Armagh Pipers Club - Armagh Pipers Club

Armagh Pipers Club
14 Victoria Street
Armagh BT61 9DT
Northern Ireland

Armagh Pipers Club founded 1966

Armagh Pipers Club

Armagh, the ancient capital of Ulster, can justify the claim of being Ulster's cultural capital at the present time. Its prehistoric sites, early Christian monastic remains including the famous Armagh High Cross, and Georgian buildings attract visitors from all over the world. It has produced an amazing number of writers, artists, poets, musicians, composers, actors and film-makers. Its cultural festivals - The William Kennedy Piping Festival, The John Hewitt Summer School, The Charles Wood Summer School - have enhanced the reputation of the City.

Armagh Pipers Club, which has been promoting traditional music in the area since 1966, is one of the city's major cultural organisations. The Club is now a centre of excellence in the practice of teaching traditional music, catering for over 200 pupils of all ages who attend weekly music classes, as well as promoting concerts, sessions, and Europe's top international Piping Festival.

Canntaireachd has lift-off!

The group ‘Canntaireachd’ is composed of members of the Killeen Pipe Band and the Armagh Pipers Club and brings together highland pipes and uilleann pipes in a unique combination. They'll be playing during the Pipe Up! festival in Belfast, Piping Live in Glasgow and the William Kennedy Piping Festival. Here's some more information.

End of year session

Monday 14th June we had the end of year session and a birthday! Have a look at the pictures.

Workshop school visits

The workshop has had its first two school visits. There were talks, demonstrations, a multimedia presentation, a quiz, a mini concert and not to forget lemonade and biscuits! There are a few photographs right here.

Music examinations

Certificates for Winter and Summer exam sessions were presented on Monday night and I would like to congratulate everyone who was successful. We were very pleased with the results - 30 pupils passed the exams, with 12 of these gaining distinctions. These were: Grade 2 Bláthnaid Hendron (whistle), Iarlaith Hendron (banjo) Grade 4 Ruairí Stewart (whistle), Rónán Stewart (pipes) and John Treanor (pipes) Grade 6 Orla Canavan (whistle), Mairéad Mitchell (fiddle) and Méabh Smyth (fiddle), Grade 8 James McCaffrey, Míceál Mullen and Rónan Stewart (all whistle) and Conor Murphy (banjo).

Fiddle Fair, 6th - 9th May 2010

Dermot Mulholland, Niall Murphy and Emmet Mulholland enjoy a tune

As a result of funding from Foras na Gaeilge/SELB, the string band was able to travel to Baltimore in Co. Cork to take part in Fiddle Fair last weekend. They played and sang at a number of events, ranging from a major concert to outdoor sessions to a Mass in Skibbereen and had a wonderful time. All the members of the group had been working hard since February to develop a programme for strings and voices and the end result was a very professional performance.

Thanks to all the fiddle and banjo teachers who prepared and travelled with the group and to Sally Walmsley-Pledl and Thomas Smyth who helped supervise the children throughout the weekend. Thanks also to singers Máire Ní Choilm and Anne Martin and to fiddler, Gerry O’Connor, for their workshops with the band at Trad at the Trian and Ceol Cairlinn.

Aíne and Finnola Mallon, Meabh Smyth

Fiddle class with Cape Breton fiddler Troy MacGillivray

"Strung Up!" on stage in Glebe Gardens at Fiddle Fair, Baltimore

Féile Oriel

We would like to congratulate Tiarnán and Éamonn who were the main organisers of Féile Oriel in Monaghan on the May Bank Holiday weekend and thank them for inviting our musicians to take part. The Festival provided a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy top-class music from Altan, Kila, De Danann and North Cregg free of charge on the Gig Rig. The Pipers Club string band, “Strung Up!” performed on the Gig Rig just before Altan to a huge crowd of spectators and it was great to see so many Pipers Club families in the crowd.

The highlight of the Festival, of course, is the competition to select the Fiddler of Oriel. This was won by Niall Murphy with Emmet Mulholland taking second place. Niall's win was particularly striking as he had won the Junior competition last year. Armagh musicians were very much in evidence over the weekend with the Niall Vallely Band and the Brian Finnegan Band presenting two major concerts, and Gerry Lappin, Mark Mohan, Ciaran Hanna, Rosie Smyth and Martin Meehan providing much of the session music.

Armagh Pipers Club workshops

Five weekends of pipe-making activities have taken place in the Workshop under the direction of Éamonn Curran. Three of these were focussed on reed-making and provided a great opportunity to piping students to learn how to make and maintain their own reeds. The 4th & 5th weekends were devoted to bag-tying i.e. learning how to connect the bag to the pipes and make it airtight. Both the 4th & 5th weekends also included drone reed making and revision work on chanter reeds.

The next stage in workshop activities will be Open Days for schools when children will be able to visit the workshop and learn about uilleann pipes, their history in the area and the work of the Pipers Club. This enterprise is made possible by funding from the Heritage Lottery. Any parents who would be available during the school day would be welcome to help out on the School Open Days. We are indebted to Gráinne Crothers, APC Development Officer, who sourced funding for so many of the Club's projects since last year.

More pictures of the reed making workshops can be found here.

Sponsored session

Thanks to everyone who supported the Sponsored Music Session in the Navan Centre and raised funds to help the Club. A total of £788.50 has been raised to date by 22 families and will go towards the re-printing of music books to be used in our classes next term.

More pictures are here

Banríon an cheoil - Queen of music

A recent film on TV - BBC and TG4 entitled Banríon an Cheoil - featured a project initiated by Aoibheann Devlin (Connolly), a past pupil of APC and a fine fiddle player, to reconstruct the Downhill harp played at the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792 by the harper Denis Hempson from Magilligan, Co. Derry. Watch out for the second part of the project which will be shown on TV at a later date; this covers a concert of wire-strung harp playing held earlier this year in Derry with performances from the world's top players - Ann Heymann, Alain Stivell, Myrddhin, Alison Kinnaird, Billy Taylor, Bonnie Shaljean, Laoise Kelly and Nollaig Brolly.

Maire Ni Choilm and Donal O'Connor at Trad at the Trian

Fiddle tunes: Meabh, Thomas and Rosie Smyth, Gerry and Sile O'Connor

Paul Meehan, Maire Ni Choilm and Dermot Mulholland

Maxl Walmsley-Pledl, Emer Mallon, Laura Henderson with Ingrid Henderson

Singing workshop with Ann Martin: Joan Kiernan, Sinead Breen, Finnola and Aine Mallon, Meabh Smyth and Alana Henderson

Eithne and Brian Vallely with President Mary McAleese at Aras an Uachtarain

Annual Concert: Sunday March 14th 2010

The 44th Annual Concert took place on Sunday March 14th in the main auditorium of the Market Place Theatre in Armagh.

Burns Night 2010

The Club's seventh Annual Burns Night took place at the Pearse Óg Club House on Sunday 24th January. Burns Night has become an institution in the Pipers Club over the past few years and this year we had great songs, music and dancing with a packed house.

16^th WKPF pictures and review!

The 16th William Kennedy Piping Festival was a multi-facetted event bringing together pipers and musical genres from all over the world to celebrate the universal experience of music that knows no boundaries and unites people in the common bond of music.
Read the full review here

16^th WKPF launched and Pipe Making Workshop officially opened

22^nd of November the 16^th William Kennedy Piping Festival was launched in St Patrick's Trian. During the same event the Pipe Making Workshop was opened.

Have a look at the pictures

Music Books from Armagh Pipers' Club for sale at Crow Valley Music

Brian and Eithne Valley founded the Armagh Pipers' Club over forty years ago and have been involved in the musical education of thousands of children including many who have gone on to establish themselves among Ireland's foremost traditional musicians. They started producing tutor books in 1972 - the first of their kind. We now have these iconic books for sale online for the first time.

Harp

We would encourage pupils (including those who play other instruments already) to consider taking up the harp as we will have two new harp teachers this year and are really keen to develop harp-playing in the Club.

Venues
St. Patrick's Grammar School

We are indebted to Father Donaghy, headmaster of St. Patrick's Grammar School for allowing us to hold our classes in the school. We expect all our pupils to respect the premises and leave classrooms tidy. The Assembly Hall is available for older pupils to do their homework, or parents to wait for their children.

Pearse Óg

The monthly Family Session takes place in Pearse Óg club house.

St. Patrick's Trian

Trad at the Trian is held in the Auditorium of St Patrick's Trian in English St.

Thanks to

all the teachers who come along every week to share their love of traditional music with you.

Maura Mallon and Kathy Kiernan who ensure the smooth running of classes and sessions.

all the parents who volunteered their help during WKPF to look after our guests, do airport runs, manage the CD shop and art exhibitions, organise raffles, supervise workshops etc.

Fr. Donaghy for the use of St. Patrick's Grammar School, and Eugene McKinney, who looks after us in the school on Monday nights.

Pearse Óg GFC for the use of their club house for our family sessions.

London College of Music Examinations in traditional music

LCM Graded Examinations in traditional of music take place three times during the year, in Winter, Spring and Summer and APC pupils have been taking these exams since 1999. The graded exams provide an objective measure of their progress and are generally taken every two years. Marks achieved in the higher grades are accepted by UCAS towards university entrance. This year we hope to prepare some of our advanced students for ALCM in Traditional Music Teaching.

Links

Armagh Pipers Club is not affiliated to any organization, but has links with various music groups in Ireland and abroad. These include Feis an Earraigh on the Isle of Skye, with whom we have had an ongoing exchange for many years, Open House Festival in Belfast, "Piping Live" in Glasgow and Malahide Festival of Piping in Co. Dublin.

FEIS AN EARRAIGHL
We look forward to continuing our links with young musicians from the Isle of Skye during the coming year. The Scottish musicians will visit Armagh for the William Kennedy Piping Festival in November while a group from APC will travel to Skye in the Spring for Feis an Earraigh.

Funding

Armagh Pipers Club is a registered charity. 'Colmcille' supports our ongoing exchange with Feis an Earraigh on the Isle of Skye, and also Gaelic Singing workshops. Armagh City and District Council provides grant aid towards the WKPF.

home • e-mail Armagh Pipers Club links Trad @ the Trian WKPF Armagh Pipers Club 14 Victoria Street Armagh BT61 9DT Northern Ireland	Armagh Pipers Club founded 1966
	Armagh Pipers Club
	Armagh, the ancient capital of Ulster, can justify the claim of being Ulster's cultural capital at the present time. Its prehistoric sites, early Christian monastic remains including the famous Armagh High Cross, and Georgian buildings attract visitors from all over the world. It has produced an amazing number of writers, artists, poets, musicians, composers, actors and film-makers. Its cultural festivals - The William Kennedy Piping Festival, The John Hewitt Summer School, The Charles Wood Summer School - have enhanced the reputation of the City. Armagh Pipers Club, which has been promoting traditional music in the area since 1966, is one of the city's major cultural organisations. The Club is now a centre of excellence in the practice of teaching traditional music, catering for over 200 pupils of all ages who attend weekly music classes, as well as promoting concerts, sessions, and Europe's top international Piping Festival. Canntaireachd has lift-off! The group ‘Canntaireachd’ is composed of members of the Killeen Pipe Band and the Armagh Pipers Club and brings together highland pipes and uilleann pipes in a unique combination. They'll be playing during the Pipe Up! festival in Belfast, Piping Live in Glasgow and the William Kennedy Piping Festival. Here's some more information. End of year session Monday 14th June we had the end of year session and a birthday! Have a look at the pictures. Workshop school visits The workshop has had its first two school visits. There were talks, demonstrations, a multimedia presentation, a quiz, a mini concert and not to forget lemonade and biscuits! There are a few photographs right here. Music examinations Certificates for Winter and Summer exam sessions were presented on Monday night and I would like to congratulate everyone who was successful. We were very pleased with the results - 30 pupils passed the exams, with 12 of these gaining distinctions. These were: Grade 2 Bláthnaid Hendron (whistle), Iarlaith Hendron (banjo) Grade 4 Ruairí Stewart (whistle), Rónán Stewart (pipes) and John Treanor (pipes) Grade 6 Orla Canavan (whistle), Mairéad Mitchell (fiddle) and Méabh Smyth (fiddle), Grade 8 James McCaffrey, Míceál Mullen and Rónan Stewart (all whistle) and Conor Murphy (banjo). Fiddle Fair, 6th - 9th May 2010 Dermot Mulholland, Niall Murphy and Emmet Mulholland enjoy a tune As a result of funding from Foras na Gaeilge/SELB, the string band was able to travel to Baltimore in Co. Cork to take part in Fiddle Fair last weekend. They played and sang at a number of events, ranging from a major concert to outdoor sessions to a Mass in Skibbereen and had a wonderful time. All the members of the group had been working hard since February to develop a programme for strings and voices and the end result was a very professional performance. Thanks to all the fiddle and banjo teachers who prepared and travelled with the group and to Sally Walmsley-Pledl and Thomas Smyth who helped supervise the children throughout the weekend. Thanks also to singers Máire Ní Choilm and Anne Martin and to fiddler, Gerry O’Connor, for their workshops with the band at Trad at the Trian and Ceol Cairlinn. Aíne and Finnola Mallon, Meabh Smyth Fiddle class with Cape Breton fiddler Troy MacGillivray "Strung Up!" on stage in Glebe Gardens at Fiddle Fair, Baltimore Féile Oriel We would like to congratulate Tiarnán and Éamonn who were the main organisers of Féile Oriel in Monaghan on the May Bank Holiday weekend and thank them for inviting our musicians to take part. The Festival provided a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy top-class music from Altan, Kila, De Danann and North Cregg free of charge on the Gig Rig. The Pipers Club string band, “Strung Up!” performed on the Gig Rig just before Altan to a huge crowd of spectators and it was great to see so many Pipers Club families in the crowd. The highlight of the Festival, of course, is the competition to select the Fiddler of Oriel. This was won by Niall Murphy with Emmet Mulholland taking second place. Niall's win was particularly striking as he had won the Junior competition last year. Armagh musicians were very much in evidence over the weekend with the Niall Vallely Band and the Brian Finnegan Band presenting two major concerts, and Gerry Lappin, Mark Mohan, Ciaran Hanna, Rosie Smyth and Martin Meehan providing much of the session music. Armagh Pipers Club workshops Five weekends of pipe-making activities have taken place in the Workshop under the direction of Éamonn Curran. Three of these were focussed on reed-making and provided a great opportunity to piping students to learn how to make and maintain their own reeds. The 4th & 5th weekends were devoted to bag-tying i.e. learning how to connect the bag to the pipes and make it airtight. Both the 4th & 5th weekends also included drone reed making and revision work on chanter reeds. The next stage in workshop activities will be Open Days for schools when children will be able to visit the workshop and learn about uilleann pipes, their history in the area and the work of the Pipers Club. This enterprise is made possible by funding from the Heritage Lottery. Any parents who would be available during the school day would be welcome to help out on the School Open Days. We are indebted to Gráinne Crothers, APC Development Officer, who sourced funding for so many of the Club's projects since last year. More pictures of the reed making workshops can be found here. Sponsored session Thanks to everyone who supported the Sponsored Music Session in the Navan Centre and raised funds to help the Club. A total of £788.50 has been raised to date by 22 families and will go towards the re-printing of music books to be used in our classes next term. More pictures are here Banríon an cheoil - Queen of music A recent film on TV - BBC and TG4 entitled Banríon an Cheoil - featured a project initiated by Aoibheann Devlin (Connolly), a past pupil of APC and a fine fiddle player, to reconstruct the Downhill harp played at the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792 by the harper Denis Hempson from Magilligan, Co. Derry. Watch out for the second part of the project which will be shown on TV at a later date; this covers a concert of wire-strung harp playing held earlier this year in Derry with performances from the world's top players - Ann Heymann, Alain Stivell, Myrddhin, Alison Kinnaird, Billy Taylor, Bonnie Shaljean, Laoise Kelly and Nollaig Brolly. Maire Ni Choilm and Donal O'Connor at Trad at the Trian Fiddle tunes: Meabh, Thomas and Rosie Smyth, Gerry and Sile O'Connor Paul Meehan, Maire Ni Choilm and Dermot Mulholland Maxl Walmsley-Pledl, Emer Mallon, Laura Henderson with Ingrid Henderson Singing workshop with Ann Martin: Joan Kiernan, Sinead Breen, Finnola and Aine Mallon, Meabh Smyth and Alana Henderson Eithne and Brian Vallely with President Mary McAleese at Aras an Uachtarain Annual Concert: Sunday March 14th 2010 The 44th Annual Concert took place on Sunday March 14th in the main auditorium of the Market Place Theatre in Armagh. Burns Night 2010 The Club's seventh Annual Burns Night took place at the Pearse Óg Club House on Sunday 24th January. Burns Night has become an institution in the Pipers Club over the past few years and this year we had great songs, music and dancing with a packed house. 16^th WKPF pictures and review! The 16th William Kennedy Piping Festival was a multi-facetted event bringing together pipers and musical genres from all over the world to celebrate the universal experience of music that knows no boundaries and unites people in the common bond of music. Read the full review here 16^th WKPF launched and Pipe Making Workshop officially opened 22^nd of November the 16^th William Kennedy Piping Festival was launched in St Patrick's Trian. During the same event the Pipe Making Workshop was opened. Have a look at the pictures Music Books from Armagh Pipers' Club for sale at Crow Valley Music Brian and Eithne Valley founded the Armagh Pipers' Club over forty years ago and have been involved in the musical education of thousands of children including many who have gone on to establish themselves among Ireland's foremost traditional musicians. They started producing tutor books in 1972 - the first of their kind. We now have these iconic books for sale online for the first time. Harp We would encourage pupils (including those who play other instruments already) to consider taking up the harp as we will have two new harp teachers this year and are really keen to develop harp-playing in the Club. Venues St. Patrick's Grammar School We are indebted to Father Donaghy, headmaster of St. Patrick's Grammar School for allowing us to hold our classes in the school. We expect all our pupils to respect the premises and leave classrooms tidy. The Assembly Hall is available for older pupils to do their homework, or parents to wait for their children. Pearse Óg The monthly Family Session takes place in Pearse Óg club house. St. Patrick's Trian Trad at the Trian is held in the Auditorium of St Patrick's Trian in English St. Thanks to all the teachers who come along every week to share their love of traditional music with you. Maura Mallon and Kathy Kiernan who ensure the smooth running of classes and sessions. all the parents who volunteered their help during WKPF to look after our guests, do airport runs, manage the CD shop and art exhibitions, organise raffles, supervise workshops etc. Fr. Donaghy for the use of St. Patrick's Grammar School, and Eugene McKinney, who looks after us in the school on Monday nights. Pearse Óg GFC for the use of their club house for our family sessions. London College of Music Examinations in traditional music LCM Graded Examinations in traditional of music take place three times during the year, in Winter, Spring and Summer and APC pupils have been taking these exams since 1999. The graded exams provide an objective measure of their progress and are generally taken every two years. Marks achieved in the higher grades are accepted by UCAS towards university entrance. This year we hope to prepare some of our advanced students for ALCM in Traditional Music Teaching. Links Armagh Pipers Club is not affiliated to any organization, but has links with various music groups in Ireland and abroad. These include Feis an Earraigh on the Isle of Skye, with whom we have had an ongoing exchange for many years, Open House Festival in Belfast, "Piping Live" in Glasgow and Malahide Festival of Piping in Co. Dublin. FEIS AN EARRAIGHL We look forward to continuing our links with young musicians from the Isle of Skye during the coming year. The Scottish musicians will visit Armagh for the William Kennedy Piping Festival in November while a group from APC will travel to Skye in the Spring for Feis an Earraigh. Funding Armagh Pipers Club is a registered charity. 'Colmcille' supports our ongoing exchange with Feis an Earraigh on the Isle of Skye, and also Gaelic Singing workshops. Armagh City and District Council provides grant aid towards the WKPF.