Night Trip: Kevin Burke, Irish Fiddler

A few nights ago, Andy and I were fortunate enough to see one of Ireland's premier fiddlers, Kevin Burke. Kevin Burke is best known for his work with the Bothy Band in the 70s with Uilleann piper, Paddy Keenan.

For this concert, he was working with Cal Scott, a guitarist and songwriter from Oregon who writes soundtracks for documentaries.The concert was a cozy, small affair and the music was great. We were close enough to the stage that we could hear the music, crisp and clear, straight from the instruments.


In true Irish style, the concert was informal and the audience was almost dancing. We ended up buying a CD that had a lot of the songs that they played at the concert and we've been enjoying it very much. They were even nice enough to sign it for us.

You can listen to the whole CD at Amazon: Across the Black River

We very much liked "The Surround," and "The Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz." It is great because they have a songbook available for this CD so Andy can play fiddle and I can play guitar. We've been having fun with it.

Blarney Castle Painting and Irish Potato Candy Recipe

I've been working on this watercolor of Blarney Castle for a really long time. I finally vowed to finish it before St. Patrick's Day.

I don't really know anyone who really likes to use watercolor as their favorite medium. My favorite medium is pencil, so watercolor is as different as you can get in terms of control. Pencil does exactly what you want it to, watercolor does what it wants.

I'm not sure that the painting is 100% finished right now, but it's finished enough that I would only have to put 15 or 20 minutes of finishing touches on. I am considering slightly more detail on the bush and maybe some clouds in the sky.

I always paint and draw on the floor, I don't know why, I do have as easel, I've just never used it. Fortunately, my easel doesn't go to waste  as my sister uses it a lot. You can see some of her drawings here.


I only use a few supplies which is great if you like to paint "in the field." I have never painted on location, although I would like to try sometime. I dislike when people watch me paint or draw.
 

I use cheap paints (the $5.00 for the whole set kind) because I have found that the expensive paints have added ingredients which helps the paint dry faster on the paper. I am told that you can buy "stuff" to make the expensive paint not dry so fast but it seems like a waste of money when the really cheap paint works well.

I once had to take a watercolor class for college and I hated every minute of it. The teacher made us buy expensive paint ($5.00 a tube and we needed about 7 tubes.) Then he made us "experiment" constantly. If I was going to experiment, as a student, I wish I wasn't using $35.00 worth of paint and $60.00 worth of paper.

I do still have a lot of expensive paints left over and I keep telling myself that when I get really good at using watercolor, then I'll use those paints. I am told that they will not fade as much as cheap paints. I'll have to do a "fade check" to see.

Below I have a St. Patrick's Day Recipe for Irish Potatoes. These are American coconut candies. The candies are rolled into balls to imitate little potatoes and then rolled in cinnamon to look like dirt on the potatoes. If you like coconut, you will probably love them.

Irish Potatoes

Ingredients:

- 4 Cups Powdered Sugar

-2 1/2 Cups Flaked Coconut

- 4 ounces Cream Cheese (1/2 an 8 ounce package)

- 1/4 Cup Butter

- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- Cinnamon or Cocoa Powder

Instructions:

Cream the Butter and Cream Cheese together in a medium sized bowl. Once smooth, add the Powdered Sugar and Vanilla Extract. Add Coconut, you may have to use your hands to blend it together. Pour the Cocoa or Cinnamon onto a small plate. Make 1 inch balls of the "dough" and roll them in the Cocoa or Cinnamon.

You can eat these right away but they are best slightly cold and keep for a few weeks refrigerated. If you are going to refrigerate them, put each individual candy into a tiny fluted liner, available at craft stores.  

Andy and I always make Irish potatoes (covered in cinnamon) and Chocolate Blarney Stones (rolled in cocoa powder.) We make the Blarney Stones more rectangular in shape, similar to the actual Blarney Stone. Making two batches uses up one whole package of cream cheese and adds variety. Many people like the cocoa covered ones much better than the cinnamon, but the cinnamon is traditional.

Movies for St. Patrick's Day

The Rock of Cashel, Ireland (Carraig Phádraig)

The Rock of Cashel is said to be the spot that St. Patrick converted the King of Munster to Christianity in the 5th century. The buildings on the rock date back to the 1100s but many buildings were present before these were erected. It is one of the greatest archaeological spots in Ireland. There is one account that stated that St. Patrick died on March 17, 460 CE. In Ireland, and among Catholics, March 17th is a Holy Day, in the United States, it is a day of festivity and parades.   

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than watching a good Irish movie and eating Irish food? Since St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday and the St. Patrick's Day Parade, an American one, these movies include both Irish and Irish American movies. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held on March 17, 1762 in New York City to honor the Irish fighting with the British Army.

  
Waking Ned Devine: A hilarious story about a man who wins the lottery and the whole town that cashes the ticket. It's actually a lot funnier than it looks and has a great soundtrack. Warning: Brief nudity (Rated: PG.)

The War of the Buttons: Two rival gangs of Irish children and their idea of what it means to be adults. I believe the whole thing is available on youtube or OnDemand rent from Amazon for $2.99. Warning: Brief nudity (Rated PG.)

Angela's Ashes: The serious memoir of an childhood in the slums of Ireland. Warning: "Irish" language. :D They are bad words there but not here. (Rated R, but personally I think it is appropriate for mature teenage audience due to the historical aspect of the movie.)

Good Will Hunting: An Irish American genius works as a janitor at MIT and doesn't have aspirations beyond that until he is caught fixing math equations by a leading mathematician. Warning: Language. (Rated: R.)   

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: A coming of age story about second generation Irish and Austrian tenants in Brooklyn. I believe the whole thing is on youtube, it was made in 1945.

Hope you enjoy! I think we will be watching Waking Ned Devine and War of the Buttons this year. A lot of people like to watch The Quiet Man on St. Patrick's Day but I can't stand watching that movie for more than 5 minutes. Andy really likes it though. (I don't know if it's the bad acting, the bad storyline or John Wayne.)

I guess I'll add The Quiet Man for all of you masochists out there. :D

** Between Andy and I, St. Patrick's Day is also known as "The day we get to  feel like normal people." :D (Those of you who know us well, know why.)

Homemade Penny Whistles: CPVC Tin Whistles

Yesterday Andy and I made homemade Penny Whistles out of CPVC pipes. He made a low D whistle and a whistle with Uilleann pipe fingerings (which means I won't have to listen to those bagpipes when he's practicing a new song. ::jumps up and down:: )and I made a penny whistle with an extra hole to allow the whistle to reach a middle C.

Andy and I originally were just going to make a Low D whistle because they are expensive but the pipes were sold in 10 ft segments so we ended up making a bunch.

It took a lot of measuring and sanding but they did not take very long to make.All it took was The pipe, a wood dowel, a saw and sandpaper.

 It really was a lot of fun and we got three whistles done in a couple of hours.  They sound very pretty too. If I can convince Andy to let me record him, I will post it on here. He always says yes but ends up avoiding it-- he's shy about playing in front of people but is very good.

Some Tutorials, Plans and Tips for making CPVC and PVC whistles and other instruments if you'd like to try yourselves:

• Guido Gonzato's Plans for Whistles : This site has lots and lots of plans for building whistles.
• CPVC Flute
• The Bag Whistle: Directions for a weird bagpipe flute instrument.
• Making Simple PVC Flutes

Irish Calligraphy

Irish (Gaeilge) is very different from English, there are only 18 letters to work with and yet the letters can make many sounds. The sounds even differ from county to county, confusing! Irish started to decline in Ireland during the 1800s. In the late 1800s, the British stopped teaching Irish in schools in Ireland in an attempt to make the Irish more British. Irish during this time was typically used by only the poor who were more likely to emigrate from Ireland, leaving very few speakers in Ireland.

I found this writing style in an Irish primer published in the 1840s. I thought it was very pretty and decided to map it out in case someone wanted to use it for Christmas cards. Sorry, the second chart is a little hard to read, my printer is broken.  English can be written using Irish letters with a little bit of imagination, for example, Andrew has to be written as "Andriu," and Mary as "Mari" or "Muire." It's a very pretty writing style it is readable to us but is still a little ancient looking.

 

Nollaig Shona Duit (pronounced  "No- lihg HO- nah ditch") roughly translates as "Happy Christmas." If you want to say "Happy Christmas" to more than one person it would be Nollaig Shona Daoibh (pronounced "No-lihg HO-nah dih-ve.)

*Note: Excerpt from "A Primer of the Irish Language" from the College of St. Columba, published in 1845.

Tin Whistle: Cockles and Mussels Sheet Music and Blank Sheet Music for Tin Whistle

 I've been in the mood to learn "Cockles and Mussels" on the tin whistle. It's really a simple but pretty song. "Cockles and Mussels" (Molly Malone,) is a traditional and well known Irish song. It is widely accepted as the nonofficial song of Dublin. It's about a fishmonger in Dublin. You can here a MIDI of the song here. 

Not much is known about the origins of the song or if Molly Malone was a real person; however, there is a statue in Dublin commemorating "her."  The song was very popular at Harvard in the 1860s.






There are a lot of great renditions of this song out there. I recommend these:

Cockles and Mussels by ichingiching. 
Molly Malone by Fiffin Market/ Lexington Field. This is a pop rendition.
Molly Malone by Four Celtic Voices. This is a really pretty version played on the harp.

It is surprising that the lyrics to this song have changed very little throughout the years. Many traditional songs change with each generation.

I wrote out the tin whistle fingerings for beginners or anyone who doesn't like to read music. A plus sign next to a fingering means to play that note in the higher octave (use more air.)

I made some blank tin whistle (fife/Irish Flue/ ect.) sheet music for beginners or anyone who can't read music yet to use. It is also good for writing down sequences of notes you like while fooling around with the whistle.

Glengarry Cap Crochet Pattern from Godey's Lady's Book

Glengarry caps (or Glengarry Bonnets,) have been thought to have been worn by the Scottish military since 1794. In the mid-1800s, the hat was adopted by men and young boys in England.  By the time of the American Civil War, it was a popular civilian hat for men, children and ladies, copied from the 1850s English fashions.

During the 1860s the fashion caps were commonly made out of velvet or stiff cloth. Checked or contrasting colored solid bands were common. They were sometimes decorated with feathers and cockades. You can learn to make very beautiful cockades at American Duchess. When made correctly, the cap should have a dip in the middle of the top.

This crochet pattern from Godey's Lady's Book (1861) was previously published in London in 1853.

If I ever learn to crochet, this looks like such a cute hat to make. It looks like it might be a good started project after I practice "granny squares." Crochet is still a complete mystery to me, knitting makes perfect sense. Has anyone ever made this hat? I'd love to see what it looks like all finished. I love green, I think this would look so cute in the winter. I love the look of crochet beanies that people wear to school, this is like a quirky twist.

I've been itching to finish knitting my sontag but I can't bring myself to pay the $4.00 shipping on one ball of yarn so I have to put it on hold. The ladies over at The Lady's Guide for Re-enactresses, suggest recycling sweaters for inexpensive yarn. I love that you get cheap yarn and recycle at the same time. Look at this pretty sontag they made out of thrifted yarn! The nice thing is you can read the tags and find 100% wool yarn. How cool. So, all of you crocheters, is this hat easy enough for a beginner?

**Please remember to enter my contest, the drawing will be held on October 5th!**

Simple Irish Phrases

Andy and I had our first Irish class. I thought I'd share a few simple Irish phrases with you.  We are learning the Ulster dialect (County Donegal.) The dialects really do change a lot!

 

The fist thing we learned to say was "Dia duit."

•  It is pronounced "Gee a dutch." We have heard it pronounced in other dialects as "Gee a ditch," and "Gee a dwhit." 

It is how they say "hello" but literally means "God to you."

The response to "Dia duit" is "Dia is Muire duit." 

• This is pronounced as "Gee a smore a dutch."

It means "God and Mary to you."

We also learned "Slán leat."

• It is pronounced "Slahn lot"

It means "Goodbye," and is said by the person leaving. The person staying says "Slán agat."

• This is pronounced "Slahn ahg-ot."

I hope you enjoyed! We had fun even though it is really hard and confusing.