Aim and Acknowledgements

The library service in County Clare offers a wide range of music for lending throughout the county, and we have had a very strong traditional music collection (tapes & CDs) in our branch library in Miltown Malbay for many years. This new online project is an obvious extension of these services allowing immediate access to all those interested in the music of County Clare, and will greatly enhance the existing historical and cultural resources on the library website itself.

Our aim with this Music of Clare project is to present a sample of the rich musical culture of the county of Clare. This initial stage of the project concentrates on the traditional music of the county. It is not intended by any means to be definitive or comprehensive. It is just a sample, although we do hope it does represent the best of a rich tradition.

We want you to be able to listen to traditional tunes associated with County Clare, played by musicians who are from the county or who have lived in it for many years. We have also included transcriptions of the featured tunes, although it must be stressed that the transcriptions do not relate directly to the versions of the tunes actually being played in the recordings. The transcriptions are simply designed to help anyone who wishes to learn the basic notes of a tune so as to be able to play it.

The project would not have been possible without the financial support of the Clare County Arts Office which, with Arts Council funding, sponsored an initial researcher, Paddi O’Connell, for a number of months, and funded the transcription of some of the tunes by Geraldine Cotter. We are also very grateful to Geraldine for providing contact details of many of the featured musicians and for answering many of our queries. Our thanks also go to Mary Custy for her transcriptions of tunes, to Vince Brennan for the sheetmusic from O’Neill’s ‘Music of Ireland’ and Allan’s ‘Irish Fiddler’ on his Old Music Project and to Jeremy Keith for sheetmusic on The Session Website. We'd also like to acknowledge the help of Aisling McMahon, and a special thanks to Michael Kelleher of Ennistymon for his wonderful list of tunes which are commonly played in Clare and which acted as the foundation of this project.

We have been astounded at the generosity and support we have received from musicians, record companies and authors featured in the project. All those we have been able to contact have responded with enthusiasm and goodwill. To those few we have not been able to contact, despite our best efforts, we give our assurance that we do not take their participation for granted and welcome any response to mailbox@clarelibrary.ie.

Music of Clare project team:
Anthony Edwards, Senior Executive Librarian;
Maureen Comber, Executive Librarian;
Jackie Dermody, Staff Officer (Library).
Paddi O’Connell Researcher (supported by the Arts Council)
September 2012

  The Music of Clare Project on RTE Radio's Morning Ireland.

The Music of Clare project featured on RTE TV News. The clip, recorded on the
12th of November 2012, features interviews with Senior Executive Librarian Anthony Edwards, musician and teacher Geraldine Cotter and Siobhán Mulcahy, County Arts Officer
on the launch of the library's Music of Clare project.  

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