Majella Bartley, in late 2003, was struck with the knowledge that many musicians aged between 16 and 25 no longer had the opportunity or incentive to play traditional Irish music. There are many and varied opportunities for children to develop their performance practice in Ireland through formal educational structures and the agency of organisations such as Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and Na Píobairí Uilleann. However, for young adults there is a lack of contexts for the further development of performance practice with the exceptions of third level, an option not engaged by the vast majority of young musicians and the limited performance space of the pub. There is therefore strong anecdotal evidence that many young musicians struggle to maintain their participation in the art form and we loose a lot of our young musicians due to the fact that there are no opportunities for them to perform. So taking this into account Majella Bartley undertook to establish a youth group in Munster under the aegis of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann the principle context for much traditional music making by children in this region. So Ceoltoiri na Sionainne was set up in 2003. The group provides an outlet for young musicians between the ages of 16 and 25 to develop and perform their talents.
The ensemble consists of 35 traditional musicians, singers and dancers and meets once a month for a full days performance workshop under the guidance of a musical director (Majella Bartley) to prepare and rehearse challenging, quality programmes of traditional music, song and dance. Through interaction with a diverse group of professional musicians and arrangers such as Michael Rooney, Niall Keegan, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Allstaff, Gary Lynch and Olive Brennan, everyone involved has the opportunity to gain a wealth of experience and knowledge invaluable to any musician.
Involvements in this type of ensemble nurture the creativity and musical talents of the participants. These young adult performers have been given a chance to further develop their skills, repertoire and knowledge base through the rehearsal and performance processes. Exposure to other performers and the chance to work with experienced musical directors deepens participants’ artistic development and cultural understanding. The project also provides young musicians with the opportunity to socialise and to share their talents and interest with their peers in a setting other then the public house.
We have performed many times over the past few years (e.g. Fleadhenna, Danlann an Chlar in Ennis, Templegleantain Co. Limerick, Ireland in Dixie Convention, Glasgow, Rouen-France), which have strengthened the group immensely. The repertoire of Ceoltoiri na Sionainne, which is very important for this project, is primarily Munster based, Munster songs, Munster tunes and Munster dances. Each member of the group is involved in the research of their own county for tunes, songs or dances. Upon each meeting for rehearsal each member must bring with them a piece of music, song or dance, which has come from their locality. I believe this to be very important for the members themselves to learn about music from their own area as well as keeping such music, song and dance alive.
We have also been fortunate in having help from the University of Limerick. We have been given the use of rehearsal space at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance free of charge. For the recording of their CD the University have kindly allowed us to use their recording equipment free of charge. We are very grateful to the Irish World Academy and we believe this connection provides a fruitful interaction with the courses there.
