishmaclaver, The Irish Tradition, Sodabread, Zan McLeod, Danny Doyle, Robin Bullock, Bonnie Rideout, and Al Petteway. Myron has also appeared in concert with the likes of Mary Bergin, Altan, The Beltway Broads, and Aine Minogue, among many others. He wrote the liner notes to the Green Linnet 20th Anniversary Compilation which they released in the summer of 1996.

Mitch Fanning

Mitch Fanning, Director of CCE FiddleWeek, is a violinist and fiddler based in Silver Spring, Maryland.  He earned a Bachelor of Music degree (1982) in violin performance from Catholic University of America, where he studied with Jody Gatwood and Robert Gerle.  He has studied Suzuki  violin pedagogy with John Kendall and Ronda Cole.  Mitch has also studied traditional Irish fiddling with Brendan Mulvihill and participated in music festivals in Ireland over the last four years. 

He teaches violin and fiddle out of his home studio in the Forest Glen area of Silver Spring and is on the music faculty at the Washington Waldorf School, home of “Pete Moss & The Bog Band” , a group of middle school fiddler’s featured at last year’s Potomac Celtic Festival.  Mitch performs regularly at area sessions and ceili’s around town.

                                                                 Registration Form                    

CCE FiddleWeek 2007 July 9 - 13 (M –  F, 9:30 am - 4 pm)

Washington Waldorf School - 4800 Sangamore Road, Bethesda MD, 20815

Please print legibly

Student Name:  ________________________________________

Adult or Grade Completed:  ______________________________

Parent Name(s):  _______________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Address:  ____________________________________________

City/State/ZIP:  _______________________________________

Phone(s):  ______________________ ; Email:  ____________________

Private Teacher Name (if any):  ___________________________

Years of Study:   ____________________ ;  Age in July 2007:  _______________

Check One:

         CCE FiddleWeek Registration.  Payment of $400 must accompany this registration form ($350 for registrations and checks received by May 15).   Please make check payable to “Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.”

         Ceili Band Coaching with Jesse Winch (daily from 11:30-1:30 p.m.)

Note: included and optional to all full day registrants.  This session is open to accomplished instrumentalists on traditional ceili instruments, including button accordion, concertina, flute, whistle, drum (snare or bodhran), guitar, bazouki, or tenor banjo.  Payment of $150 must accompany this registration form ($100 for registrations and checks received by May 15).  Please make check payable to “Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.”

Early Registration Discount Deadline: May 15, 2007

Return this form and payment to:

Mitch Fanning, Director
CCE FiddleWeek 2007
9824 Rosensteel Avenue
Silver Spring, MD  20910

  Check here if you are interested in special CCE FiddleWeek rates at a local hotel. 

     FiddleWeek staff will contact you with rates and transportation options.