Welcome again...

An very kind friend reminded me of the months worth of nonsense I churned out here in July of last year and asked why I stopped. It's not magic children, the lazy gene kicked off and I just wasn't arsed. But far be it from me to disappoint the loyal fans, the 21 views that this page has had in one whole year (I'm SO POPULAR, it's SICK). So here we are again for another month.

What have I done, pints and tunes wise? Well, quite a lot actually. Because of my deep commitment to tunes all year they gave me an MA to recognise it - the Masters in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the IWblahblablah. It was a course I elected to participate in only after it had started and I burst into the course directors office, demanding a place and God was smiling down - he threw his eyes up to heaven, left me sitting there alone for 45 minutes and let me in. It was a fantastic year, I never knew how much I didn't know about playing music until I did it. And in fairness, I still haven't a clue. Would you like to be jealous? I would like to make you jealous. Here is my list of tutors in no particular order...

Siobhan Peoples (regular tutor all year)
Frankie Gavin
Tommy Peoples
John Carty
Brendan Mulkere
Matt Cranitch
Laura Cortese
Tola Custy
Liam Lewis
Claudine Arcand
Athena McLoughlin
John Dipper
Manus Maguire
Caoimhin O Raghallaigh
Gerry O Connor
Eileen O Brien
Jenna Reid
Gerry Holland

I can honestly say I learned something from every single one of them, however, Gerry Holland was particularly special. On top of this, I was lucky enough to be a member of a wonderful class - each and every student was extraordinarily talented and more importantly, really really sound. And in my book sound trumps talent at each and every turn.

That's all for now - pints catching up with me, you know yourself. Promise I'll be back this time.