The Board has been strangely quiet about the Tionól in St. Louis this weekend, considering that it features workshops by Mary Bergin and Grey Larson, and that Michael Burke and Michael Copeland will both be there.
Are any of you midwestern whistlers going, or should I expect a six hour private lesson from Mary Bergin?
Count on me being there 
. It’s going to be the first Irish music gathering that I’m attending.
I’m confused about which workshop to attend though! I’ve to decide between the intermediate whistle workshop by Grey Larsen and the beginners’ flute workshop by John Skelton.
I’ve been playing the whistle for about a year now and just bought a CB folk flute less than a month ago. I’m not even sure if the flute’s been broken in yet, since I’ve not been able to play it every day. Is it alright to take it to a workshop without breaking it in properly?
Somebody HELP ME DECIDE!!
~nash
I recommend the Grey Larsen workshop.
I took one with him on whistles and it
helped a great deal. After a month on flute,
you may have some trouble in the
flute workshop, I speculate,
because many of the people will
have been playing for a good while.
I don’t anticipate that it will
be really for beginners. Best
Jim, does Grey Larsen allow us to tape the workshop? I have a very volatile memory and have found a tape recorder indispensible for such short and intense tutorials.
~nash
I’ll be there but in the Flute workshop with John Skelton. I’ve gone the last two years, and it is more of an intermediate/advanced class. (That means that most of the players are better than I am, but I still learn alot each year 
) The concert Saturday nite should be great!!
Yes, I’m sure he does. Grey is a lovely fellow.
I’ll be there. I’m currently signed up for Mary Bergin’s workshop, but have thought about changing to John Skelton (I’m still very much a beginner on flute though).
-Brett
Does John S concentrate on tunes in the flute
workshop? Anybody? Best
I’ll be there, but too new and shy to come to any workshops. I intend to listen in on sessions on Sunday at McGurks’, and soak up some trad!
This will be my second year. Wish I could qualify for the Mary Bergan class but I will probably struggle even in intermediate whistle. I have been planning this weekend for the whole year based on last years experience. Last year I missed the first sessions but the evening concert was unforgettable (and they’ve added a mini-concert this time). My family is still remembering Sunday Morning at McGurks. This year I’m planning to attend everything.
Time to go pack for tonight.
I’m not sure if I’m up to the “advanced” level for Mary Bergin’s workshop either. However, I know I’m past beginner, and I take lessons from Grey and probably wouldn’t get as much new stuff out of his intermediate workshop. So…it’s either Mary or John (currently I’m down for Mary).
I can’t leave for St. Louis until I get off work today (3:30PM), but I’ll be at the Tap Room in time for the slow session they’re having up on the 3rd floor, and I’ll be at the workshops all day Saturday. I have to head back Saturday after the workshops so I’ll miss the Sunday stuff…maybe I can catch that next year.
-Brett
I had a question about which workshop I should attend. On what basis can I classify myself into a particular level (beginner, intermediate or advanced)? I’ve been playing the whistle for a little over a year now and can play around 30-35 tunes. I learned all these tunes by ear at a slow session I’ve been going to. Given this background, where would I fit?
~nash
I wish I was going to be there…I was last year…but it is along way from Toronto.
I think I can call myself an intermediate and i got a lot from Grey Larsen’s workshop;he is fine teacher.
I made a purchase there …a little yellow book/Cd combo from John Skelton. Since i cannot learn fast tunes by ear alone, this gives me both the sheet music and a recording so I can put the two together to learn a new tune. it was inexpensive and a great value.
Enjoy all!
Liz
Sounds like you’d be fine in Grey’s Intermediate class. If you’re still working on ornamentation and trying to get cuts, taps, and rolls to sound just right, then you’ll proabably learn a lot at Grey’s workshop. He’s really good at teaching ornamentation in a way that’s logical and makes sense.
I think the beginning might be too beginning for you. Although, I’m basing thing entirely on the photo’s from last year’s beginning whistle class…they were using fingering charts and sheet music.
-Brett
Awesome! This is going to be SOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! 
I was in the beginner’s class last year and you’re way past that. It sounds like you should be in Intermediate unless you’ve really mastered cuts, rolls, and most ornamentation.
I’m at the bottom end of intermediate. See Ya’ll there. I’m gane as soon as I can get my bag packed and in the car.
Mike
Bump… I’ll be there. Just got done emailing a friend of mine about it… see if I can provoke him to come. 
Even though it’s an advanced class… and I’m not sure what exactly that means or requires… I’m taking Mary Bergin’s advanced whistle class. If I’m not quite good enough to participate, at least I can sit in on quite a show!
Looks like I’ll miss about half of the Ceilidh tonight 
but it sure will be a great overall experience with that and all the sessions, the workshop, and the concert.
Hope to meet some of you there!
Take care,
John
It’s pretty sad, it’s always the same thing with whistle classes. When truly advanced player show up in what is supposed to be a truly advanced lesson, you have this bunch of beginners who are lowering the level of the class (no disrespect, just reality), just because they wanted to see the teacher in person. I would personally make the students play and sort them with skill, but even though it seems that some teachers don’t care. Anyway, that’s the main reason why I’ll probably only go for private lessons in the future, unless I’m sure that an advanced class is really advanced, and we won’t waste time learning cuts and rolls.
That’s just my point… what DEFINES an advanced class? I’ve never been to a class before of any kind. as of late I think I can keep up pretty well with a lot of people, and I’m not tooting my own horn, but for the sake of this particular discussion (of which I’ll have to continue when I get back on Sunday) I sure as heck ain’t top notch, and there’s a ton of people that can kick my butt… but that’s the point of me wanting to take a class is to figure out those little differences I’m missing that will pick up my speed just that little bit more… or help me figure out where I’m missing that cut or how to time it just right to make it all come together right…
So again… my question… how do you decide what’s advanced or not? I know I’m not a beginner, I know I’m easily at the top of intermediate whatever that is open to interpretation of… so how does one decide on whether or not they’re going to hinder or not? What do you go to an advanced class for? I’m looking for hopefully to increase on what I described above… ways for me to bring it all together.
And don’t mistake my post for defense… they’re actual questions and topics I’ve had for some time now on lessons and distinctions. I took no offense to the previous post whatsoever. Point well said and taken.
Take care,
John
In an advanced class you can deal more with other things than the sheer mechanics of playing. Pupils in an advanced class [as I would see it] are well able to play a good few dance tunes, have no problems playing ornaments and keep a tune flowing and have more than a basic understanding of what irish music is about. In an advanced class in other words you can deal with playing music rather than playing notes, get advanced phrasing, colour, variation, expression and all that sort of detail in the picture.
if you need to ask questions like ‘I can play rolls but where should I put them?’ ‘I can play can play jig but need a handle on reels’ you go to intermediate class.