Does any one else think there should be more age groups in the Fleadh because it makes it fairer as some people under 15 are only 13 against 15 year olds. Anyone agree???
but you see, people get older, soon enough those 13 year olds will be 15 year olds. a fact of life. lol.
there's nothing wrong with the age groups, its the following thats is wrong:
1. Adjudicating: (Poor adjudicators will little experience of a good standard of music. one adjudicator at the leinster fleadh last year was 17. thats absolutely true. shows how pathetic comhaltas are. no good musician in their right mind would go near the fleadh because the money is bad [i should know] and generally i think (legal disclaimer there) they're not treated well.)
2. Get rid of solo competitions: (while some people may not agree saying it is good practise for performance purposes, well it is not. concerts and competitions are totally different and surely if they are good enough then they will learn as they get older. plus the over 18 solo competitions have lost their meaning. there are so many different styles it all comes down to a matter of choice and generally it sometimes does end up with the 'best' player. styles are not accounted for hence the comhaltas style. however i do think the group competitions and duets and trios are still decent competitions and people actually learn something)
3. The 'ah sure throw them all in there they'll be grand' attitude to the music: (This is the old sacrificing quality for quantity attitude that comhaltas seems to have. the whole twee vibe that Comhaltas likes to give out. the idea that 'sure we're all mad here playin the music. hup!' it undermines the music. while i am all for being inclusive for people but i draw the line when i see fifty musicians joining in a lovely session with well known established musicians [or any musicians fr that matter] and then seeing it go downhill. this is not a clique thing, far from it. people seem to forget that it is probably MORE important to LISTEN to the music than to just whip out the instrument at every given opportunity. maybe it is a bit of immaturity. session etiquette doesnt seem to apply at fleadhs, yes there are lots of people and little space but people dont HAVE to play!!)
The whole competition thing really bugs me about Comhaltas, more witht he solos than anything. But what i thought was really disgusting this year was the inclusion of a 'session competition' over the days of the fleadh. this really smacks of comhaltas's desire to turn everything into a competition and bleed more money out of an already dry fleadh contingent. also they should scrap the 'Treoir' ,so called 'magazine'. awful propoganda nonsense that no-one reads anyway. waste of money. writing, design, pictures, everything about is crap I think. they should invest more money into grassroots level then keep spending it on things like this and those comhaltas tours that are the same every year with the same people.
As far as comhaltas goes a new injection of blood is severely needed. here we have a situation much like the government who have been around to long and are unwilling to give up power for the sake of improving conditions. actually its more like robert mugabe. a chairman (or whatever he is) who has an indefinate contract. it just stinks. the organisation is going stale but nobody is willing to throw out the bread and buy a new loaf, so to speak.the ard comhairle dont know anything about music anyway (see the report on the state of irish music written by labhras a number of years ago to see what i mean). they are a bunch of middle aged countrymen (no offence) who are on the backburner and can't see the wood for the trees. they are too busy promoting themselves as an organisation and patting themselves on the backs and giving out awards to their own for no apparant reason to be concerned with the musical element.
while i do think that some of the group comps are still worthwhile, just abolish solo comps altogether.
It's easy for us oldies not to take this seriously. After all if you've been playing 32 years rather than 33 years that's only 3% less playing years (and possibly just 1-2% of your whole life); whereas if you've been playing 4 years rather than 5 years that's 20% less playing time (and this could be as much as 10% or more of your whole life); and this particularly at your formative years. The adolescent years are the second biggest period of brain development (2nd after toddler time when the brain changes are enormous), so I wouldn't be so glib about this topic. The only trouble is males develop later than females (both physically and mentally) during adolescence, and also everyone develops (both physically and mentally) at different rates; also it would be an organisational nightmare. But I for one would be aware of your concerns.
But if you age mentally at 3% per year compounded monthly and physically at 3.2% compounded continuously, when will your mental age be half what your physical age will be when your ex-wife's second step-father's younger brother is traveling due east on a train that left Paris at 14.05 going 132 km/hr?
fiddleruairi- You have some very strong points there. I have to agree with most.
The Adjudicating: quite frequently the Adjudicator's background and experience end up in the wrong room. Why should a fiddler be adjudicating a fluter? That boggles my mind.
A 17 year old Adjudicating? Ha! Comhaltas might put a monkey up to Adjudicate next time eh?
What does competition do for music? I can play better than you or look at ME! I'm the best!
I never known this music to be about that.
Keep the music in the houses where the music might regain individual style and put the CCE out of business.
I think CCE often do good stuff at local level encouraging kids to play and providing some community framework for lessons etc. and they should be credited for that.
But I agree that the competitions and examinations are undesirable - it smacks of an education system that wants to test and grade people. And there's enough exams and hoops to jump through in this modern world for most young people. Just turns a good few of them off..
madfluter - Agree...agree...agree.. I pride myself that I am one of a very rare breed of musicians. A musician who never entered a Fleadh competition and consequently never won a damm thing for playing music. Strange thing is...in spite of not being an all Ireland champion I think that I can still make a good fist of playing.
@ Lord Gordon-
Fell off my chair reading this:
I gave my CCE medals to some travellers who called to my house.used another one to fix a hole in a bird table out my garden.
Would it be too offensive to start a discussion on "101 uses for your fleadh metals?"
Madfluter, I think your idea of starting a discussion about other uses for fleadh medals is an excellent idea. Perhaps you could also include other medals such as the ones which I have won for my age group for participating in various marathons as a walker. I don't run because it is too hard on my knees and ankles.
More age groups at Fleadh.
More age groups at Fleadh.
Does any one else think there should be more age groups in the Fleadh because it makes it fairer as some people under 15 are only 13 against 15 year olds. Anyone agree???
# Posted on December 22nd 2008 by fineflautist
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
As a 14-year-old that competes in fleadhanna, yes.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by jakep
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
There should definitely be a category for one-armed arthritic asthmatic born-again spoons players born originally on February 29, 1962.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by GaryAMartin
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
but you see, people get older, soon enough those 13 year olds will be 15 year olds. a fact of life. lol.
there's nothing wrong with the age groups, its the following thats is wrong:
1. Adjudicating: (Poor adjudicators will little experience of a good standard of music. one adjudicator at the leinster fleadh last year was 17. thats absolutely true. shows how pathetic comhaltas are. no good musician in their right mind would go near the fleadh because the money is bad [i should know] and generally i think (legal disclaimer there) they're not treated well.)
2. Get rid of solo competitions: (while some people may not agree saying it is good practise for performance purposes, well it is not. concerts and competitions are totally different and surely if they are good enough then they will learn as they get older. plus the over 18 solo competitions have lost their meaning. there are so many different styles it all comes down to a matter of choice and generally it sometimes does end up with the 'best' player. styles are not accounted for hence the comhaltas style. however i do think the group competitions and duets and trios are still decent competitions and people actually learn something)
3. The 'ah sure throw them all in there they'll be grand' attitude to the music: (This is the old sacrificing quality for quantity attitude that comhaltas seems to have. the whole twee vibe that Comhaltas likes to give out. the idea that 'sure we're all mad here playin the music. hup!' it undermines the music. while i am all for being inclusive for people but i draw the line when i see fifty musicians joining in a lovely session with well known established musicians [or any musicians fr that matter] and then seeing it go downhill. this is not a clique thing, far from it. people seem to forget that it is probably MORE important to LISTEN to the music than to just whip out the instrument at every given opportunity. maybe it is a bit of immaturity. session etiquette doesnt seem to apply at fleadhs, yes there are lots of people and little space but people dont HAVE to play!!)
The whole competition thing really bugs me about Comhaltas, more witht he solos than anything. But what i thought was really disgusting this year was the inclusion of a 'session competition' over the days of the fleadh. this really smacks of comhaltas's desire to turn everything into a competition and bleed more money out of an already dry fleadh contingent. also they should scrap the 'Treoir' ,so called 'magazine'. awful propoganda nonsense that no-one reads anyway. waste of money. writing, design, pictures, everything about is crap I think. they should invest more money into grassroots level then keep spending it on things like this and those comhaltas tours that are the same every year with the same people.
As far as comhaltas goes a new injection of blood is severely needed. here we have a situation much like the government who have been around to long and are unwilling to give up power for the sake of improving conditions. actually its more like robert mugabe. a chairman (or whatever he is) who has an indefinate contract. it just stinks. the organisation is going stale but nobody is willing to throw out the bread and buy a new loaf, so to speak.the ard comhairle dont know anything about music anyway (see the report on the state of irish music written by labhras a number of years ago to see what i mean). they are a bunch of middle aged countrymen (no offence) who are on the backburner and can't see the wood for the trees. they are too busy promoting themselves as an organisation and patting themselves on the backs and giving out awards to their own for no apparant reason to be concerned with the musical element.
while i do think that some of the group comps are still worthwhile, just abolish solo comps altogether.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by fiddleruairi
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
the second point should read about the solo comps:
generally its does NOT end up with the best player...
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by fiddleruairi
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
It's easy for us oldies not to take this seriously. After all if you've been playing 32 years rather than 33 years that's only 3% less playing years (and possibly just 1-2% of your whole life); whereas if you've been playing 4 years rather than 5 years that's 20% less playing time (and this could be as much as 10% or more of your whole life); and this particularly at your formative years. The adolescent years are the second biggest period of brain development (2nd after toddler time when the brain changes are enormous), so I wouldn't be so glib about this topic. The only trouble is males develop later than females (both physically and mentally) during adolescence, and also everyone develops (both physically and mentally) at different rates; also it would be an organisational nightmare. But I for one would be aware of your concerns.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
But if you age mentally at 3% per year compounded monthly and physically at 3.2% compounded continuously, when will your mental age be half what your physical age will be when your ex-wife's second step-father's younger brother is traveling due east on a train that left Paris at 14.05 going 132 km/hr?
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by GaryAMartin
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
grow up garry
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
fiddleruairi- You have some very strong points there. I have to agree with most.
The Adjudicating: quite frequently the Adjudicator's background and experience end up in the wrong room. Why should a fiddler be adjudicating a fluter? That boggles my mind.
A 17 year old Adjudicating? Ha! Comhaltas might put a monkey up to Adjudicate next time eh?
What does competition do for music? I can play better than you or look at ME! I'm the best!
I never known this music to be about that.
Keep the music in the houses where the music might regain individual style and put the CCE out of business.
Don't get me started on Comhaltas...
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by madfluter
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
I agree with fiddleruari also and think he is correct in what he says about the Comhaltas competitions.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
I think CCE often do good stuff at local level encouraging kids to play and providing some community framework for lessons etc. and they should be credited for that.
But I agree that the competitions and examinations are undesirable - it smacks of an education system that wants to test and grade people. And there's enough exams and hoops to jump through in this modern world for most young people. Just turns a good few of them off..
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by the wounded hussar
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
CCE RIP
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by Lord Gordon
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
madfluter - Agree...agree...agree.. I pride myself that I am one of a very rare breed of musicians. A musician who never entered a Fleadh competition and consequently never won a damm thing for playing music. Strange thing is...in spite of not being an all Ireland champion I think that I can still make a good fist of playing.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by Free Reed
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
Let's also talk about "Feis Life" or those step dance competitions too! Nah...nevermind.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by saltcast
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
fiddleruairi for CCE president.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by skip canlon
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
i gave my CCE medals to some travellers who called to my house.used another one to fix a hole in a bird table out my garden.
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by Lord Gordon
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
@ Lord Gordon-
Fell off my chair reading this:
I gave my CCE medals to some travellers who called to my house.used another one to fix a hole in a bird table out my garden.
Would it be too offensive to start a discussion on "101 uses for your fleadh metals?"
# Posted on December 23rd 2008 by madfluter
Re: More age groups at Fleadh.
Madfluter, I think your idea of starting a discussion about other uses for fleadh medals is an excellent idea. Perhaps you could also include other medals such as the ones which I have won for my age group for participating in various marathons as a walker. I don't run because it is too hard on my knees and ankles.
# Posted on December 24th 2008 by fauxcelt