Composing Ourselves!

It's that time of year again and everyone in Sing Out is madly busy writing songs, and practicing Jingle Bells!

We've all been thinking about our big theme, 'Express Yourself!' Every class group has chosen a different topic, and so far we have a very useful song from Southill Juniors, all about how to calm down when you feel angry! 6th class in St Mary's are writing a song about dancing, and Galvone's 4th Class are writing about one of our favourite words at Sing Out HQ; CREATIVITY! They really are a creative bunch. 3 verses in one day!!!!

So far, we're working on lyrics, but the melodies will soon follow. Stay tuned and in the next few weeks we might have a little snippet or two for you!

In the meantime, KEEP PLAYING and KEEP SINGING!!!

Time is FLYING!!!

Sorry for our silence here at Sing Out HQ! It's been a crazy first two months, and we've been very busy! Here are the highlights!

We hit the ground running in September, with our first performance of the school year in the University Concert Hall lobby! The Sing Out Orchestra and Singers performed with members of the Irish Chamber Orchestra to help the fantastic organisation, Cluid, celebrate the European Year of Active Aging! You can check out Cluid and all their good work by clicking here! Thanks so much to Sue Rowley and Gavin Donaldson for their kindness, and the donation of two new violins for our orchestra!

We were SO excited to welcome the Venezuelan Percussion Ensemble (VPE) to Limerick at the start of October. These ten fantastic musicians grew up within El Sistema, the project which inspired Sing Out, so it was very special to meet them! They gave a wonderful family concert in UCH, and we even got to perform with them! What a day! Thanks SO much to the VPE, and we hope to see you back in Ireland soon! You can see the guys in action by clicking here!

In between all of this, we've been busy working away on this year's theme, 'Express Yourself.' We've been exploring lots of different kinds of music, and how each of them can be used to show different emotions and tell different stories! Our favourite song so far has been Emeli Sande's 'Wonder.' What a great way to express yourself!

Next week, after a nice mid-term break, we'll be starting to write our own songs, in preparation for our Great Big Gig next June! It's all going on at Sing Out HQ! Watch this space!

Sing Out with Strings 2012

WOW!!! We can't believe the summer is over, that was fast!!

We're back in the office planning here at Sing Out HQ for an exciting year ahead! This year's theme is 'Express Yourself!' We'll be looking at the many ways music helps us to show how we feel and what we think! In the next few months lots of new ideas, songs and stories will feature on our blog, but in the meantime, here's a little toon for your afternoon!!!

Express yourself!

Yuki and her violin!

Everyone at Sing Out knows how precious an instrument is to the musician who plays it. We care for our instruments and they are a big part of who we are. Last week our wonderful violin teacher, Yuki Nishioka, discovered that her violin had been stolen. The violin was very important to her, not only because she loves to play it, but also because it was a gift from her grandmother before Yuki moved from Japan to Ireland. Yuki was devastated to lose her violin, and things were looking bleak! But then.....

Yuki posted the news of the theft on her facebook page, and one by one, people began to share the news. Over 900 people shared Yuki's story around the country, and Live 95FM made an appeal on local radio. And on Thursday night a concerned citizen brought the violin back to the Garda station, safe and sound! We are so delighted for Yuki, and so happy to see how the community can come together to make good things happen! A great start to our week!

Yuki Nishioka, Sing Out Violin Teacher
Click here to listen to Yuki's reaction.

Summer Toons!!!

Even though it's officially the summer holidays, things are still super busy here at Sing Out HQ! Kathleen's tapping away in the office, making plans for next year! Meanwhile, Gillian, Yuki and Lisa have been busy over at Galvone giving some extra summer time lessons to a few of Sing Out's students! Here's a little something they've been working on (the camera's a bit shaky but we think it makes it look very atmospheric!) Looks like Pachelbel's going to make a welcome addition to our repertoire in September! Well done guys!

Meet the Musician welcomes Kevin McNally and Ronan Daly!

For our final Meet the Musician, St Mary's Boys and Southill Juniors met Kevin and Ronan from the West Cork Ukulele Orchestra! The WCUO started as a group of friends who wanted to play and sing together for fun! There are nine members and they travel around the country to play gigs. They have even performed on the Late Late Show!

This was such a great visit, and we heard lots of different kinds of songs. Ronan told us all about the ukulele, which comes from Hawaii and means 'jumping flea.' Kevin brought along his guitar and an instrument we had never met before - the mandolin! If you'd like to hear one of their songs, just click here and sing along! What a lovely way to end our year! Thanks so much Kevin and Ronan!

Meet the Musician welcomes Michelle Mulcahy!

In Galvone's last Meet the Musician session, we were delighted to meet Michelle Mulcahy! She is a very talented harpist and travels around the world performing her music.

Michelle told us lots of interesting things about the harp! The tradition is over 2000 years old, and the oldest harps only had a few strings. The instrument has developed a lot over time though and the harp Michelle plays has 39 strings. We talk a lot in Sing Out about the way music can change our mood. When Michelle played she asked us to close our eyes and see how the music made us feel. There were lots of different reactions - some people felt very sleepy, some people felt happy, others thought of people they loved or of different memories. But everyone felt very relaxed! If you'd like to see what we mean, click here!

Thank you Michelle for bringing your beautiful music to our school!