New class format and preparing for Woodford

Last week we changed the format of the Wednesday evening classes and practice. The session now starts at 6:15pm with teaching done at a slower rate, more suitable for players new to Irish music. At about 7:00pm the pace picks up for the more seasoned players. This change appears popular so we'll continue doing it this way.

Maleny Ceili Band will be playing for a ceili at Woodford Folk Festival again this year, on Monday 29th December at 9:00pm. For the next few weeks we'll be concentrating on practicing our sets, many new ones but some of the old favourites still included.

Tune learning, ceili set practice, and session playing have all been continuing as usual, although several members, including the editor of this blog, have been away at various times.  Perhaps not surprisingly the majority visited Ireland to experience the music at it's origins.

The experiment of learning at higher speed has been successful but we are aware that this method is not practical for newer players.  In the near future we will trial starting the Wednesday evening class half an hour earlier, teaching at a slower pace for the early part of the evening then picking up speed later.  We'll let you know when this begins.

The next major event on our calendar is the Woodford Folk Festival where once again the Maleny Ceili Band will play for a fun-for-all dance.