Community course is hitting right note with unemployed musicians

The Access Music Project (AMP) is a year-long course that runs in St Patrick's Band Hall, in the city’s Fairgreen.

“AMP is a Community Employment Scheme that works through FÁS to help unemployed musicians in Galway garner more skills,” explains Páraic Joyce, one of the 13 students enrolled in the 2010/11 course. Participants in the scheme (who must be over 25) take 20 hours of classes a week. These include music theory, piano classes and vocal training. Monday mornings can be a slog, but AMP students start their week off with a bang – literally. Cormac Dunne, who drums with The Stunning, leads the class through a full-on percussion class.

“He’s unbelievable,” says Peter Kelehan, a singer who regularly plays at sessions in The Crane. “You could sound like a bunch of monkeys and he’ll come along and go ‘you’re brilliant’.”

“No matter what kind of shape you’re in on Monday morning, you’re sorted after that class!” laughs Páraic.

“We’re all very, very lucky,” adds Peter. “The standard of tuition is incredible. It’s across the board, in the sense that they’re catering for all levels. It starts very basic and works its way up. Music theory – none of us would have had much of that when we came in. Our vocal ranges changed in such a short space of time.”

“We’re very privileged to be on this course,” says Stephen Mc Ginley, and he has a point. With unemployment queues getting ever longer, demand for a place on the course was very high. “There were 85 applications, 45 interviews and there are only 13 of us here,” says Valentina L’Abbate, who originally hails from Italy.

“I think people’s ability to interact with others is clearly high on their agenda when they’re interviewing people,” says Páraic. “There’s a good group ethic. It’s day in and day out – if you had any fallings-out it’d be a long aul year!”

Peter Kelehan is keen to point out that AMP plays is an important part of Galway’s cultural and commercial, landscape.

“Galway is based on its music and its tourism; on any given night there are so many gigs going all over town,” he says. “If something benefits us [as musicians], it also benefits the tourist industry. Tourists are going to keep coming back if they get that experience of enjoying great sessions in Galway.”

There’s a vast range of experience in the AMP course. Some musicians have been playing sessions for over two decades, while some are just beginning to step into the public arena.

“You’re constantly challenged so no matter where you are, there’s loads to learn,” says Stephen Gorman, a young, emerging songwriter. “We were all beginners at something,” adds Vale. “There were people who never sang, never played guitar, never played piano or had never done music theory.” Páraic Joyce is finding that the class in music theory is changing how he approaches his craft.

“It’s the context of the chords – that’s what I’m picking up,” he explains. “A lot of the stuff you’d know, it’s just concentrating on it and making it make sense. Before, you just did it because it was written on the paper – you weren’t sure exactly why you were doing it. Which I found embarrassing because I’d be playing with better musicians around town and just hanging on by my fingernails. Once you start to understand a bit more, hopefully, it’ll make a life a lot easier.”

“Every day you learn something new,” adds Peter. “One new chord or one new piece I didn’t know about on the piano, or a vocal cord. Every day is part of a learning curve.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.