Class Descriptions

Children’s Course (6-13 years), Whistle & Bodhrán

This is an introductory course to tin whistle and bodhrán (Irish hand drum) which is especially designed for children. Class time is 45 minutes, and the time will be divided between the two instruments. No prior music experience is needed. Instruments are provided for those who do not already have them. A basic tin whistle is included in the course fee for students to keep. Bodhrans can be rented from the school at the start of the semester.

Beginner students will learn tin whistle tunes from the four elementary-grade tune types (airs, marches, polkas, jigs), and learn how to accompany slow reels and jigs on the bodhran. More experienced students will be taught additional material at their current level.

Beginner Tin Whistle for Adults

This course is suitable for aspiring tin whistle players who either have never played a tin whistle or have learned a few tunes and would now like to improve on technique, ornamentation, speed and repertoire. Students will learn basic whistle technique while learning to play tunes by ear. ABC notation will supplement learning aurally, showing each note name for those who need it.

The course will focus on teaching beginner-level tunes of varied types (airs, marches, polkas, jigs) with basic ornamentation, such as slides, cuts and rolls. The course is open to teens and adults. For students age 13 and under, the Children’s course is recommended. 

Intermediate/Advanced Tin Whistle

This class is suitable for tin whistle players who have already played several years, who have a repertoire of 10-20 tunes or more that they can play at speed, and who know basic ornamentation like slides, rolls and cuts. The focus of this class is on performance and repertoire, and will include advanced ornamentation techniques, how to insert variations in tunes, and how to play sets and transition between them. Students must be comfortable learning by ear from an instructor, and be willing to learn up to 2-3 new tunes each month. Open to all ages.

Beginner/Intermediate Bodhrán

This course is suitable both for complete beginners and for those who have played bodhrán for a few years. The class will cover basic and more advanced techniques, rhythms and styles. After learning how to accompany Irish reels and jigs, students will be introduced to other rhythms such as marches, polkas, hornpipes, slip jigs and mazurkas.

Students will learn variations that make bodhrán a creative expression of rhythm to accompany melody players in Irish sessions. Students will learn how to find the right "feel" to make the bodhrán stand out in the rhythm section without being overwhelming. The course is open to teens and adults. For students age 13 and under, the Children’s course is recommended.

Irish Rhythm Guitar

This course is intended for Irish guitar players of all levels, from beginners to experienced. However, the course is not a beginning guitar course—students should know basic strumming with a plectrum (flatpick) and be able to transition between chords commonly used in Irish music such as D, G, A, Em, and Am. Prior knowledge of DADGAD and other non-standard tunigs is not necessary.

Irish rhythm guitar is typically used to accompany traditional Irish tunes and accompany songs. The Irish style developed in the 1960s and emphasizes beautiful varied rhythms, droning over open strings and elegant rapid transitions between simple chord shapes. An effective accompanist can add dramatic emotional changes to the simplest of tunes by shifting to new rhythms and chords as the tune melody repeats.

The course will use standard tuning as well as DADGAD tuning, which is more suitable for droning, with an emphasis on creating solid and steady Irish-sounding rhythms. Students will learn how to strum reels, jigs or other tune types using a soft plectrum, and how to vary dynamics and intensity when accompanying sets of tunes. They will master common chord patterns and variations in standard Irish keys, sometimes with help from a capo.

Students need to bring basic steel string acoustic guitar, a soft plectrum for strumming, and a capo. Please contact us if you need help procuring an appropriate guitar or accessories.

Céilí Band

Oslo Céilí Band consists of students playing diverse instruments who learn and rehearse sets of tunes for playing at céilí dances. The Céili band also performs at private events and parties around Oslo. Céilí bands may optionally compete at a Fleadh Cheoil, an annual Irish arts festival and competition, at the discretion of the instructor.

Students are expected to have enough experience with their instrument that they can learn a set of tunes of any common type (e.g. reels, jigs, etc.) at home based on slow video recordings from the instructor. One or two tune sets will be introduced each month and will be practiced together slowly by the students until each tune set can be played smoothly. In addition to learning new sets slowly, the students will also rehearse tune sets from earlier classes to gradually learn to play them at dance tempos and transition cleanly between tunes.

For a céilí band, a common, but not exclusive, list of Irish trad melody instruments are fiddle, whistle, flute, piano accordion, two-row diatonic button accordion in the keys B/C or C/C#, concertina, uilleann bagpipes, tenor banjo, and mandolin. Accompaniment instruments include acoustic guitar, mandola/octave mandolin, bouzouki, bodhran (Irish drum), snare drum/woodblock and piano (the student must bring their own keyboard to class). If you play another instrument, such as recorder, cello, or upright bass, you may consider joining Grúpa Ceoil.

Grúpa Ceoil

Grúpa Ceoil simply means "music group" and refers to a band of diverse instruments that plays arranged tune sets. This group includes the same instruments as the céilí band—but in addition, it may also include non-traditional instruments such as recorder, cello or upright bass. If you play another instrument and don’t know if it can be used for Irish tunes, simply contact us.

Another, important difference from the céili band is that the grúpa ceoil plays tune sets that are carefully arranged for performance. During class, the instructor arranges which instruments are playing at what times, composes melodic harmonies and variations for special effect, and alters the rhythm to change the mood of the music. This makes the arrangement suited for public performance and Fleadh Cheoil competitions, but not for social dances. Fleadh Cheoil competition arrangements are six to eight minutes long and include four or five different tune types (e.g. reel, march, jig, etc.) played consecutively.

Students are expected to have enough experience with their instrument that they can learn the basic version of each tune in the arrangement based on slow video recordings from the instructor. Arrangements are taught and practiced extensively during the class, and the instructor will often modify the arrangement ad hoc until a final arrangement for performance emerges. Students learn to play effectively together and learn how to keep track of variations that may find them soloing, abstaining from playing, or playing harmonies or varied rhythms. Students can expect to end the course being able perform several tune set arrangements in front of an audience.