Pictures: Students hit the right note at bandcamp concert in Cork

Music Generation Cork City held a very successful summer programme which included holding several music camps for children and teenagers.

They also held several concerts including a recent BANDCamp concert in Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa which proved a huge success with a stage full of brass, wind, and percussion instruments.

Aida Whooley, who is a resource worker with Music Generation Cork City, said there were a lot of family present for the BANDCamp concert.

“We have it every year at the end of our annual band camp.

“It is presented by the Barrack Street Band in partnership with Music Generation Cork City and with Cork Academy of Music.

“This year they did music from The Little Mermaid. They often do pieces from films. That summer camp was for the brass and wind students.

“A lot of them would be learning brass and wind during the school year but it is open to the public as well,” she said.

Music Generation Cork City have been running summer camps for ten years, said Ms Whooley.

“The students range from nine to 18. We have four or five summer camps every summer. Each of our summer camps runs for one week.

“We had band camp and trad camp which was trad music in the northside. The two music mash ups are the rock and pop ones.

“This year we had 33 participating and we are bouncing back again after Covid. We were happy with those numbers.

“A lot of the young people would have come from learning music with the Barrack Street Band and from other brass bands such as the Mahon Community Concert Band,” she said.

Ms Whooley said The Kabin Studio also ran a rap and beats camp and there was a rock and pop camp in Foróige Link Point in Hollyhill.

She said the summer camps offer a “brilliant” social scene and provide students with the opportunity to learn new instruments.

“The summer camps offer a brilliant social scene. A lot of the same teams would come back on an annual basis. They love it. 

“The team of tutors at all our camps are fantastic. There is a lovely atmosphere there. People learn instruments and meet new friends. 

“At the recent trad camp, a group of teenage singers from Boston were touring in Ireland and they ed up with the trad camp.

“They were collaborating all week.”

Music Generation Cork City, which was established in 2012, is a music education programme that works in partnership with community-based musicians and music organisations to bring music education into the lives of children and young people across Cork city.

Using the Community Education process, programmes are being made available in the places where children live, play, and go to school, bringing opportunities for music-making into the heart of Cork’s communities.

Ms Whooley said their main aim is to give people the chance to perform.

“We released a song this year and we had a big concert last November to celebrate our ten-year anniversary.

“We run performance music education programmes for children and teenagers. It is non-curriculum.

“We do a lot of work in schools to complement what they already do. We run concerts and summer camps to give everyone a chance to perform.

“We want to give them the chance to get out there and perform.”