Karen Ní Bhroin 2015 Rochester Irish Music Lessons and Kids' Tin Whistle Camp

Irish music education opportunities via the Rochester Irish Musicians' Association:

Karen Ní Bhroin is a music educator visiting Rochester from County Wexford, Ireland to give lessons in tin whistle, concertina, and Irish songs, and to offer a tin whistle camp for kids.

Tin whistle camp for kids 8 and up from June 29 through July 3, 2015.

 

Location: First Baptist Church of Fairport, 92 South Main St. in the village of Fairport

Hours: 10 AM to Noon

Cost: $100 for the week

The morning will include tin whistle lesson, songs in Irish, and group playing.

Music will be included for take home.

Karen Ní Bhroin is a familiar teacher here in the area. She has extensive music and choral teaching experience and is a member of a traditional ceili band in Wexford, Ireland.

 

Karen Ní Bhroin arrives this weekend and will be playing at the session at Sheridan’s Pub, 1551 Mt. Hope Ave., Rochester, NY Sunday 28 June 2015 from 2 pm to 5 pm if you want to talk with her there.

Please call Jean Smith to sign up at 585-738-0126.

Karen Ní Bhroin is also here to teach, and now is the time to schedule a lesson with her. She can do private and semi-private lessons.

She is teaching at Fairport First Baptist and at Jean Smith's house in West Irondequoit. This is a good time to get your ornamentation straightened out or just get the musical boost that Karen will give by teaching locally. She is so well rounded that she can explain clearly what you may be challenged by, or help you get to that next level of ability.

 

Time is flying along so don’t delay too long. She is here for ten days and then leaves for Toronto.

Shakuhachi Concert, Rochester, NY, 5 July 2015

A Meditative Concert and Presentation

Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin

The Rochester Zen Center
7 Arnold Park Rochester NY
Rochester NY 14607

Sunday afternoon July 5th, 2015
4:00 PM Concert on the Shakuhachi
5:00 PM Free Introductory Shakuhachi Lesson (Instruments provided)

(No admission charge)
CD’s and DVD's Available for Purchase

For those interested in the beginners lesson, please RSVP to Ronnie's email address:  nyogetsu@gmail.com
His web site is www.nyogetsu.com.

Shakuhachi music developed over hundreds of years, played by mendicant monks within a network of Japanese temples. Honkyoku, original pieces, were passed on from teacher to student. They continue to be played today, transmitted by master musicians to their students.

Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) Grand Master Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin is the founder of Ki-sui-an shakuhachi dojo with branches in Manhattan, Rochester, Ithaca, Buffalo, Narrowsburg, Philadelphia and Washington DC/Baltimore. He is also part of the Japanese Music Program at the graduate Center of the City University of New York, has produced many notable recordings, and performed at Carnegie Hall, The Asia Society, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many other venues. He has received many awards and honors, including both an Oscar and a Grammy nomination.

Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin studied Shakuhachi in Kyoto, Japan with Kurahashi Yodo Sensei, a disciple of Jin Nyodo. In 1975, he received the name Nyogetsu and a teaching certificate at the level of Jun Shi-han in the Kinko school of shakuhachi.

After his return to New York, Nyogetsu was awarded the rank of Shi-han (Master) in 1978, as a result of his efforts to spread the teaching of this instrument in America. In 1980 he received his first Dai Shihan (Grand Master's) License, and his second from the Living National Treasure, Aoki Reibo, in 2002.

He presently has the largest and most active Dojo in the world outside Japan.

Rochester Tin Whistle Week for Kids, June 29 - July 3, 2015

Posted to the Rochester Irish Musicians' Association Facebook timeline June 12:

Rochester Irish Arts announcing formation of a Tin Whistle Week for Kids June 29 to July 3, 2015, 10 a.m. to Noon in Fairport, NY.
Cost $100.
Instructor is Karen Ní Bhroin from Dublin.
Contact: rochesteririsharts@gmail.com or call: 585-348-7576
Morning includes: lessons, songs in Irish/English and group playing.

Some Finger Lakes Flute Circle members including myself attended the camp two years ago when there was an offering for adults, and Karen Ní Bhroin is an excellent teacher. I strongly recommend that you send your kids to learn tin whistle from Ms. Ní Bhroin while she is visiting Rochester from Ireland this year.

Question: Where can you learn to play xiao (or other end-blown flutes) in Rochester, New York?

A question that was posed at this months Finger Lakes Flute Circle meeting:

Do you have a xiao, and can you get xiao lessons in Rochester, New York?

My response (at the meeting, combined with information I later mentioned on Meetup.com, with some additions):

Regarding your inquiry into the Chinese end-blown flute, the xiao. Unlike the Native American flute, which has a fipple sound mechanism like the recorder or tin whistle, the xiao is open-ended and you blow across a sharp cutting edge, something like blowing across the mouth of a soda bottle to make a tone. The Chinese School of Rochester Traditional Music Ensemble performed at the Memorial Art Gallery Asian Pacific American Heritage Family Day this year. The flutist, who played dizi (side-blown with buzzy paper membrane) and xiao, I believe was Yinhao Ye. You might check with the Chinese School of Rochester about lessons <principal@csrochester.org>. I don't (yet) have a xiao, but I do have a number of contemporary, Native American-inspired rim-blown (end-blown) flutes created by Michael Graham Allen, Coyote Oldman Flutes. These are the Anasazi/Prayer Rock flute and the Mojave/Desert flute. Michael Graham Allen is on hiatus for flute production for the rest of the year, but there are other makers of these styles of flutes, such as Geoffrey Ellis and Jon Norris. I will be sure to bring my rim-blown flutes to future Finger Lakes Flute Circle meetings to show and play. The flutes require developing a proper embouchure, forming the lips and mouth to direct the right stream of air over the cutting edge of the rim, and that requires quite a bit of practice, and the result is a very beautiful, resonant sound well worth the effort.

The Japanese traditional end-blown flute, the shakuhachi, is the most challenging of these to play, and is quite formal in approach to instruction. My teacher, Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin, lives in NYC, and regularly travels to Ithaca, Rochester, and Buffalo to teach lessons to his students in western New York.

Question: What are some good beginner Native American flutes?

Question posed after this month's flute circle meeting:

I really enjoyed my introduction to the Native American flute. I was checking out websites post-Meetup to try and find the practice flute model distributed yesterday evening. Saw several others, but not that particular one. Do you have a link, or can you please make recommendations?

My response on Meetup, with some additions:

It was wonderful to make music with you on the Native American flute. The "beginner" flutes we use are from Rich Dubé, Northern Spirit Flutes http://www.northernspiritflutes.net/ These A minor pentatonic flutes may be ordered directly from Rich, or at a discount at our flute circle meetings.

Good values the next step up in pricing include High Spirits Flutes http://www.highspirits.com/ (widely available through many retailers) and Butch Hall Flutes https://www.butchhallflutes.com/.

Brad Young, 4 Wind Flutes, makes nice flutes and Brad is a great guy. You can get these if you are able to attend Native American flute festivals in the Northeast, such as the Potomac Native American Flute Festival (they took a break 2015) http://www.potomacflutefestival.org/ and SunWatch Native Flute Festival http://www.sunwatch.org/program-a-events/special-events/14-sunwatch-flute-and-art-festival. Unlike the flutes mentioned earlier that are quite uniform, each of Brad Young's flutes are individualized and unique.

I hope you will continue to enjoy playing Native American flute.

Jefferson

Finger Lakes Flute Circle Meeting, Wednesday 3 June 2015

The Finger Lakes Flute Circle will meet Wednesday 3 June 2015, 6:30pm, at the Brookside School (Brighton Parks & Recreation), 1680 S Winton Rd, Rochester, NY 14618. This entrance on Winton Rd is south of Westfall Rd. The official address, 220 Idlewood Rd, takes you through the neighborhood streets to the alternate entrance on the other side of the building. We will be meeting in the Conference room.

Beginners are encouraged! Beginner flutes will be available to try out. We will be playing Native American flute, drums, and hand percussion. The Native American flute is an easy to play instrument that allows people of all experience levels to play beautiful, expressive music.

This year most meetings will be planned for the second Wednesday of each month. Note that this month, and next month, July, will be earlier in the month than usual due to tight schedules.

We will have a lot of fun and make great music together. We look forward to seeing you!

Current meeting schedules are listed on the Blog and Meetup websites:
http://wnyflutecircle.blogspot.com/
http://www.meetup.com/FingerLakesFluteCircle/