Links

Some of our favorite websites

Montreal area Irish and trad organizations

St Patrick's Society of Montreal (www.stpatricksociety.com) Our chief patron. Lists events and membership information. Subscribe to their newsletter, Nuacht or read it online.

Centre for Canadian Irish Studies (http://artsandscience.concordia.ca/irish/) at Concordia. You can get a minor undegraduate degree or an adult education certificate. Meas!! Plus, if you email them at cdnirish@alcor.concordia.ca'; they will put you on their notification list for all kinds of local Irish events, lectures, shows.

Danseurs et Musiciens de l'Île Jésus (http://www.dmij.net) Laval group offering Québecois and international traditional dance workshops with live music, plus music workshops. Sounds like fun! The site also has music recordings, for which you must register to get access.

United Irish Societies of Montreal (http://www.bar-resto.com/uis/) The UIS features extensive information on the Montreal St Patrick's Day Parade including history. The UIS's Celtic website links is an excellent list of Celtic and Montreal Irish websites.

Comhrá - Montréal Irish Language Study Circle (MILSC) (http://www.comhra.org/mambo) The name speaks for itself! The newly updated website gives key contact info for those seeking Irish language classes and events in the Montreal area, as well as a useful list of sources for learning more about the language.

La Société pour la promotion de la danse traditionnelle québécoise (SPDTQ) (http://www.spdtq.qc.ca) Quebecois society for the promotion of the traditional dance of Quebec organizes numerous activities, notably the L'École des arts de la veillée music school(where several Siamsa teachers do double-duty), Les Veillées du Plateau dances, and the les viellées trad sessions of traditional quebecois music and singing. Warning: the website plays a tune when you open it.

Music and Dance resources

A Guide to the Irish Flute (www.firescribble.net/flute/index.html) Great information, including advice for obtaining a suitable flute, by Siamsa teacher Brad Hurley.

Andy's Front Hall (www.andysfronthall.com) A great, searchable selection of books, recordings, and music paraphenalia.

Ardglen Bodhrans & Bones  (http://www.ardglen-bodhrans.com/) Hand-made instruments for discerning drummers. These bodhrans are skillfully produced by Fred Graham. Fred teaches the advanced bodhran class at Siamsa. 

Brother Steve's tin whistle page (www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/index.html) A wealth of material for whistle players, including photos and tips for Siamsa whistle students, by whistle teacher Stephen Jones. Sign the guestbook!

Ceolas celtic music archive (www.ceolas.org/ceolas.html) Claims to house the largest online collection of information on celtic music, including hundreds of links. Here you will find include profiles, links and discographies of hundreds of musicians and groups, tour schedules, festivals, sessions and places to hear the music around the world, books, magazines, mail-order sources, radio shows, and links, links, links, reviews & sound clips of new and classic recordings, information on celtic-style instruments, hundreds of traditional tunes in different formats, along with software and tune indexes, and celtic dance related sites.

Chris Walshaw's The abc musical notation language (http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/) Explains ABC notation, an alternative to normal music notation which is very popular in traditional music.

Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Eireann (http://comhaltas.ie/) This is the largest international traditional Irish Music organization, with branches all over the world. Notable in their website are contacts for every branch, information about central and regional musical archives (in Ireland), a schedule of sessions in Ireland, and biographies (billeog) of important musicians who have moved on to the next world. Check out the downloadable mini-videos 

Cranford Publications (www.cranfordpub.com) All publications from this Cape Breton Island publisher are of the highest quality. Selected first-rate recordings of Cape Breton, Irish, or Scottish styles are for sale online. The site offers an introduction to ABC notation, a 'tune of the month', many high-quality sound clips, and more. Many hidden delights, eg, the home page and several articles by Siamsa's first fiddle teacher, David 'Papper' Papazian.

Danseurs et Musiciens de l'Île Jésus (http://www.dmij.net) Music recordings, for which you must register to get access.

Fiddle Farmers (www.siegelproductions.ca/fiddle.htm) Good collection of links and resources by Siamsa session-goer Lois Siegel.

Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory (www.musictheory.halifax.ns.ca/) This site give a series of lessons on music notation, using MIDI sound files running on Quicktime.

irish-music.net (www.irish-music.net) General resources and links for all kinds of Irish music and dancing.

Irish Set Dancing Study Notes for Set and Figure Dances (www.setdanceteacher.co.uk) This uncluttered, solid site by Joe O'Hara gives detailed instructions for 80+ set dances and 10 'figure' (what we call 'ceili') dances.

Ottawa Irish Music Blog This webpage provides links to primarily Ottawa Valley, and Irish Traditional Music (ITM), activities in, or within a few hours to a day's drive, of the Ottawa / National Capital Region of Canada. Music is a shared experience between musicians and the audience.

Roger Millington Publishing www.rogermillington.com) Multi-talented Stephen Jones, a former Siamsa teacher, produces this web home of Packie Manus Byrne. You can learn all about Packie and sample the various books about him.

Sanger's Guide to Learning Irish Fiddle (www.geocities.com/Athens/6464/fidintro.html) Some excellent advice for would-be and struggling fiddlers.

Siamsa whistle class blog (http://siamsawhistle.blogspot.com) Join Kelly's class discussions about tunes, sources, technique etc.

St-Patrick's-Day.com (www.st-patricks-day.com) General resources and links for many Irish interests including dancing, geneology, travel, shopping, and a dating serrvice.

Whistle & Drum (www.whistleanddrum.com) Good-quality online vendor of whistles, Irish, flutes, bodhrans, banjos, celtic jewelry, music books, and more.

Virtual Session (www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/) VERY COOL SITE lets you log on and play along for a session! Of course, you're better off going to a real session, but maybe you're too far or too shy. This has nice steady playing, with music sheets for those who like so see the notation.

Music and dance events

The Chris Langan Weekend (www.chrislangan.ca) Cyber-home of this excellent Toronto weekend, May 23, 24, 25, 2008. First-quality pipers and fiddlers are brought in from Ireland and elsewhere, ensuring a very high musical standard, and locals of the Langan Gorman Comhaltas branch provide a warm welcome to visitors.

CCE North America (www.ccenorthamerica.org)  The Comhaltas North American Convention is usually a contender for the most fun weekend of the year. Music, dance, and other workshops, Ceilis attended by 600+ people; countless, endless sessions; little sleep. Check their website for schedule updates.

Willie Clancy Week (http://www.setdancingnews.net/wcss/wcsst.htm) July 5-13, 2008. This is the granddaddy of Irish music summerschools, now in its 34th year. We cannot praise it highly enough, for amount and quality of music and teaching. It can be overwhelming because of the crowds, however.

The Irish Arts Week, East Durham, NY (www.east-durham.org/irishartsweek/index.htm) July 13-19, 2008. This is the best quality Irish music and dance week you'll find on this side of the pond, and it gets better every year!(webmasters' opinion, of course!). You get a full week of classes at a reasonable price. The locale is a Catskills town where the NY Irish have summered since the 1920s. Check the website for the line-up of first-class teachers. Every skill level is accomodated. Tip: try to get lodgings with a swimming pool.

Festival Mémoire et Racines (www.memoireracines.qc.ca) July 25-27, 2008 - Action-packed weekend at Parc Bosco in Joliette featuring numerous local and imported artists. Friendly, fun atmosphere, lots of sessions, dances.

CAMMAC, Lac MacDonald (www.cammac.ca) CAMMAC, a music camp for serious amateurs, goes on all summer. It mainly focuses on classical, baroque, and early music. Some years it offers a 'Celtic week' featuring Siamsa fiddle teacher Jessica Gal.

Montreal Highland Games (www.montrealhighlandgames.qc.ca) Sunday, August 3, 2008. Lots of Scottish piping (mostly highland), some fiddling and Scottish Dancing. Note that it is in Pierrefonds, with a free bus service running from the St. Jacques Street side of Lionel-Groulx Metro station.

Celtic Roots College, Goderich (www.celticfestival.ca/) Celtic Roots Festival, August 8 - 10, 2008 . A week of classes in celtic arts and music in Goderich, Ontario, a scenic town on southern Lake Huron.

Montreal Celtic Festival (www.montrealcelticfestival.com) hopefully will return one day. It was a wonderful local festival, featuring great performers and lots of other fun including sessions. Also organizes events throughout the year - please visit them for more info.

Pipers Gathering at Killlington (www.pipersgathering.org/) August 1- 4, 2008. Formerly held in North Hero, VT. Imported musicians playing every conceivable kind of pipes, also hurdy-gurdy and other instruments. Fun dances, great sessions.

La Grande Rencontre (www.festivallagranderencontre.com) Local celebrations of Quebecois and other traditional music. Great new time and location next year! August 8 - 10, 2008, parc Lafontaine, Montréal.

Quebec City Celtic Festival (http://festivalceltique.morrin.org/en/home.php) August 29 - 31, 2008   After having welcomed close to 4 000 visitors in 2007, the Quebec City Celtic Festival is eagerly planning the 2008 edition. This celebration, an official event of the 400th anniversary of Quebec City and an integral part of the Voices from the crossroads initiative, has some wonderful surprises in store.

East Coast Tionól (http://www.eastcoastpipers.com/)  October 24 - 26, 2008.  The 2008 Northeast Tionól will be held at Gavin's Resort in East Durham, New York. Mark your calendars! Details on instructors, etc. will be posted here when available.

Tune sources

The Ceili House Band tune list (http://members.aol.com/boynehunt/alpha.html)

Fiddler's Companion (http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/index.html) Since 1996 the Fiddler's Companion has been a popular internet resource for those interested in the body of traditional music usually associated with the violin, generically called 'fiddle tunes'. Primarily dance music, the genre also encompasses listening music and music written for specific occasions. The Fiddler's Companion is used by musicians, investigators and writers as a research aide, a source for information and lore, for general interest and just for the fun of browsing.

John Chambers' ABC tune finder (www.trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/findtune.html) This site is truly one of the wonders of the Web. It's a huge index of tunes in ABC format, encompasssing 'way more than Irish music. Apparently, it all happens more or less automatically, with a 'web explorer' program that looks for the tunes in ABC, a self-updating database, and conversion programs that kick into action upon request. As a user, you search by fragments of the name or of the 'contours' of the tune - the pattern of the notes. For most tunes, you get a list of all the entries for that tune, then you ask for it in the desired format, your choice of ABC text, ABC-plugin-readable, several forms of regular notes (gif, png, and PostScript), or midi file (horrible but useful computer-rendition of the raw notes).

Mick's Virtual Whistle Sound Files (http://fingertrip.net/whistle/index.html). Sound files of nice tunes.

O'Regan's Tune Book (http://music.gordfisch.net/oregans. Site introduces you to this Montreal session held every Wednesday, with notes, abc, and links to midi files of tunes often played at the session.

The Pub Scouts Tune List (http://rigel.csuchico.edu/~pubscout/songs.html)

Richard's Web Tunesearch (www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/search/searchform.html) A large searchable database of tunes (not just Irish) yielding gif and abc format.

Virtual Session (www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/) See above in 'Music and dance resources'.

Wild Dismay Tunes (www.blackflute.com/music/tunes.html)

Musicians & Bands

Banquo (www.banquo.ca) Victoria, BC band of former Siamsa whistle student and teacher Eric Reiswig (pipes, winds).

Big Night Ceili Band (www.rogermillington.com/bignight/) Martine Billette (keyboard), Brad Hurley (flute), Karen Iny (fiddle), Stephen Jones (whistle, button accordion), Robert Leonard (tenor banjo), with caller Bill White.

Frank Verpaelst (www.geocities.com/frank_verpaelst/frank.htm) Frank Verpaelst (hammer dulcimer, whistle).

Laura Risk (www.laurarisk.com) Laura Risk (fiddle).

Moira (www.moira-music.com) Eric Breton (pecussion), Christophe Comte (fiddle), Peter Senn (guitar).

Sergui Popa (www.sergiupopa.com) Sergui Popa (piano accordion) and Jessica Gal (gypsy and celtic fiddle).