Month: August 2019

music brings harmony and beauty into the world according to Irina Dernova


“Music feeds my soul and mind, where words fail – music speaks. It is a presence of harmony and beauty in our world, an incredible energy that connects and unites people,” said teacher at the Mid-West Vocal Academy (MWVA) and well known pianist, organist and accompanist Irina Dernova.

Irina’s earliest memory of music was at around three years of age, “There was a lot of music on the radio, TV and tape-recorder, that I liked to listen to. My parents sang songs, and there was a piano in my crèche where a teacher played it almost every day for us.” 

From her first music lesson Irina remembers seeing a grand piano for the first time as a very exciting and a magical experience, then listening as her teacher played a variety of sounds, and showed her chords and tunes, and she can still recall her first attempt to create a simple tune.

Now in her seventh year of teaching at the MWVA, originally from Russia where she studied music, Irina has worked as a piano teacher, piano performer, accompanist, repetiteur, composer, arranger, organist and choir director both in Russia and Ireland.

Teacher at the MWVA, accompanist, pianist, organist, Irina Dernova

“As a musician who plays music on daily basis, and performs at concerts and other occasion, I love sharing all I know with young and not so young musicians, beginners and those who play for a while.  It’s part of my life. 

“For me, teaching is the process of discovering and unveiling of that special musical language and the instrument’s possibilities to my students. Finding out what music touches their hearts and enjoying it as much as they do, and helping them to learn how to read music and play by ear, and supporting their interest and ambitions.

“I love to help them to become able to express themselves, to become confident  performers, it does not matter if it’s for sitting in a room in their house or for a talent show in their school, competitions or exams.

“It’s a great pleasure to help them to make steps towards learning the art of playing the piano, to broaden their knowledge of different aspects of playing the instrument and listening to and appreciating the music,” said Irina.

For Irina music has brought many friendships and lots of memorable moments and events into her life, by collaborating with other musicians and sharing precious moments of music playing and listening. She has also enjoyed crossing paths with very interesting and talented people. 

“It’s very hard to imagine life without music, especially here in Ireland. Of course, one can just stay a listener, but it’s so much more exciting and gratifying to try the instrument, figure out how to make music on such a beautiful instrument as the piano, to learn a tune or a piece you love, or make your own music, or achieve the exam grades and have a life-long skill,” added Irina.

http://www.midwestvocalacademy.com/

Harp teacher at MWVA and musician Fiana Ní Chonaill


By Louise Harrison

Teacher at the Mid-West Vocal Academy (MWVA) Fiana Ní Chonaill’s earliest memory of music was from her Primary school years at Ahane National School, when she learned the song Éiníní.

Little did she think when her grandmother took her to her first music lesson at the Limerick School of Music to learn the harp many years ago, that she would end up touring the world as a professional musician and sought after soloist.

From Castleconnell where Fiana studied harp with Dr Janet Harbison, this will be her second year teaching at the MWVA. Though her main instrument is the Irish harp she also plays concertina and pedal harp.

Having completed a BA in Irish Music and Dance at the University of Limerick (UL), Fiana went on to study at Newcastle University in the UK where she graduated with an Mmus in Musicology in 2013.

Currently pursuing a PhD at UL in Music and Tourism, Fiana is a recipient of the Comhaltas TTCT teaching Diploma and is a trained adjudicator.

What does Fiana love about teaching music?

“Watching students progress and develop and seeing the joy it can bring to their lives.

“Music is a fantastic education, and as well as teaching you how to technically play, you learn to appreciate all types of music as well as that, it’s good for your brain,” smiled Fiana.

Fiana has toured extensively in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Cyprus and the USA as a member of the Irish Harp Orchestra. She has given many solo concert performances, and  collaborated with flautist Matthew Dean on his album “Trasna Na Farraige”. In 2016 she released her debut solo CD, ‘Dathanna an Cheoil’ (The colours of music).

According to Fiana the highlights of her career to date have included performing for former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, The Emperor and Empress of Japan and other state officials and dignitaries as well as performing in front of 50,000 people as part of the St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Trafalgar Square in London in 2014.

“Music has brought fun, friendship and a passion into my life,” added Fiana.

http://www.midwestvocalacademy.com/

MWVA student Soprano Helen Hancock performs for Heritage week


By Louise Harrison

Student of the Mid-West Vocal Academy (MWVA), Soprano Helen Hancock, will perform at ‘The Art of Song’ concert, in the Yeats Tower of Thoor Ballylee, Galway at 8pm on Saturday August 24, as part of Heritage Week. 

The Oranmore native, now in her fifth year of vocal studies with tenor Owen Gilhooly, has just returned from Abingdon Summer School for Solo Singers in the UK, and is looking forward to performing with her piano accompanist.

“I love singing with Mark Keane and Thoor Ballylee is a gorgeous intimate performance space. I always enjoy explaining the background to the songs and arias which brings them to life for the audience,” said Helen.

A teacher in Coole Music in Galway, director of recorder ensemble ‘The Whistleblowers’ and choir the ‘Marine Singers’, Helen originally qualified and worked as an engineer.  

Though she had studied singing in the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) and at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) while studying in UCD, it wasn’t until she met Owen at a conducting summer school in Limerick that she returned to vocal studies.

MWVA student Soprano Helen Hancock

“What a fateful day, I had always wanted to resume solo singing but didn’t know there was anyone teaching at that level in the West of Ireland. I started with Owen in the MWVA and he believed in me, and pushed me from the start. In that time I have done grade 6, 8, ARSM and have just completed my DipABRSM,” added Helen.

Though used to public speaking, Helen said she was quite shy and nervous when she began singing as a soloist, but over time has learned to harness the adrenaline of performance and believes it now it makes her sing better. 

“Becoming a singer doesn’t happen overnight, I have plenty still to learn and my studies will never end but I think the Licentiate Diploma is next on the menu. I find exams give you a good target to aim for when you are outside the Conservatory system.

“The DipABRSM forced me do loads of reading on history of music which really enriched my understanding of what I am singing. I sing every single day, I have children so when they are at school that is my lesson and practice time.  I record all my lessons and work on the detail over and over again and with Owen there is always loads of detail,” Helen smiled.

Helen said solo singing involves a lot of time spent alone and you have to be a self starter with a lot of self belief. She has driven from Galway to Limerick for four years for her weekly lessons with Owen, which she said was a big commitment but she has found it to be incredibly rewarding. 

“Having a teacher who is also a performer is great, he, like any performer, is constantly working to improve his own voice and that knowledge and skill really comes into his teaching. I never dreamed when I started out how far I would get and I am really optimistic for bigger things in the future.  I owe Owen so much, becoming a singer has brought me home to myself and is the most significant thing I have ever done for myself,” added Helen.

Having a week of singing in the UK, Helen will attend another vocal course in France in September.

“Those weeks are magic and keep you going for months. In the normal world people don’t always understand the life of singer and it is amazing to be with people who think and feel like you do- your tribe,” said Helen.

Helen has had much experience of performance in multiple setting over the last number of years, but this year her ambition is to sing with an orchestra, “I have sung so much choral repertoire with orchestras in the past, but I always looked at the soloists with such envy. I didn’t know back then how much work would be involved to get to that level”.

Helen and Mark’s performance on August 24 will include a varied programme of Baroque, opera, art song and musical theatre.

Admission is €10 for adults and €5 for children and tickets are available on the door on the night. Refreshments will be available at the interval.

http://www.midwestvocalacademy.com/

Meaghan loves sharing the beauty that music brings to life with her students


By Louise Harrison

Meaghan Haughian from Canada, who has been teaching at the Mid-West Vocal Academy (MWVA) for two years loves teaching music for many reasons, “I love students’ excitement. I love helping them decode the puzzle, and seeing things finally come together—the classic “lightbulb” moment. I love seeing their pride when they can do something they couldn’t in the not-so-distant past. And I love learning along with them—new songs, new ways of thinking, and the chance to critically examine just how and why I do what I do in my own practice”.

Player of 19 instruments in total including the piano, flute, whistle and Irish flute. Meaghan also plays all the band instruments, which she said she can play well enough to teach beginners and direct a band, these include the oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone, euphonium/baritone, tuba, percussion, and then also the bodhrán, guitar, mandolin, uilleann pipes, and the most recent addition to her collection was a Highland bagpipes practice chanter.

Meaghan believes people should learn music for a number of reasons, “At the very least, so they can sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and the national anthem in tune, and can clap on the right beat at the right time.

“There are many cognitive advantages: a full-brain workout, improving connections across the corpus callosum, lowering the risk of dementia and generally protecting against age-related cognitive deterioration. 

“Music is also great for personal development, giving students a mode of expression, a chance to succeed if they happen to struggle academically, an outlet from other life pressures, a chance to meet other musicians.

“We are constantly surrounded by music, and having a good music education makes for better music consumers who have been exposed to a greater variety of artists and styles beyond what they would naturally listen to, who have a good appreciation for how much work that a musician has put into what he or she does, and who are more likely to support live music and the arts in general. 

“But mostly, I can’t even count the number of people who have said to me, ‘I wish I hadn’t quit music lessons’. Music is a life-long skill that can be enjoyed well into old age, which is good, because music-making is just plain fun—a rewarding activity in and of itself. I’ve been to fleadhs and Willie Clancy Week and other traditional music settings where people have been sitting in a corner playing tunes for an obscene amount of time, all week long, getting nothing from it but sheer enjoyment.

“I’ve experienced the marvel of sitting in a band and sight-reading a piece I’d never heard before, the music realising itself around us as if by magic. I’ve sung in choirs where I’ve slotted my voice into that exquisite hair-raising harmony, contributing to this fabric of sound that feels that much more profound coming from my own breath and body. I’ve played a flute-piano duet with an accompanist so sensitive to the music and to me that the notes seemed insignificant, the music rising beyond simple fingerings and rhythm and dots on a page to breathe a life of its own. 

“So, if you think music is nice to listen to, imagine how much nicer it would be to actually be part of that music-making yourself”.

Meaghan Haughian Musician and teacher at the Mid-West Vocal Academy

So, where did Meaghan’s passion for music come from? Her earliest memory of experiencing music at a young age was hearing her Dad singing and playing his guitar, Church choirs, listening to Disney soundtracks and her Dad’s rock albums and his classical-music stories like ‘Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery’ and another one about Mozart’s The Magic Flute and getting a piano from her Grandpa.

“I sat in front of it and cautiously pressed the keys, marvelled at this big complicated contraption. I kind of figured out “Little April Showers” from Bambi, but when I tried to play it for our Kindergarten graduation, it didn’t go over so well, the kids laughed at me, and some of the other students who actually attended piano lessons played their pieces instead. It didn’t even bother me that much—I was completely aware that I didn’t know what I was doing, so I didn’t take it too personally,” Meaghan laughed.

At Meaghan’s first piano lesson when she was just seven years of age, she remembers feeling eager to unlock its secrets and then having to go home and practice, for her it was like setting out to solve a puzzle. At the age of eleven, Meaghan started to learn the flute.

When she was just fourteen, she attended the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra’s open day, where she got to play with the full orchestra.

“I was blown away—they were so good, and the strings sound was so lush and full. I was amazed when I was actually successful in my audition that autumn, and pretty much right from the first rehearsal I knew that I had to do music for the rest of my life”.

Towards the end of high school Meaghan became interested in Irish traditional music and learned the whistle and Irish flute. She studied music education at the University of Saskatchewan, and played with the Band of the Ceremonial Guard in Ottawa during her university summers, and During this time, started playing with a local Celtic trad band called The Residuals.

“My university graduation present to myself was a trip to Ireland, where I attended several workshops and played in sessions across the country and when I came back to Canada, I started teaching band, choir, guitar, and English in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. I continued teaching in Saskatchewan for five years, after which I did a Master’s degree in ethnomusicology at the University of Limerick, studying the uilleann pipes and writing a thesis about cóir Ghaelacha (Irish language choirs). After my degree, I decided to stay in Ireland, and now I teach a variety of instruments, as well as a cór Gaelach and music theory, at the Mid-West Vocal Academy”.

So, what has music brought to Meaghan’s life? 

“What hasn’t it brought to my life? It has brought a career, travel—culminating in a full-out relocation across the Atlantic—new friends, fluency in the Irish language, hours of enjoyment (frustration, too, but we’ll focus on the positives), and depleted bank accounts from money spent on instruments and workshops and lessons (totally worth it). Most of all, it has brought moments of incredible, indescribable, inimitable beauty,” smiled Meaghan. 

http://www.midwestvocalacademy.com/

Music is Helen’s bliss, both as a teacher and performer


By Louise Harrison

Busy soprano and vocal coach at the Mid-West Vocal Academy (MWVA) Helen Houlihan believes learning to sing encourages creativity, fosters discipline, improves aural skills, posture and confidence. 

“As the student’s voice develops and grows, they enjoy finding their expression through their voice. It is also believed that singing can lift the spirits if someone has a low mood,” said Helen. 

Recently conferred with an honours MA in Music Performance from the Cork School of Music, Helen’s earliest memory of music that made an impression on her, was a piece she heard on the radio when she was just 10 years of age. 

“Hearing Kathleen Ferrier for the first time on radio singing, ‘What is life to me without thee’, better known as ‘Che Faro senna Euridice’ from Gluck’s opera ‘Orfeo Ed Euridice’. 

“I was completely enraptured by her beautiful singing of a most beautiful aria with such heartfelt sorrow. My mother bought the recording for me which I played incessantly. It remains a favourite aria of mine to this day,” added Helen.

At Helen’s first vocal lesson she remembers singing through a song that she already knew and then learning a piece that the teacher recommended for her, concentration on vocal technique came at a later stage of her studies.

Helen Houlihan Soprano and teacher at the MWVA

“Music is my bliss and being involved as a performer or as a teacher is when I’m most happy in life,” smiled Helen.

Having taught voice for eight years in total and six years at the MWVA Helen said, “I have had the privilege of working with great vocal coaches and language coaches and it’s wonderful to be in a position to pass on that knowledge to students.

“Finding ways to work with students in growing and developing their voices and their particular sets of vocal issues is a challenge that I enjoy.  

“It also informs my own vocal technique as I am constantly thinking of various ways of approaching technical challenges.

“I love when students reach the stage where they are not having to think constantly about vocal technique, and when they can engage with the text and focus more on communicating the story and finding the underlying emotion. I love seeing how the vocal technical development leads to a growing confidence and a freedom of expression that it brings,” added Helen. 

Helen trained with Jean Holmes in Limerick and in London with James Lockhart, David Harper and Paul Hamburger. She has performed on many occasions at the National Concert Hall, the Galway Festival, the Wexford Festival Opera, with Opera Ireland, Wexford Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Anna Livia Opera, and in London at the Fortune Theatre, Eaton House,  St. John Smith Square and at the Holland Park Festival.

Helen has also been a guest soloist with the RTE Concert Orchestra, both in live performance and in studio broadcast and a guest soloist on several live television shows.

http://www.midwestvocalacademy.com/