Category: Blog

Sligo Féis Ceoil

Posted on by irishboard

The nice people at Sligo Féis Ceoil have asked me to remind you that the closing date for entries is STRICTLY 24 February. The Féis takes place at Easter.

It’s open to all and they have some amazing prizes, scholarships and bursaries on offer in some of the competitions. One of them is worth €500! So even if you’re not from Sligo, it’s definitely worth having a look.

This link (Sligo Féis Ceoil) is to their Facebook page which has up-to-date information on the féis and on which you’ll find a further link to their main website.

Period Movement and Costume

Posted on by irishboard

A query from a teacher about the theory of Period Movement sparked a quick internet search.

I found a quite remarkable book called ‘Playing Period Plays‘ by Lyn Oxenford. It was published first in 1957 and it contains significant detail about dress, costumes, music and manners in various theatrical periods: Medieval and early Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean, Restoration and Georgian, and Victorian and Edwardian.

For each period, Oxenford considers the spirit of the plays of the period, movement in costume (including very detailed descriptions of costumes), occupations, manners and dances, and music. There are illustrations, historical notes, further reading suggestions and suggestions for scenes to practice the movement of the period.

Here’s a link to the book on Amazon.co.uk: ‘Playing Period Plays’

The one I got cost £1.90 plus postage.

Examination bookings

Posted on by irishboard

January was very busy with advance bookings of centres. March is pretty well booked out for exams now with just one or two slots still available. April is filling up very fast, and we have a some exams already provisionally booked in May, June and September (!).

Growing Up in Ireland

Posted on by irishboard

The latest report from this important longitudinal study was published today and makes interesting reading. The study has been tracking 8000 nine year-olds and 11000 nine month-olds in order to build up a picture of the experience of childhood in Ireland.

The report published today focuses on the influence of out-of-school activities on educational performance. Among the findings were that those children who engage in ‘cultural’ pursuits outside school (e.g. speech and drama) seem to perform better at certain school subjects (such as reading and maths) than those who don’t. Cultural pursuits was only one of the indicators of enhanced performance but, for speech and drama teachers, this is very good news and something that can and should be highlighted to parents.

The report also notes that these educational benefits can be negated for children who engage in too many out of school activities. I feel very strongly about this and I am pleased that an authoritative report has highlighted the potential damage to children who are simply too busy. Time to do nothing and even be bored is an essential part of the value of childhood.

Here’s a link to the page on the Growing Up in Ireland site announcing today’s publication: Growing Up in Ireland – ‘Influences on 9-Year-Olds’ Learning: Home, School and Community

A is for absurdism

Posted on by irishboard

Michael Billington, the drama critic of the Guardian newspaper, is writing a series of articles called the ‘A to Z of Modern Drama’ which teachers and senior students might find of interest.

The first one is ‘A is for Absurdism‘ and if you follow this link, you’ll find a link to B, C and D too.

Happy New Year! Let’s hope 2012 is a good one.