Performing Artists and useful contacts for music teachers
Your local Arts officer is usually very helpful in providing information and contacts on music performers. They can be contacted through your local library. They also have a budget assigned for promoting arts through the schools so you may be able to avail of some of this.
It is also worth contacting the National Concert Hall which run several programmes suitable for 2nd level students or your local theatre.
§ It is a good idea to have local or touring singers and performers come to your school. The Arts Council provide grants for this. See artscouncil.ie
§ Bring a local DJ into the class – always a hit!
§ A visit to a local Recording studio is always very popular and you would be surprised at how many there are a round the country. Look up the golden pages or local Directories.
§ Whitnell Song School is very popular with a lot of schools. They do excellent song writing workshops and at the end students produce their own CD. This year they are starting Create School . They have been appointed an Apple Regional Training Centre and will go around the country giving digital multi media training workshops. These include film making and website creation and would really tie in well with a music and technology assignment.
Contact: Peter Whitnell 086 6998 453 Website address: www.songschool.ie
Price:€699 for two day workshop
€395 for 1 day performing workshop
§ Bodhrán making workshops: These are organised by John Ellison and have been highly recommended by teachers. Basically John provides the kits with instructions to teachers on how to assemble. I’m told it’s easy! Kits cost €28 each and the minimum order required is 8.
Contact John Ellison 087 2540 742 or 0404 46070 Email address:
§ Drumnature is a group that organize drumming workshops for students. They also teach rhythm and group composition. Workshops cost €393. They are Dublin based but they will travel anywhere in the country
Contact Neil Dowling: 086 3643211 Website www.drumnature.com
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§ Clued.In music is a group that offer the following workshops in music technologies:
Making a Radio Programme
• Researching your show
• Scriptwriting
• Program Formats
• Interviewing Guests
• Presenting Skills
• Recording Equipment
Podcasting
• Making a Podcast
• Equipment & Techniques
• Editing Software
• Getting your Podcast on the Internet
Making Modern Music
• How to use a PC to make music
• How to Rap and write Lyrics
• Recording your Band’s Demo
• How to Promote your Music
Being a DJ today
• The History of Hip Hop
• Mixing and Scratching
• Recording a DJ Mix
• Running an Event
See www.cluedinmusic.com for more information and current prices. You can also see samples of the work they have done with students on their website and it looks pretty awesome! Also contact 0404 67129 or 086 3359 373
§ Defence Forces School of Music: Military bands fulfil a limited number of School engagements per year. These concerts are educational in nature and are tailored to the requirements of primary and secondary school students.
You can put in a request to have a military band do concert in your school. It is free and they will also talk about career opportunities in music in the defence force. See their website by googling Defence Forces –Defence Forces School of music
For information contact the Administrative Officer Defence Forces School of Music.
§ See www.artscope.ie for a very exciting programme of workshops. They include the following:
Dance workshops
Percussion Workshops
Rap writing workshops
They do a whole range of interactive musical performances for schools.One concert they do is aimed specifically at 2nd level students.It is entitled Communicating through Song and Music. The concert is in the form of a workshop which looks at the themes that come up in music and song and examines the role of music in society.The presentation also looks at harmony,melody and rhythm in song.
Contact:Diana Giurgi at 01 5059582 or 0872368160 Email:
§ www.simplymusic.ie offers Percussion and interactive technology workshops. It’s piloted under the ‘Learn and explore’ programme of the National lConcert Hall and can be tailored to the requriements of any school.
§ See www.rhythmshakers.com for one day workshops using different types of african and percussion instruments.
§ Jabba Jabba Jembe Percussion Workshops are run by David Day. He is based in Kildare and his workshops come highly recommended by teachers. See
www.jabbajabbajembe.com/workshops.html
§ See also under Dance Module on this site for further informations on performing artists.
Useful Websites
Here are some websites that you may find useful. Please check under sub- category 7 Performing Artists and Useful contacts for Music teachers for other useful links.If you know of any others in your own area please contact out webmaster.
Resources
§ These two sites are very useful for all your sheet music and music book requirements.
§ www.musicnotes.com
§ www.musicroom.com
§ In Ireland the best contacts for all your music requirements are McCullaghPiggott or Opus 11. They both have websites and they will also take orders over the phone.
§ Another general souce is amazon.co.uk or amazon.com. If the book ,cd or dvd is available you can generally souce it here
§ Ejayprogramme: Make your own dance tunes with 40 different rhythms to choose from.
§ Backing tracks Here are some sites where you can find (legal!) backing tracks for budding singers and school concerts. Some have medi files which can help you remove lyrics
§ Van Basco
§ Make- Your- Own-Karaoke.com
§ Limewire.
§ parismusic.com
§ ameritz.co.uk
I would particularly recommend the last site as you can download the backing tracks to a huge range of songs in any key.
§ Utube. There are all kinds of interesting music material and videos on Utube. This is particularly useful if an artist is in the news. There is certain to be a lot of news and gossip found here.
Utube is also a great source if you want to download a particular ad or film excerpt with music See for example the music of Harry Potter and Michael Jackson on YouTube MusicVideos or Utube-Ireland
§ www.thisdayinmuscic.com Find out what was in the charts when you were born!
§ For music notation software a good site is Finale Print music.
The Cubase SX series is a music software package that a lot of teachers have found useful. Cubase is a computer program for music production/recording. The program offers recording, producing and mixing of sounds in order to create music. Most of the facilities in recording studios are now available for computer owners using Cubase or other similar products.The educational software package retails at about €170 and you essentially create your own digital audio workstation, a little bit like a mini recording studio.
§ Music and the media
There are a large number of sites out there dealing with music in film and music and advertising. Simply google both headings to make a start
§ Music industry
§ Wikipedia has an excellent general introduction to this topic with lots of links to interesting sites. Simply google music industry to get this link
§ www.musicindustry.ie gives you lots of up to date information on artists, record companies, music festivals and basically anything to do with music in Ireland. It lists all radio stations and music magazines and has links to their websites which can be particularly useful for all kinds of research projects.
§ For information on DJ training courses see:
dublinmediacentre.com/djschool