Garden of the Daisies!

Woo-hoo! Just finished learning Garden, the last traditional I needed! After learning all 4 of the dances, I have a little tip for anyone who is learning their trad sets. The order that you learn the dances in can actually help you with each progressive dance. For example- I feel that the easier of the dances are St. Pat's and The Blackbird- and they have choreography that is unique to each of them. My suggestion would be to learn these two first. Then go for Job of Journeywork and Garden of the Daisies- in that order. Why? It turns out that the ending of the set of Job is pretty much the beginning of the step of Garden of the Daisies! It is a little complicated, so it really helps to fully master Job before starting on Garden :) Also, if you have ever performed/learned traditional hornpipes, you will have a lot of fun working your way through the hp sets!

The Three Tunes

Alright, so after some investigation (alright, so it actually says it loud and clear in the blue book) I just need to correct myself on The Tunes in the Three Tunes- it is a Jig, Reel, and Hornpipe. The Jig is Haste to the Wedding, the Reel is the German Beau, and the Hornpipe is (duh!) Leslie's Hornpipe. Thanks to Emily for pointing this out!!!

Labor Day Fun

I have been studying poolside for the past few days...so despite a little water on my blue book and a little sunburn, everything is going well. I have been really frustrated with my lack of progress in getting anywhere with Book 2 and 3, as I have been trying to memorize whole ceilis and at the end of a good study session, can barely remember a thing! So, yesterday, I decided to just start by memorizing the names of the sections in each dance, and that is going really well. I am going to keep up this method for the rest of the week, and it is my goal to have all of the sections of all of the ceilis memorized by Sunday, the 9th of September. Fingers Crossed! In the meantime, I thought that I'd mention a great find that I came across in my Grandmother's house- a feis syllabus from 1936!!!! Aside from entering Gaelic speech and singing competitions, you could enter dance competitions- choosing to do reel, jig or hornpipe, and the set dance competition- where you could choose from The Blackbird and Job of Journeywork! It is really neat to think that we are still working on dances done so long ago...

ALSO- Thank you to the great peeps on the TCRG Forum who let me know that the new set dances WILL be included in the music exam- Apparantly, they a used a bunch on the last exam, so we should definitely be studying them too!!! I'll post the list of all of these sets ( and their bar counts) this week.

Helpful Hints

Here are some hints that are EXTREMELY helpful while studying your figures. Most of them are from the TCRG Exam Forum and links on the forum- thank you to those awesome people who posted them to begin with!!!!

• The only dance with the Sink and Grind is the Harvest Time Jig- it also has the Rise and Grind!
• The longest dance is High Cauled Cap (568 bars! Whew!)
• There are 3 dances that originate in Armagh- The Sweets of May, Trip to the Cottage, The Three Tunes
• Dances that have no sidestep: Rince Fada, Haymakers Jig, Lannigans Ball, Waves of Tory, Rakes of Mallow. So this means that every dance in Book 1 has the sidestep, and every dance in Book 2, except for Rince Fada, also have the sidestep!
• Dances performed to a tune with the same name: Haste to the Wedding, Humours of Bandon, St. patrick's day, Trip to the Cottage, Lannigans ball, Rakes of Mallow, Sweets of May.
• Dances with an Opening movement OTHER than Advance and Retire, Ring, or Lead Around: Rince Fada, Bridge of Athlone, Haymakers Jig, Duke Reel, and Bonfire Dance.
• Dances with Step and Clap: Three Tunes, High Cauled Cap.
• Dances that begin with a Ring or Circle formation: Siege of Carrick, The Three Tunes, An Rince Mor, Duke Reel, Sweets of May, Lannigans Ball, Bonfire dance.
• Dances with Rise and Grind or Sink and Grind: Bridge of Athlone, St. patrick's day, Harvest Time Jig, Humours of bandon, Eight Hand Jig, Siege of Ennis, Rince Fada, Haste to the Wedding, Haymakers Jig, Lannigans Ball.

There are a lot more, and I'll be posting them as well, but these are good to write on index cards and quiz yourself on. The Exam given this past May in Dublin had many questions based on tips like these, so they are great to know!

Also, here is a study sheet that I made up for myself that may be helpful to you- it is for you to fill out when you are studying your ceilis. I found that I would fill it out once directly from the book, then try doing it again with minimal help from the book, and then doing it again and again until I had it perfectly memorized- hope it helps. Oh, and I really am only good to go with the Ceilis in the first book, so I still am using this system all the time!!!

TCRG Practice Sheet

Date:
Name of Ceili:


History of the Dance/ Where did dance originate:


Music it is danced to: Jig/Reel/Single Jig


Name of Tunes:


Number of Dancers:


Number of Bars:


List the movements of the dance in order and the amount of bars in each section:



















Please Describe, in detail, each section of the ceili:




































Please Sketch the Beginning Formation using X’s and O’s:






Please Sketch the Movements of the Dance Using A, B,C, etc.:

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

Ceilis- 1, 2, 3 and away we go!

This is how I started studying for the Ceili portion- it may be helpful for you, it may not be, but it has worked for me so far.
1) Memorize the order of the Ceilis as they appear in the book. The Commision put them in this order, dating back to the 1930's, because the dances are like building blocks, you need the basic dances first to build up to the more difficult dances. Here they are, in order:

Book 1

• Walls of Limerick
• 4 Hand reel
• 8 Hand Reel
• Morris Reel
• High Cauled Cap
• 16 Hand Reel
• Humours of Bandon
• 8 Hand Jig
• Siege of Ennis
• Harvest Time Jig

Book 2

• Rince Fada/ Long Dance
• Bridge of Athlone
• Haste to the Wedding
• Siege of Carrick
• Antrim Reel
• Glencar Reel
• The Three Tunes
• St. Patrick's Day
• Trip to the Cottage
• An Rince Mor

Book 3

• Haymakers Jig
• Fairy Reel
• Duke Reel
• Lannigan's Ball
• Cross Reel
• Waves of Tory
• Rakes of mallow
• Gates of Derry
• Sweets of May
• Bonfire Dance

It is a good idea to quiz yourself by writing the order down over and over agin until it is second nature. I memorized them this way- don't laugh too hard- by making little stories with reminders of the Ceili names in the correct order:

Book 1: The Walls of Four Ate Morris High. 16 dancers Humoured Eight at the Ennis Harvest.

Book 2: Take the Long Bridge of Athlone to the Weddings in Carrick, Antrim and Glencar. Play the Three Tunes on St. Patrick's Day, and take a Trip to the Cottage if you want to D'Rince Mor. (get it- drink more- ha!)

Book 3: The Haymaker took the Fairy and the Duke to Lannigan's Ball. They Crossed the Waves of Tory with the Rakes of Mallow, Reached the Gates of Derry with the Sweets of May, where they all danced around the Bonfire.

Once you know the order of these dances like the back of your hand, it's time to learn more about them- like whether they are Jig time, Reel time, or Single Jig Time.

Book 1:

• The Walls of Limerick- Reel
• 4 Hand Reel- Reel (duh! :P)
• 8 Hand Reel- Reel
• Morris Reel- Reel
• High Cauled Cap- Reel- and also the longest of all Dances!
• 16 hand Reel- Reel
• Humours of Bandon- Jig
• 8 hand Jig- Jig
• Siege of Ennis- Jig
• Harvest Time Jig- Jig- and also the only dance with the Sink and Grind Step!

Book 2:

• Rince Fada/ Long dance- Jig Time (the book denotes it as Double Time)
• Bridge of Athlone- Jig
• Haste to the Wedding- Jig
• Siege of Carrick- Jig
• Antrim Reel- Reel
• Glencar Reel- Reel
• Three Tunes- Jig AND Reel
• St. Patrick's Day- Jig
• Trip to the Cottage- Jig
• An Rince Mor- Reel

Book 3

• Haymakers Jig- Jig
• Fairy Reel- Reel
• Duke Reel- Reel
• Lannigans Ball- Single Jig
• Cross Reel- Reel
• The Waves of Tory- Reel
• Rakes of Mallow- Reel
• Gates of Derry- Single Jig
• Sweets of May- Jig
• Bonfire Dance- Reel

Okay- so once you get this info memorized- time to find out more about the dances! It is now time to dissect every single dance, learn the amount of bars in each section, the dance's history, and start to memorize the dances. I have been advised by TC's and AD's that the best way to do this is to write, write, write. Take each dance on its own, and start with physically copying the ceili word for word, and then do it without the use of the book, and then keep doing it. So, I am going to do the same thing here. I am going to post the 30 (!) dances over the course of the next few months, but not yet :0) I still have more helpful hints to post- that are good to know while you are tackling each ceili- because, don't forget, you also need to know how to compare and contrast the dances. Stay tuned!

Starting Off

So, I have been studying steadily for the TCRG exam since last December, but as I am scheduled to take the test in January in LA, it is definitely time to get down to brass tacks. I thought that creating this blog, posting my study schedule and progress would not only be helpful to moi, but also to anyone else going through this very, very difficult process of working towards becoming officially certified in Irish Dance Teaching. So, where to start? I guess at the beginning. I'll be posting my study tips and hints, my progress, any difficulties that I come across (which I am sure will be plentiful- I mean, really, 30 ceilis? THIRTY? Umm, yeah.) Please feel free to post any comments or suggestions!

The Test Overview

Here is what you need to know, inside and out, backwards and forwards, for your exam:

1) The Thirty Dances in An Rince Foirne- you need to know these word for word as written in the book, how to compare and contrast them, how to teach them. (For me, this is THE absolute biggest challenge so far!)
2) The following 4 Traditional Sets- The Blackbird, Job of Journeywork, St. Patrick's Day, and Garden of the Daisies (At this point, I have all of the down except for Garden...hopefully I will be learning that this week). You will be asked to perform two of these dances.
3) Two Steps of: Slip Jig, Hop Jig, Reel, Hornpipe and Jig- also a good idea to know a boy's reel step or two. You will definitely have to dance the Reels, Slip Jigs, Hornpipes and Jigs. You will also have to teach one or more of these dances. ***Hint*** Apparantly, at the last few exams, the examiners have asked the candidates to teach the dancers more difficult material. You never know what level the dancers will be at, so I am preparing one prelim level step for each dance, and one open level step for each dance, so I'll hopefully be covered. ( I have all of these down pat, and I practice them at least one night a week)
4) 9 Set Dances of Original Choreography (do NOT repeat any of the jig or hornpipe steps that are part of the above section)- I know. 9. Crazy. You will only really have to perform 3 or 4 of them, but, whatever you do- do not select any of the following dances unless you are a glutton for punishment- Blackthorn, Drunken Gauger, Kilkenny Races, Ace and Deuce, Planxty Davis. If you have any of these on your list- you will have to dance it! You should also figure on dancing your three/four longest dances, but you really do need to know all 9 of them, and make sure that each one has different choreography! My nine dances are:

• Three Sea Captains
• Rub the Bag
• Hurry the Jug
• The Orange Rogue
• Miss Brown's Fancy
• Downfall of Paris
• King of the Fairies
• Madame Bonaparte
• The Hunt

I have all of these down, and try to practice them back to back. It is not pretty, but at least I know that I can get through all of them with no mistakes and a decent amount of energy ;) I am figuring that I will most likely be asked to perform Three Seas, Downfall and King- as they are the longest of my dances- but who knows?

5) The Music and Number of Bars in 30 Set Dances- Again, 30! Eek! Not so bad if you listen to your set cd's in the car constantly and make little songs to go along with each dance- you should be able to lilt every tune by the exam, my biggest challenge here is telling Blackthorn from Drunken Gauger (aka the Funny Tailor)...

And that's it! Okay, yes, this is a lot, but you can't let it overwhelm you, and before you start to freak out (as I have, many times) remember that you are taking this exam because you truly love Irish dance, and you are looking forward to passing on that love to your future students. And then, you can still freak out as little, because this really is intense. But Irish Dancers are smart, so here we go!