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Pyros play to help Scoil Iosagain
12.03.09
MUSIC lovers in
Inishowen are in for a special treat at the end of
the month when some of the peninsula’s best loved
and best known music acts take to the stage for a
spectacular weekend of music in aid of Scoil
Iosagain’s Music Therapy programme.
The musical celebration will kick off on Friday 27th
March when the acclaimed Pyros will be joined on
stage at the Inishowen Gateway Hotel by a host of
guests for the first of two nights of spectacular
music.
Two of Donegal’s greatest living traditional
musicians accordion wizard Dermot Byrne and fiddler
Tommy Peoples and Inishowen’s own Henry Girls will
join the Pyros on stage for an acoustic concert on
Friday 27th March.
The following night the Pyros will return for a late
night gig starting at at 11 pm and a spectacular
show is anticipated. |
That’s because in the
week leading up to the concerts members of The Pyros,
who are all past pupils of St. Columba’s Boys school
(later to become Scoil Íosagáin) will have the
opportunity to visit the school to see at first hand
some Music Therapy sessions in action.
The sessions are carried out in the music therapy
room at a set time each week and in the room there
is a piano, a guitar and a wide
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range of non-tuned
percussion instruments. These instruments require no
formal training to play and are therefore ideal for
children to use to express themselves. Importantly,
a child is not expected to perform or to learn how
to play music, rather the session is a safe space
for them to communicate their needs in a non-verbal
way.
In 2007 the school received funding from the
Department of Education and Science to employ a
fulltime Music Therapist at the school for one year.
However, despite the great benefits of Music Therapy
for the pupils the Department, and indeed other
state sources have refused to fund this worthwhile
project.
Since then the school has been depending on
fundraising and some very generous donations from
local charities to keep the service going, albeit on
a reduced scale and they are delighted at the
generosity of The Pyros who have offered to support
cause.
“Our aim at Scoil Íosagáin is to ensure that all our
pupils’ school days are happy ones.
Music Therapy makes an essential contribution to the
realisation of that aim. We hope that both Pyros
performances will be well attended, not only because
of the benefits to our school but also because a
great night’s entertainment –and a great celebration
of music is guaranteed,” a spokesperson said.
Ticket enquiries to 086 3068662 and 087 2240579 with
tickets available from the Inishowen Gateway and
Macs newsagents. |
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