Get Out There !
The best way to enjoy your music and the playing of it, is to get out there and share the joy with other musicians. Towards that goal, you are very welcome to join the Celtic Music Club (if you’re not already a member). For membership dues, you can go to the webpage of our club host, the Catonsville Clubhouse, of the Baltimore County Arts Guild (look for “classes & events”).
Amazingly, out in the big wide world you’ll find loads of places all over the place where folks gather to share the joy of music. Our own, Erich Marschner, keeps an updated list of sessions in the Baltimore area (and beyond) … check it out:
Irish Trad Sessions This Week.
Each month, Erich also hosts a session in Old Ellicott City at the Judge’s Bench. Get all the details here.
Getting the Most out of Playing Music
For those who join the Celtic Music Club, and for those who simply want to get a little more out of your time devoted to music, here are a few things to consider …
Make yourself comfortable
When you reserve some time to play or practice, make that time as comfortable as possible:
• If you can, use a room without distractions, like TV, outside noise, or even other people;
• Standing can be a good option, but for lengthy practice sessions, nothing beats a firm comfortable chair, without chair arms;
• Learning by ear is a great choice, but if you’re learning from sheet music, tune books, or anthologies, a great music stand is indispensable; I have used this one by Peak, for many, many years;
• Speaking of music, as you collect sheet music and books, you may find it useful to use electronic or digital versions, and then collect them onto some type of laptop or tablet;
• If you are a guitar player, you will find that a footstool is very helpful in maintaining a good – and comfortable – practice position; I use this one, by K&M, but there are a lot of options out there.
Helpful links and Information
For Celtic Music, you will find more tunes than you can ever learn in a lifetime. The Celtic Music Club keeps a large, DropBox collection, available FREE; this link should take you straight to “Drew-CelticTuneCollection.”
In the Celtic Tune Collection, you’ll find several folders of individual tunes, books collected for shows (ShowBooks), PDFs, and much, much more.
If the Celtic Tune Collection isn’t enough, then try these websites for even more Celtic Music:
- The Session (Giant online tune database): https://thesession.org/tunes.
- Aimed mostly at guitarists, but useful for everyone is the Vashon Celtic Tunes website.
- Irishtune.info (Another online tune database, recordings-based): https://www.irishtune.info/
- Irishtune.info Top 100 Session Tunes (Tune list used by the CMC): https://www.irishtune.info/session/tunes-100.php
- Erich’s CMC Practice List (Tune incipits from common tunes, intended as a memorization aid): https://www.tinyurl.com/cmc-practicelist
- And for even more tunes, visit the Limerick Pub (Wheaton, MD) session page: http://thepipersjoy.org.
- And, last on this list, but not least, Comhaltas … the largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish Traditional Music: https://comhaltas.ie.
CELTIC MUSIC CLUB Music and Merchandise
If you’d like to listen to the Celtic Music Club, and also offer some support, you can hear and purchase our two-track single, “Introducing the Celtic Music Club.”
The Celtic Music Club also offers an array of branded merchandise, including our t-shirt commemorating being honored with a Maryland Music Award in 2024. You purchase that t-shirt here, and you can browse around for other music merchandise in the same place for Drew Vervan, Gallagher’s Frolics, Finbar’s Flight, and more: dv-swag.