Jigs and Reels

Newsletter of the Buffalo Irish Arts Society

(Martin Wynne Chapter of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann)        March 2004
 
 

Busy First Weekend in March

 

You won’t believe all the things taking place on the first weekend in March.  Read the summaries below and look at our online calendar to print out all the events.  Put it on your refrigerator so you don’t forget!

 

Contra dances will intermingle with ceilis at our next dance, co-sponsored with the Queen City Contra Dancers on Saturday, March 6 at 8 p.m. in the Amherst Community Church, 77 Washington Highway.  Music will be provided by Trefoyle, joined by other members of the Buffalo Irish Arts Society.  This is a great opportunity for us to share the fun of sets and ceilis with others who already appreciate folk dancing.

 

The fun begins earlier on Saturday 3/6 with a dancing demonstration at the Prime Outlet Mall in Niagara Falls starting at 10:30 a.m.  E-mail Shane Devlin (smdevlin@netacc.net) if you are interested in dancing.  The Niagara Falls Chapter of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians has displays and activities taking place all day.

 

Also on March 6, a new seisiun is being launched at Nietzsches, 248 Allen Street in Buffalo.  This seisiun will be held every Saturday @ 4 p.m.  Contact Mark Warford (warford@adelphia.net) for more information.

 

Our last seisiun at the Buffalo Irish Center was a great, not only in the pub but also in the Library.  We were pleased to welcome several new musicians, including two fiddlers: Mary Reidy, one of our members who used to live here but now works in Syracuse, and Michael who is taking lessons from Ed Dillon.  Two of our newest members also attended.  Family Court Judge Paul Buchanan brought his guitar and is planning to take his mandolin next time, while his brother-in-law Charlie Burke was playing the piano accordion.  It was great to see so many newcomers to Irish Music and look forward to hearing their musical talents grow!

 

We are also pleased to have our first youth members, something Comhaltas is promoting internationally. Sinead and Brady Gaynor from Olean joined along with their parents Noel and Colleen.  One of the girls received a fiddle lesson from Brian Conway before his concert!  Now we’d like some more people under the age of 25 to sign-up.  At some point, we do need to elect an official youth officer from our chapter.

 

Looking ahead to some concerts, the Woods Tea Company will bring Irish & other folk tunes and songs to the Buffalo Irish Center in a benefit concert, sponsored by another one of our new members, Robert Besanceney from Orchard Park.  The concert takes place Friday, March 26 at 8 p.m.  Tickets cost $10 in advance and are available at the Tara Gift Shoppe.

 

Then the Buffalo Irish Arts Society is pleased to welcome Chulrua to the Irish Center on Wednesday, May 12 @ 7:30 p.m.  The trio includes Paddy O'Brien, who has probably forgotten more tunes than I ever learned.  He’s a fabulous box player!  And you won't want to miss Patrick Ourceau's fiddling, rounded out by Pat Egan on guitar and vocals!  We need a volunteer who can provide housing for all three after the concert.

 

Two concerts are worth a drive down the Thruway, in both directions.  Lunasa is coming to East Rochester High School on Monday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the school’s Celtic Music Society.  And Altan will be playing in Erie, PA at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 12.  The concert is in the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center at Mercyhurst College.

 

We have a shelter reserved in Chestnut Ridge Park for our Picnic on Saturday, June 20th.  Due to popular demand, Shelter 8 is much closer to a bathroom……

 

Finally, spring is a time for re-birth and renewal.  It is great to see so many new seisiuns and so many new musicians coming on board!  But we all must remember that Irish music has traditionally been a solo endeavor, much in the way a Sean-nos singer will perform without accompaniment. As Ciaran Carson points out in his book Irish Traditional Music, musicians play together "for company, for craic, for the lift that another musician will give to your own playing, or maybe simply to create a bigger sound for dancing to."

 

As many writers point out, playing Irish music in a group setting involves communication and compromise.

 

The importance that Irish traditional musicians attach to ornamentation and variation means that the music can only be fully satisfying in the context of a solo performance. Spontaneity in group playing is of necessity, subject to the requirement that the overall sound has a certain togetherness: this tends to inhibit the adventurous performer. - Tomas O'Canainn from Traditional Music in Ireland

 

The musicians will have to arrive at some implicit (or explicit) agreement to stay within certain limits of ornamentation and melodic variation; this kind of conversation is often as satisfying as solo playing. . . . The interval between tunes is an important opportunity for conversation, and for learning names of tunes and sources.  - Gearoid OHallmuhurain from A Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music

 

Within bands, people have more freedom to be fancy.  Seisiuns are more basic by necessity.  So having said that, you don’t have to be ready for Carnegie Hall to join in a seisiun.  You may be playing tunes at basic level to start but can progress to adding more ornaments and variations.  But the beauty of Irish music is that you can play a simpler version while someone else adds more ornaments, and it all fits together!  And inbetween tunes, feel free to ask more experienced musicians about the tunes, ornaments, different styles of playing, etc.  The social experience of a seisiun is equally important as the tunes.