St. Louis Tionól - It was great!....

Whistle
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I’m still kind of numb… so much to absorb… so many great people… so many astounding musicians… so much I don’t know! :boggle:

The St. Louis Tionól (pronounced “chunnALL”) http://www.tionol.org was quite an experience… Different in experience from a festival, this is planned as a more intimate and educational event, and very successfully so.

My daughter, a friend and I went for the whistle classes on Saturday, the concert and the Sunday brunch sessions. It was incredibly interesting, and WOW! What a concert!!

Next year we will be smarter and go down for Friday’s sessions (we only heard about this year), stay over and not be so tired when our classes reach mid-day… don’t want to waste a moment of the great input. We will also try to stay longer on Sunday, as the sessions were really just beginning to roll when we left (youngest was quite spent by then)

The talent was phenominal. The patience the instructors showed with those of us who are essentially just beginners was fantastic. We were encouraged, enlightened, and exceptionally entertained. It is definitely something to plan on if you are anywhere near the area.

Joannie Madden was teaching both the Intermediate and Advanced whistle classes, alternating with Brian McCoy (accompanied by Kim Rattan), so our intermediate class was quite a learning experience. The list of experts in the field was impressive to say the least, and the plethora of small impromptu sessions was a joy to see.
My daughter was in the beginning whistle class, with Brian Kelso Crow - she was beat when we got home, but ended up practicing 'til one in the morning… LOL! She wants to go back next year too!

There were some really young players there, and it seems we have some incredible things to look forward to from one particular family - The Willis Family from Nashville. The four oldest kids (of 8, with the 9th due in two weeks!!) are really talented and already winning championships in dance, fiddle (I believe) and whistle. All the kids play multiple instruments, and are simply raised to love music and encouraged from an early age to start out keeping the rythym, gradually working up to following the melody and graduating to some melody instrument. Really an amazing family, with humility and grace as well as talent. I look to see them become quite famous, and earning it even more for their talent and hard work as for the impressive ‘cute factor’.

I highly recommend attending the next one, and plan on making it an annual even in our calendar.

A large THANKS!! to Mike Mullins and his cohorts for putting on such a wonderful event.

Fiddlers, pipers, concertina…er…ists…er… uh… players :laughing:, whistlers, flute/flautists, guitarists, tenor bajo players, bodhran tipplers, … even got to learn a bunch about other types of bagpipes and the Hurdy Gurdy while waiting for the Sunday morning brunch sessions.

GO!

edited to add the link to the Tionól site

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Sure is. A small concert Friday evening, a long concert Saturday evening. All of the instructors from the workshops perform (individually and in small groups). No polished published program, everybody relaxed, informal, and having one heck of a good time. Small and large sessions both evenings, where everyone is encouraged to join in. You finally realize just who that is next to you and on the other side of the circle. Sunday brunch and afternoon in the pub ‘garden’ with more sessions and informal chats and exchanges with THOSE PEOPLE. Mike Burke and John McHaffey letting everyone try their whistles. Pipers making reeds and repairing pipes. Stories being told in the corner. Anyone who didn’t learn something new or didn’t have a great time can only blame themselves.

I think the high point of the afternoon Intermediate Whistle class was when Joannie Madden decided everyone was brain fried and in need of a change of pace so she talked one of the young (grade school age) students into dancing for us while she (Joannie) played a Jig. I’m sure if she had not declined the request to reverse roles the video cam recording would already be posted one of the boards.

Mike Mullins and his group do a wonderful job and produce a truely memorable event.

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:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: and we’d be running for our lives!!

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Without a doubt the best time I’ve had in a long time! Got to sit in on several sessions, met a lot of great people, got to shoot the breeze with Mike Burke for a while and meet his Wife and their doggy. :smiley:

What A GREAT concert. Just as good as last years for sure. Even some good dancing by the locals to go 'round.

A fond hello to Duffy, Mike M., Mike Burke, Danny, Beau, Shannon, Eric, Brian, and all those who might take a look at this that I had the pleasure of meeting, seeing again, and/or playing in a session with over the weekend. What a time!

Take care all!
John

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Which reminds me.. I’m having a fun time getting to know my brand new McHaffie D whistle… beautiful looks and nice sound!! Looking forward to seeing your next generation of them too (no pun intended).

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In case any of you are interested, I threw a few photos from the concert on my .mac account. I just took them from my seat. They are quite compressed from the originals since they were intended to be viewed by non-musician friends, but you should still enjoy them.

The photos are located HERE

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Nice photos!

(Someone please fill in the names I don’t know and correct me where I’m wrong), For those who don’t know,
the first is John Skelton on pipes,
second is Kevin Henry on whistle,
third is Joannie Madden on whistle, with someone I should be able to name but cannot, accompanying on bazouki,
fourth is the same great musician with Ged Foley on guitar and Tommy Peoples on fiddle.
In the fifth photo, I regret that I can only name Joannie Madden and John Skelton, both playing flute.
The sixth photo has Albert Alfonso on bodhran, Mickey Dunne on whistle, Kevin Henry on flute and others I am not able to name,
Seventh is two of the dancers from the St. Louis School of Irish Arts.
(The last photo has more people I can’t name than those I can, :blush: , so I’ll just leave it)

(I hope know more of those names and the people owning them next year! :smiley:)

BTW - wonder what imp saw to it that “IRISH” on that banner became “IPISH”… :laughing:

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Annie, the bouzouki player is Pat Broaders, originally from Dublin but a Chicago resident since the early 90s. In addition to being one of the finest accompanists around, he’s an excellent uilleann piper and great ballad singer. He plays bouzouki in the Chicago-based touring band, Bohola, with Sean Cleland and Jimmy Keane.

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The two pipers in the group finale photo are Patrick Hutchinson and Tim Britton. Edited to say: The other SEATED fiddler is John Carty, and the standing fiddler is Dale Russ.

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Thanks guys! I am terrible at remembering names to begin with, so I was pleased to get as many as I did. There were soooo many people to see, meet and hear…

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And my tale is here. An agent from The Whistle Shop in Bloomington, IL, took photos that are now here, in which some people I know are:

meself with the whistle next to the heartthrob in image 7 (7.jpg),
Lauri Gannon from Peoria in images 8 and 9,
Lauri again and Pam Carsey from Champaign in image 19,
Pam again in image 22,
a fellow named Jeff who used to be in Champaign-Urbana in images 19 and 23,
Brian and Kim in image 11,
Jeremiah Willis in images 9, 10, and 25.

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I remember you cutting and running for the morning lesson with the advanced class, as that oportunity came up, LOL!.. I wish I had… my level of consciousness after lunch was far lower than I would have liked for listening to Joanie instruct.