Good News on Returning to Music? We want to hear from you!

We have heard of some wonderful initiatives being implemented across the country in order to get musicians back to playing music – either individually or in ensembles. Some of these have been online, and some in person.

We would love to hear your stories of imaginative and useful ways that you are returning to making music so that we can share your ideas to others. It can be anything – from creating fun signs in your school, to developing a new, online programme for music!

If you want to share your experiences, we would love to hear from you by email to info@iayo.ie.

Photo by John Soffe Photography

Some examples that we have heard of are Westport Youth Orchestra using the computer programme, Jamulus, to hold ensembles rehearsals in real-time, without latency (delays between computers). You can read more about Westport Youth Orchestra’s work here.

We also hosted two workshops with Dr Patrick Early of Westport Youth Orchestra on Jamulus (set-up, technical requirements, and an online, live rehearsal). You can view both workshops and supporting documents here.

Another wonderful example was how ConCorda Chamber Music Course for Strings because ConCorda Re-Imagined for their 2020 course! The Course Managers and Artistic Staff developed a brilliant online course which ran over the course of five days and was as close to a ‘normal’ ConCorda as possible with plenty of learning, playing and socialising. What they developed went beyond everyone’s expectations! You can read about ConCorda Re-Imagined here.

Over the summer, we also learned about how Athenry Music School developed an online programme which allowed for sectional rehearsals over Zoom. Athenry Music School Director, Katharine Mac Mághnuis spent many hours creating resources for online teaching and for online ensemble music-making.

Katharine delivered an online workshop for IAYO on the subject and that can be viewed here. Keep an eye out for Athenry Music School’s slightly altered logo!

We know that music schools, orchestras and teachers are working so hard in order to return to music learning for their students. We would love to hear about your experiences, ideas and innovations, no matter how big or small!

Please send an email to info@iayo.ie.