Teach Irish Traditional Music & Song (Foundation Certificate)

In collaboration with iteachtrad.com, the RIAM are delighted to offer this short course for Irish Traditional Music/Song teachers and performers.

Learn more about this certified course:

Q&A session on Thursday, 9th February, at 7 pm on Zoom. Register through the iteachtrad.com/community site for free  

Do you want to become a CERTIFIED traditional music/song teacher?

This is a must-do course for Irish traditional music/song teachers looking to improve their teaching skills and commit to their professional development. 

It is designed for existing teachers and for those musicians/singers who are considering teaching traditional music/song in the future. 

This foundation course provides teachers with a framework for planning and delivering traditional music lessons, for learners of any age, on any instrument (incl. voice), and at any stage of their learning journey. The framework enables teachers to offer students a well-rounded music learning experience, one that is not simply tune-led. It helps teachers re-think and re-imagine how they teach traditional music/song in order to help them meet the needs of today’s learners.  

Teachers will be introduced to new tools and strategies for planning and delivering traditional music/song lessons. And they will engage in reflective practice. 

This short course is for:

• Existing traditional music/song teachers who want to refresh and improve their teaching skills.
• Traditional musicians/singers who are planning to teach.
• Traditional music teachers of any instrument.
• Traditional music/song teachers working in any setting (schools, in the community, festivals and events, online and in-person, synchronous and asynchronous).
• Traditional music/song teachers based anywhere in the world (the course is fully online).

Course Schedule:  Sunday, March 5^th 2023 - Sunday, 30^th April

Week 1 (5th March) - Introductory session (5 pm - 6.30 pm, live on Zoom; the link will be sent in advance)

Weeks 1-7 (5th March - 23rd April):  - 20 hours contact time / 20 hours self-directed work. A course workbook (in digital and printable formats) will be made available

Week 8 (23^rd – 30^th April): - Individual online viva assessments (will be scheduled).

EARLY BIRD OFFER

Early Bird Rate €295/£275/$335 available until 12th February.
Regular Rate €345/£315/$390 applicable from 13th February.

NI/UK and/or USA-based participants:

To book this course in GBP (£275/£315), please follow this link:  NI/UK-based participants

To book this course in USD ($335/$390), please follow this link: USA-based participants

By the end of this course traditional music teachers will be able to: 

• use the traditional music teaching framework to plan programmes of learning and individual lessons
• write effective lessons plans 
• teach traditional music better, using new tools and strategies 
• understand their role as a teacher
• articulate their personal teaching philosophy 
• understand the lifelong learning journey of the traditional musician, and to situate each student on this continuum of development
• practice self-reflection in order to continue to learn and grow as an educator

Participants music be 18+

Participants should have some previous experience as traditional music/song teachers, or experienced musicians/singers who are planning to teach. 

Participants must have appropriate devices and internet provision in order to access the course.

Dr. Liz Doherty is a traditional musician and educator from Co. Donegal. She is founder and Director of I Teach Trad, a new platform specialising in professional development and training for traditional music teachers (iteachtrad.com)

She has over 25 years of experience as a traditional music educator, holding lecturing posts at UCC (1994-2001) and at Ulster University (2007-2020). During this time she played a pioneering role in developing traditional music as a viable discipline in higher education nationally and internationally. She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from Advance HE in 2019 and was voted ‘Inspirational Teacher of the Year’ in 2017. 

Liz graduated from UCC with a BMus (1991) and from the University of Limerick with a PhD (1996), the topic of which was the fiddle music of Cape Breton Island, Canada. Her publications include The Cape Breton Fiddle Companion (2015), Crosbhealach an Cheoil/The Crossroads Conference (1996, 2013, with Fintan Vallely et al), and the website, safetrad.com, which helps traditional musicians prevent performance-related injuries. As a fiddle player she has toured and/or recorded with bands such as Fiddlesticks, Nomos, Bumblebees, String Sisters and Riverdance-The Show. She has also performed with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and the RTÉ National Symphony and Concert Orchestras and is featured on over 20 CDs, including her two solo recordings, Last Orders and Quare Imagination. 

Liz has previously worked with The Arts Council, where she established the Deis scheme, and is currently a member of Culture Ireland’s Expert Advisory Committee. She has directed festivals and events including NAFCo 2012, and more recently, has been music producer on programmes such as Fleadh (TG4), FleadhFest 2021 (Power Pictures) and Samhlú (Fibín Media), winner of the Prix circom Award, 2021.  

iteachtrad.com