During this last week in An Cheathrú Rua, there has been a big focus on the tradition of Irish music. On Monday and Wednesday, we had a ceardlann amhránaíochta (singing workshop) where we learned how to sing a few songs in Irish. As someone who enjoys singing, I loved the workshops. I found it to be so interesting how we had no sheet music and only the lyrics so we had to match to the pitch of the instructor. The songs were so fun to sing and it was also interesting to learn about the story behind them. Some of the songs that I enjoyed singing the most were “Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile,” “Ú Conamara,” and “Báidín Fheilimí.”
On our last night of the program, we had a final concert where a group played music, showed us a bit of sean-nós dancing, and we even got to sing one of the songs we had learned at the workshops. Dancing is another thing that we were taught a bit about at least in the beginning of the course. During the first week, we got to participate in a céilí which was incredibly fun!
Being here has made me realize how important music is to the Irish culture, especially since there were always ceol traidisiúnta (traditional music) sessions happening at least once a week. It was always a way to bring people together which I definitely felt. The music here is something I will always remember about my trip here to Ireland.