Teach Irish Traditional Music & Song (Foundation Certificate)

Course Durations: 6 weeks + Assessment (1st - 8th March)

All sessions will be on Sundays (3:00 - 5:00 PM Irish time) live on zoom (replays available).

A link to the online meetings will be provided by the course tutor via email beforehand.

Become a CERTIFIED Traditional Music Educator

A Short Online Course with I Teach Trad’s Dr Liz Doherty, in collaboration with the RIAM

Ready to tune up your teaching?

This short, practical course is designed especially for traditional music and song teachers who are already out there doing the work—and who want new ideas, fresh inspiration, and a stronger foundation for their teaching practice.

Whether you teach any instrument, at any level, and in any setting—schools, independently, within organisations or institutions, at festivals, online or in-person—this course is for you.

And you can join from anywhere in the world: it’s fully online.

What You’ll Get

This course gives you:

• A clear, flexible framework for planning and delivering engaging traditional music/song lessons
• Practical skills and strategies for teaching learners of all ages and stages
• A refreshed teaching toolkit packed with up-to-date ideas and approaches
• Guidance to help you move beyond a tune-led approach and offer richer, more holistic musical learning
• New ways to inspire, motivate, and meet the needs of today’s learners
• Space to rethink, refresh, and reinvigorate your teaching practice

Course Schedule:  Sunday, 25th January - Sunday, 8th March 2026

Week 1 (25th January) - Introductory session (3:00 - 5:00 PM - Irish Time)          

Weeks 1-6 (25th January - 1st March):  - 15 hours contact time (Live online) / 10 hours pre-recorded/course materials / 15 hours self-directed work. 

Week 7 (1st - 8th March): - Individual online viva assessments (will be scheduled).

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Plan your teaching using a clear, structured traditional music framework
• Create effective, well-designed lesson plans
• Teach with greater confidence using new tools and strategies
• Understand and articulate your role as a traditional music/song educator
• Clarify your personal teaching philosophy
• Place each learner on the traditional musician’s lifelong learning pathway
• Use reflective practice to continue developing and staying inspired

Participants need to be 18+

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

About Dr. Liz Doherty

Dr Liz Doherty is a traditional musician and award-winning educator from Co. Donegal, and the founder of I Teach Trad—a platform dedicated to professional development for traditional music and song teachers.

With over 25 years’ experience teaching at university level (UCC and Ulster University), Liz has been a pioneer in shaping traditional music as an academic and professional discipline. She is a National Teaching Fellow (2019) and was voted Inspirational Teacher of the Year in 2017.

A graduate of UCC (BMus) and the University of Limerick (PhD), Liz is the author of several publications including The Cape Breton Fiddle Companion, co-editor of Crosbhealach an Cheoil/The Crossroads Conference.

As a fiddle player, she has toured and recorded widely—appearing with Fiddlesticks, Nomos, Bumblebees, String Sisters, Riverdance, and with the RTÉ National Symphony and Concert Orchestras—and features on over 20 albums, including her own solo recordings.

Liz has also worked in leadership roles across the traditional arts, including with the Arts Council (where she established the Deis scheme), Culture Ireland, major festivals, and award-winning TV productions such as Fleadh, FleadhFest, and Samhlú.

With I Teach Trad, she has created Trad360™, a comprehensive and non-prescriptive method for the teaching and learning of Irish traditional music. This framework integrates musical, practical, and personal dimensions of traditional musicianship, offering an approach that extends significantly beyond tune-based pedagogy.

iteachtrad.com

"Mind blown!! I feel totally re-energised - and my toolkit is a lot heavier now! Every traditional music teacher should do this course!" – Noreen M., Co. Louth

"Before working with Liz, I rarely had a lesson plan in mind for 1:1 lessons and was struggling to pull all the bits and pieces together that come with teaching Irish traditional fiddling into a clear trajectory for my students. I still don't get it perfectly every time, but now I have a wealth of tools, resources + a community of fellow trad teachers to lean into.

It’s easy for us as teachers to get stuck in a rut of teaching tune after tune, and falling into a predictable habit of structuring our lessons in the same way. But what happens when we go several steps deeper and ask ourselves “why am I teaching this tune” and “what else can I teach about traditional music that this tune will help me explain”? If those possibilities have piqued your interest… you’re going to get a ton of value in taking this course and taking your teaching to a whole new level!" – Hannah H., USA

"The Teach Traditional Music & Song course was exactly what I was looking for - a course that takes seriously the pedagogy of teaching traditional music. The course invites a thorough rethinking of your teaching practice, and guides you through a framework for enhancing your approach to teaching. The course is also packed full of tools, resources and strategies for improving your lessons or classes. Liz Doherty is a thoroughly engaging and knowledgeable course leader, and the course is also a great opportunity to connect with other trad teachers. I'd thoroughly recommend this course to other teachers of traditional music." - Bradon S., U.K.

 “This course has invigorated my teaching, helped clarify my purpose, expanded my toolkit, and will inform my professional practice for years to come.” – Laura C., USA