Fiddle Classes
Fiddle classes take place on THURSDAY evenings in the Stanmillis University Music Department.
Beginners 6:00 - 7:00pm with Martin Dowling and Kevin McCullagh
Learn the fiddle from scratch in this class. This is a class for total beginners; the only requirement is that you arrive with a fiddle and enthusiasm! Students generally spend two or three terms in this class before progressing to Lower Intermediate level.
Improvers 7:00 - 8:00pm with Martin Dowling and CIara Maguire
If you are progressing from Beginner level or if you played the fiddle when you were younger and are trying to find a way back into music, this might be the class for you. Beginning with simple tunes, we pay special attention to developing aural perception and good intonation and rhythm.
Intermediate 8:00 - 9:00pm with Martin Dowling and Kevin McCullagh
If you have built up a repertoire of more than a dozen tunes in Lower Intermediate Level you are ready for Upper Intermediate. The pace of learning is similar to Lower Intermediate, in that the focus will be on aural skills, but the repertoire will be more complex with a focus on ornamentation and expression. This level is also the ideal place for you have progressed through the violin grades earlier in life and are confident in your ability to hold and play the instrument correctly, but you are out of practice and have had little exposure to traditional music.
Advanced 8:00 - 9:00pm with Ciara Maguire
Advanced fiddle gives students the chance to rapidly grow their repertoire and improve their knowedge and understanding of the fiddle tradition. Generally two tunes are introduced each week and sometimes as many as three. There is an emphasis on refining ornamentation and occasionally introducing tunes in less common keys such as C and B flat. Advanced fiddlers/violinists from other musical genres are also welcome here.
Our Fiddle Tutors
Ciara maguire
Intermediate and Advanced Levels
Ciara is a fiddle player and classical violinist from Castlewellan, Co. Down. After participatig in numerous fleadhanna Ciara joined the Comhaltas National Folk Orchestra and performed in Michael Rooney’s Osmos na n-Ultach. She has toured Europe with dance shows and Comhaltas tours, Macalla na hÉireann (2019), and Echoes of Erin (2020). She holds a Diploma in Fiddle from the London College of Music (2017) and the 2023 was awarded a Gradam Ceoil Bursary. Sshe also performed at the Royal Albert Hall as a Music for Youth finalist. Now based in Belfast, she is one of the most talented and popular teachers and performers on the fiddle in the city.
kevin McCullagh
Beginner and Intermediate Levels
Kevin is a fiddle player from Belfast with a detailed, driving yet unhurried style is rooted in the city where he comes from. He is a very active musician in the local tradtional session scene as well as the experimental improv scene based around the Sonic arts Research Centre in Belfast, where he graduated with an MA in Sonic Arts in 2016. He is a founding member of the experimetal trio Coras who have performed internationallu and at many Irish festivals including the Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Hilltown Contemporary Music Festival and Electric Picnic amongst others.
martin Dowling
Beginner and Intermediate Levels
Martin has a long history of involvement in traditional music as a fiddler, teacher, academic, writer, and arts officer. He has taught the fiddle for the society since the 1990s. He also teaches annually at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, and has performed and taught extensively in Europe and the United States. Martin has written and lectured on many aspects Irish traditional music while working as a researcher and lecturer. In 2014 he published the widely read book Traditional Music and Irish Society: Historical Perspectives and is currently working on a memoir called The Education of a Fiddler.