Skipping Over into October

Much of our work is in schools and youth clubs, so things start picking up for us in

September every year. Everyone is back to work, and looking to unleash the immense

creativity in our younger citizens. By the beginning of October, things are back in full swing

and we are out the doors!

Last week, we finished up a block of work in Castleblayney for our sister project

Castleblayney Community Enterprise. We have worked with Tommy and his team for over

ten years, making the journey northwards to deliver workshops and performances as part of

the Muckno Mania Festival, as well as other smaller projects. We have been working with a

great group of young people in the town, and there are even rumours of a one-off Christmas

show later in the year!

Also on the road at the moment, is our work with Bula Bula Samba band in Longford town.

This is a well-established group similar in structure to the Masamba Community Band, and

every Autumn they organise a short series of open workshops to attract new members and

to work towards Hallowe’en celebrations for Longford Town. We are currently working with

the group to develop new repertoire, instrumental technique, and support the development

of leadership skills. The group is taking to the new material quickly, and it’s only a shame we

can’t be there on the night to perform with them.

Closer to home, and also with focus on Hallowe’en, we are back in the North East Inner City

(NEIC) working on the Big Scream celebrations. We have a long history of

Samhain/Hallowe’en events in the inner city, and this year, we are working with the 50

children in the Central Model School, as well as a cohort from Rutland National School. This

project is unusual in that we are partnering with Rónán Ó’Snodaigh from Celtic Rock legends

Kíla, who is developing bodhrán playing skills alongside our samba drumming sessions. The

workshops are bi-cultural and bi-lingual, and great craic!

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Rónán Ó’Snodaigh in action at the central Model School, Dublin 1.

Next week, we start back with the Sambanarden Project. This draws together children from

3 primary schools in the Killinarden area of Tallaght, who are working towards a

performance at Dublin Airport in December. We have been reconditioning their drums over

the summer break, and the van is packed and ready to go for Monday!

Also, this month, we are returning to work with a great group of (mainly) older adults at the

HSE Brú Caoimhín Centre on Cork Street. This year, we are trying a whole new format of

workshops with this group, which has got us excited to get started. If this process is

successful, we might investigate rolling it out to other projects around the country – if

there’s time;-)

We have been doing a lot of education work on behalf of the National Concert Hall over the

last few years, and towards the end of October, we will start an eight-week project with

Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland, supported by the NCH. We delivered a very successful

workshop with this group earlier in the year, so it’s nice to be asked back. As always with

new projects, it is an opportunity to learn about the specifics of a particular target group,

and how we can tailor sessions to specifically suit their needs.

We are also back in our ‘home’ gig at St. James’s Primary School. Every week, we deliver

sessions with 7 regular classes and an AS cohort in the school. We have worked there for 13

years now, so we know some of the children very well at this stage. It is amazing to see the

musical skills build up over the years, so that by 5 th and 6 th class the groups are playing quite complex pieces of music without a bother on them!

That’s all the regular stuff. As always there are other little once-off workshops in between

with projects such as Focus Ireland, ASESP, and many others, just to keep us on our toes!