Ireland’s BalconyTV (“music with a view”) recorded segments with several students at Berklee’s Dublin Improvisation trip last month. Proof, if you needed it, that Irish broadcasters talk justasfast as their U.S. counterparts.
Jazz saxophone with Jacob Veloo: Read More
Students and faculty play at Shebeen
Many students came out to a place called Shebeen last night for a jam session. It was a fantastic ending to an amazing week here in Dublin! The jam session started downstairs, where faculty from Newpark Music Centre and Berklee kicked off with a round of jazz tunes. Later, a group of Traditional players found a quieter corner in the upstairs window to jam ’til closing time. John McGann joined the group of students, and the group grew until all seats around were full. Earlier that evening back at DIT, scholarships were awarded to deserving students who attended the program. Read More
Berklee’s director of admissions – and Dublin native – Damien
Bracken gave a terrific interview this morning on TV3′s daily talk show, Midday.
The Irish Times - Ireland’s newspaper of record – ran a comprehensive story on Berklee in Dublin and the college’s stepped-up recruitment efforts in the Emerald Isle as its lead arts feature on Friday. The piece essentially gave readers a crash course on Berklee and its strong links to Ireland, with quotes from trustee Bill Whelan, Irish jazz star and Berklee alumnus Brian Dunning, and others. It also included four large color photos of students at the workshops and a shot of The Edge speaking at Berklee’s 2007 commencement ceremony.
As a bonus, the Times online produced a multimedia feature with audio and photography from the improvisation workshops.
Karen singing, photo by student Jit S'ng
Meet Karen- a musician and singer/songwriter from Bray Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Karen has been playing classical piano since age six, and also singing all her life. She plays in a band with her friends called Wyvern Lingo, and she grew up in a very musical family.
I followed Karen around for a day on Wednesday to see what her classes would be like. So far, she has really enjoyed everything. It is information overload for most students, in the most positive way.
Below I included tidbits that I observed from classes. There were many more topics covered- consider this a skimming of the surface.
