Our Irish Traditional Music School in the Press
Articles published in various external sources about the CCÊ Boston Music School, the Music School of Boston’s Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Êireann.
Boston Irish, Vol. 1, Issue 4, Winter 2020 Edition, page 18 (re-printed)
CCE Boston music school goes Zoom
By Sean Smith, Boston Irish Contributor
It has been a year of adjustment and adaptation for the Irish/Celtic scene in Boston, and elsewhere, as musicians, organizations and venues cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those seeking to move forward is the music school for Boston’s Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Êireann, which earlier this month began offering lessons via Zoom.
The school, which opened in 1997 and has held weekly classes at Boston College, Harvard University, Saint Columbkille Partnership School, and,most recently, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Brighton, provides instruction for instruments such as fiddle, accordion, flute, whistle, bodhran, and guitar, as well as for sean-nos dance and traditional singing (Irish and English).
Other offerings have included ensemble classes for students interested in playing and performing music together, and free teacher-led sessions for enrolled students. School activities take place over 10-week periods in the fall and spring.
After the pandemic cut short the spring 2020 semester, the school had hoped to resume in-person classes this fall, but when that proved impossible, the CCÉ Boston and school leadership began discussions with school faculty and surveyed students and branch members on alternatives.
“We felt very strongly that it was important to keep going somehow,” says CCÉ Chairperson Tara Lynch. “If you stop playing music, especially if you’re a beginner, it can be tough to find the momentum again. There also were people who wanted to build on what they know, or try something new. We didn’t want anyone to feel stuck in place.”
Besides classes via Zoom, the options proposed were to have teachers record their lessons on video, or to hold private, one-on-one sessions with pupils. The former arrangement wasn’t desirable because it had no capacity for teacher-student interaction, explained Lynch, while the latter was problematic because of varying costs involved as well as the challenge of scheduling numerous individual appointments.
“Our goal was to have the feel of a class,” she said. “Not only do you have the connection with the teacher, but also with other students: It’s a shared experience you can enjoy together – you can follow up with someone else in the class, like ‘How do you play that phrase?’ or ‘Do you want to try it together?’ – and through which you can build relationships.”
Still, going to Zoom was not a decision made lightly, noted Lynch: Some teachers and students were unused to the format, and patience was required to work through the differences in audio and visual quality among the computers in use. Some classes simply couldn’t be converted for Zoom, such as beginning-level flute, which typically requires detailed instruction and assistance to help students master embrochure for the instrument.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of enthusiasm for giving Zoom classes a try – some of it originating from unexpected locales, Lynch said: While in the past the school has drawn students from far-flung areas in Eastern or Central Massachusetts, or even parts of Rhode Island and New Hampshire, its online incarnation attracted musicians in Connecticut and New York.
The school will be keeping a close watch on the Zoom classes while formulating plans for the spring session, said Lynch, who adds that the CCÉ leadership will seek to use a similar kind of outreach to the branch membership: “It’s been tough these past several months not being able to hold our regular events and programs; we want to keep everyone connected.”
While it’s too soon to tell one way or another, Lynch said there’s a possibility Zoom lessons could become a regular feature of the music school even after in-person classes resume.
“I’m a firm believer that the best method of teaching and learning music is live and in person, sitting next to someone,” she said. “I also believe that is the overwhelming preference of our teachers and students. But the pandemic has forced us all to look at things differently, and I’m sure we’ll do a lot of thinking and talking about what happens over the next few months.”
For more about the CCÉ Boston Music School, see bostonirishmusicschool.com.