We had a very nice and lovely visit from Brian Burd and Fran Malinoff! They live in Santa Barbara, California (USA). They are in Luang Prabang while Fran works at the Lao Friends children’s hospital.
On the first evening, the students were taught how to play some of the following songs.
Julia Delaney and Cooley’s. (Irish reels in 4/4 time. )
Fair Jenny’s. ( Irish jig in 6/8 time. )
Fanny Power. ( A classical Irish waltz written by O’Carolan. It is in 3/4 time.)
The mos special memory, Brian played us his own song “In Old Galway”. Which is a song he wrote after Fran and him visited Galway, Ireland. I had also sang this song as a “guest ” with Fran’s band Shepherd ‘s Pie. http://mysheps.com/
The second day, they also learnt to play chords in different positions on the guitar. For example, one of them play open G chord , the other don’t have to play in the same chord position. To fill out the “sonic” space one guitar, they can play a lower G chord while the other plays a G chord higher on the neck. This helps helps them learn that when we play with friends. It gives a richer sound.
We the students and staff of MES are forever grateful that you shared your traditional Irish music with us.
