0:00:25 > 0:00:28TRADITIONAL MUSIC
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Are there any of my singing class here? There's a few of you.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Come on, quick. See how quick you can get up here.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Even people who were in the class last year will do fine
0:00:51 > 0:00:52because I need a few more bodies.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56So we need everybody to sing, "I love an apple and I love a pear."
0:00:56 > 0:00:59As loud as you can. Give them a bit of support.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03# I love an apple and I love a pear
0:01:03 > 0:01:08# I love the girl with the long yellow hair... #
0:01:29 > 0:01:34# My auntie kissed the lady with the alligator purse. #
0:01:34 > 0:01:36That's very good.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48The only teachers were initially myself and Dara and Fintan.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51And, you know, we basically just taught tin whistle.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Because there was no other instrument you could afford.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19We just taught what we knew.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22And since none of us could read music, you know, we had to
0:03:22 > 0:03:26learn tunes ourselves, with great difficulty, from recordings,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30because there were no music books, there was nothing.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35And even if we had the music books, we probably couldn't have read them.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37So we would be really, initially,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40about one or two tunes ahead of the class.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43We were just adding to our own repertoire and teaching.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45But we had this idea of promoting the music,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48teaching the music and particularly getting children...
0:03:48 > 0:03:52because there were no children at that time playing music.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53And then, of course,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57the big breakthrough happened once Eithne appeared on the scene.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59We got married in 1969.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02And, you know, Eithne was everything that I wasn't.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07She was extremely music-literate.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10And could write out tunes as she heard them.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29They were all hand produced and the people were avid to get them.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Because there was nothing else available at the time.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35So that then encouraged us and we got a grant
0:09:35 > 0:09:39and then it just mushroomed from there, you know.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43But it was all with an aim to promote the music.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17I got into music in a kind of strange twist.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21My folks, my dad especially, was into the athletic club.
0:10:21 > 0:10:27We went along to the Armagh athletic classes in the college fields.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30I think I was maybe seven or eight years old
0:10:30 > 0:10:32and I met Brian and Eithne.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35It was my first meeting with the Vallelys.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39At the start, because I'd never played music,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42I had no history of playing music, it was quite alien to me.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46My first couple of weeks, I was kind of a bit adrift,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49at a loss, and I wasn't really enjoying it.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53And then I remember Eithne giving us a tune to take home and learn.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55It was in the book, the whistle book,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57the Learn to Play the Whistle by the pipers club.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00And it was all done out in 3,2...
0:11:00 > 0:11:03the numbers, as opposed to the notes or the letters.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05And it just kind of made sense to me.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09In fact, so much sense that even now when I'm composing,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11I compose in numbers.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15It is the most bizarre thing, most other musicians, my peers,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18are just scratching their heads going, "What is that?"
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And so I took the book home, and then the following week
0:11:22 > 0:11:25when I came back I think I'd learned two or three more
0:11:25 > 0:11:27and I remember Eithne's reaction.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30She was kind of looking at me thinking,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34"I didn't ask you to do that." And, "How did you know?"
0:11:34 > 0:11:37And it was something, it was just like a little flicker.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42It takes a really present teacher to spot. It's just, like, a glimmer.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45And if they're not present to it and aware, then it could pass them by.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47But Eithne, that's part of the gift.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52They have this amazing ability to become 150% present
0:11:52 > 0:11:55to every single child.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58You know, it doesn't matter how good they are, how new they are,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01how brilliant, it's...
0:12:01 > 0:12:05They're just as present to every child that comes through the door.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07When you're in their company,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10when you're in Brian's company or Eithne's company,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12you know that they're watching and they're listening,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15and they could be even talking at the same time,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17but complete awareness of everybody in their space.
0:22:03 > 0:22:04Thanks a million.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08It's an honour and a privilege and a great delight to be here
0:22:08 > 0:22:12back in Glasgow and celebrating this anniversary.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16We're going to start off with a wee tune called Dog a L'orange.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58- Thank you.- Hello. Good evening, everyone.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00How are you keeping down there? Are you good?
0:25:00 > 0:25:02CHEERING
0:25:02 > 0:25:04We have an incredible musician here,
0:25:04 > 0:25:08a member of the Armagh Pipers Club for many years,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10a great teacher there also.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13He's done great work. This is the amazing Tiarnan Dinkin.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15APPLAUSE
0:27:28 > 0:27:30You see, when we started out...
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Very clear about this, we didn't have a masterplan for
0:27:34 > 0:27:40a 50th anniversary, or even looked beyond the next six months or year.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52The staggering thing for me is I have to say,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56in the name of God, where did those 50 years ago?
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Were we really doing this for 50 years?
0:27:59 > 0:28:02That type of thing, because it wasn't like that.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05We just lived in the present, what we're doing now.