Tipperary students excel at the Gael Linn All-Ireland music competition

The first to sixth year  Tipperary students from Gaelcholáiste Chéitinn, recently took part in Scléip, an all-Ireland Irish music competition, organized by Gael Linn, in the Helix, Dublin.

For this competition, they had to translate a piece of music and perform that piece with dance moves, props and costumes, that were kindly loaned to them from Bellvue Academy of Performing Arts, to bring their piece to life.
The song that the ‘Slua Amhránaíochta’ chose was The Circle of Life from The Lion King or, as they called it, Roth Mór an tSaoil.

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In this song, they repeated the phrase Tiocfaimid le Chéile lenár dTeanga or, as Béarla, We Come Together with our Language.
They chose this song to show their love for an Gaeilge.
The song that the ‘Banna’ chose was The Best Day of my Life by American Authors or, as they called it, An Lá is Fearr i mo Shaoilse.

These students practiced almost every day, giving up their lunch times and staying late after school with their music teacher, Deirdre Macken. With the unwavering support of their teacher, they proudly qualified for the all-Ireland finals.
They secured that place in the Munster finals in Fermoy, and went on to the all-Ireland stage, where they performed in the Slua Amhránaíochta and Banna competition with their powerful songs.

On the day of the competition, the students arrived at the school at 7:30am. They then got on a bus and made their way to Dublin. They were accompanied by the art teacher, Annie Halley, and their committed music teacher, Deirdre Macken. Even on the bus, their practice did not stop.

They practiced their songs the whole way up to Dublin. They also did each other’s hair and makeup to make sure they would be ready.

When they arrived, the Slua Amhránaíochta quickly got changed and went straight on stage. They left the audience in awe, with their mixture of harmony and soloists.

Once they were done, they were allowed a quick lunch break, before the Banna had to come back and prepare.
When the Banna went on, they instantly created an electric atmosphere with their mixture of stage craft and various instruments.

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Once all the competitions were over, the winners were announced and the Slua Amhránaíochta were lucky enough to end up winning their category. They were ecstatic and unbelievably excited with their achievement, especially since this was the first time the school have ever reached the podium in Scléip.

We are extremely proud of our Ceoltóirí in Gaelcholáiste Chéitinn, and wish them well in future competitions.