At our next monthly session, we’ll be launching a new initiative – a slow session for adults. The aim of the Newbridge CCE slow session is to provide an opportunity for adults to play together with others who share the same interest in traditional music and who have a similar level of ability. It’s sometimes called a ‘slow’ session because for most relative beginners it is almost impossible to make the jump from playing on their own, to playing in an established session, as the music is usually just too fast for them initially. The secret is in finding a pace that is slow enough to make it possible for newcomers to join in, but not so slow as to kill the music. A wide range of instruments are used at the session, including fiddles, flutes, whistles, accordions, banjos, mandolins, guitars, bodhrans and other percussion instruments.
So if you are playing or are learning to play a traditional musical instrument and feel ready to try playing in a group situation, you are most welcome to attend this monthly session to play or listen.
Below is the list of tunes we will be starting with. Sheet music and audio recordings of all the tunes are available for download from the Downloads page.

Oro Se Do Bheatha Bhaile
Finnegan’s Wake
The Dawning Of The Day
The Foggy Dew
Roddy McCorley
The Mountains Of Pomeroy
The Kerry Polka
The Newmarket Polka
The Geese In The Bog
The Connaughtman’s Rambles
Out On The Ocean

Our first session will be in The Elk, Toomebridge, on Thursday March 1st at 8.15pm
For further information please contact Seamus – 07960956959

Our next monthly session is this Thursday, 1st February, in The Elk. We’re back downstairs this month with the junior session at 7:45pm and the senior one at 9:00pm. Admission to the junior session is free. To the senior session, it’s £3 and includes a light supper around 10:15pm.

Our first sessions of 2018 will take place on Thursday night, 4th January, in The Elk. Both junior and senior sessions will again be held in The Creagh Suite (upstairs) and starting times are 7:45pm (junior) and 9:00pm (senior).

Classes resume on Saturday, 13th January, in Anahorish Primary School. There are a few spaces left in most classes, so enquiries via PM/website/email are welcome. Registration will take place from 10:15am onwards on the morning of the first class. The 12 week term will finish on 28th April, with breaks for Ballymena Festival, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter.

Our special session on Thursday, 7th December, to mark our branch’s 40th anniversary, was a huge success. Here’s a short video of highlights of the evening – there are also some pictures in our Gallery. Thanks to everyone who contributed to a great night.

We had our Christmas concert on Saturday, 16th December, in Anahorish Primary School where all our classes performed with their tutors for friends and family. It was a great morning’s entertainment with superb talent on show. In the afternoon, we played a few tunes at the senior citizens Chritmas dinner in Ballymaguigan GAC where the turnout of about 20 junior musicians was fantastic. Thanks to everybody for supporting both events. There are additional pictures in the Gallery.

We’ll be marking the 40th anniversary of the formation of our branch at our next monthly session on Thursday, 7th December, in The Creagh Suite in The Elk. As usual, the junior session will be from 7:45pm-8:30pm and the senior session gets under way at 9:00pm. We’ll have a raffle instead of the usual admission fee and will be serving a light supper around 10:00pm. Everyone’s welcome and we’ll have a few special guests to help celebrate the occasion. It would be great to reunite some of those who have been involved in the running of the branch or who simply attended and supported our functions over the years, so spread the word!

If you missed our performance on the Ceili House programme on RTE Radio 1 on 2nd December, you can listen to the entire show on the RTE website – if you want to skip to our slot, it was about 10 minutes from the end, at 43:30. Our thanks again to everyone involved in the organisation and production of the programme.

https://www.rte.ie/…/924584-ceili-house-saturday-2-decemb…/…

17th-19th November was a busy weekend for our musicians. Starting with a Mass on Friday night, through classes and group practice on Saturday morning, Magherafelt Camogie Club anniversary celebrations on Saturday night and finishing up on Sunday afternoon at the Co. Derry Comhaltas fundraiser in Maghera. Thanks to everybody who took part.

We’ve already had two very successful junior and senior sessions since the new season started, and classes, which are mostly fully subscribed, resume after the Halloween break on Saturday, 11th November. Our AGM will be held in The Elk on Thursday, 9th November at 8:15pm. We would encourage as many members as possible to attend as this is an important forum for discussing branch development, activities and plans for the coming year.
New members are also welcome, especially parents of children attending our classes who would like to find out more or be involved in the running of the group.
There’ll be a group practice for next weekend’s Co. Derry Comhaltas concert following classes on Saturday, 11th November, at 12:00pm

We were delighted to be asked to attend a recording of the RTE radio Ceili House programme in Derry on Saturday, 21st October, and were privileged to record a couple of tunes for the programme. Thanks to everybody at Studio 2 for facilitating the event and to CCE Baile na gCailleach for the invitation to attend. The programe airs on Saturday 2nd December at 9:00pm on RTE Radio 1.

A quick update on our activities since the start of the new season.

Firstly, belated congratulations to the following girls on their LCM grade exam successes in the summer exams:

Caoimhe O’Kane – Grade 8 fiddle (Distinction)
Ellie Conway – Grade 7 whistle (Distinction)
Roise McCloy – Grade 5 piano (Distinction)
Cliodhna McPeake – Grade 1 mandolin (Merit)

Music classes are now well under way – whistle classes are all full with a very small number of places still available in the other classes. We’re also running an informal Irish language conversation class in The Elk every Monday evening, hosted by Kieran McKenna. All abilities are welcome to attend, although it probably isn’t suitable for younger children.