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!