Irish Traditional Style Singing with Famous Native Irish Speaker

Irish Song Technique Overview

13 lessons teaching how to sing 13 popular Irish songs.
Progress at your own pace, pause & repeat videos.
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PDF sheet music & mp3’s to download & keep for each tune.
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Most of the repertoire taught in this twelve lesson song course is from the Irish singing tradition although a few Scottish and English songs also feature for good measure. Songs taught are in English, but if you are interested in learning songs in the native Irish language please check out the Songs in Irish Gaelic course.

By the end of the course you will have developed a broad and varied repertoire of Irish folk songs and the ability to sing in the Irish style with appropriate use of ornamentation and phrasing. The course has 13 lessons, broken into 3 or 4 tutorials each.

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images of lessons

Course Structure

There is a lovely mixture of well known and more unusual songs included in this course. Themes include songs of emigration and exile, love songs and humorous songs. Along with the teaching of the songs, attention is also paid to the following aspects of vocal technique: tone, breathing, ornamentation, phrasing and the improvement of vocal strength and range.

The songs taught are:

Love Is Teasing
Fair And Tender Ladies
P Stands For Paddy
The Rocks Of Bawn
Thousands Are Sailing
Bonnie Blue Eyed Nancy
Free And Easy For To Jog Along

I Once Loved A Lass
Two Sisters
The Leaving Of Limerick
Bold Fenian Men
Do You Love An Apple
The Bay Of Biscay

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Sheet Music and Mp3s available to Download for each Tune

Sample Sheet Music

Download Love is Teasing Lyrics.

Sample mp3 of Love is Teasing

Download Love is Teasing mp3.

Your Tutor

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, is a native Irish speaker and grew up immersed in the vibrant West Kerry tradition with its wild dance music, soulful slow airs and many beautiful songs. Her father, a fiddler, would bring her to music sessions from a young age. There she began to play music on the flute and tin-whistle; and to sing sean-nós songs, learning from wonderful local singers. She also attended Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, for several years. She was awarded a Masters in Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick in 2002. She currently tutors both flute and singing in the University. Read more.

Frequently Asked Questions about Singing answered by Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

How do I stop from getting hoarse?

Good technique is everything in singing, your posture, breathing and voice placement will affect your vocal health. We touch on these things in the course. It is also important to be rested and to stay well hydrated – vocalists call it “peeing clear”!

Other things that can help with vocal hygiene are steam, saline nasal rinses, honey, cider vinegar, hot tea and a gentle ‘hummy’ warm up before practice or performance.

Things to avoid: coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, sugar, cream, shouting and too much talking before and after performance.

How do I sing using a mic?

I always like to think of the microphone as someone’s ear. You can sing quietly and intimately through a mic and reach the person at the end of the room. It’s important to realise the difference between singing acoustically and with amplification. If you go for a louder note, back away gently from the mic, as you would if you were singing into someone’s ear. I keep about 6 inches between me and the mic usually. If you ‘sit on top of it’ the sound will be muffled and the diction will be indistinct.

How do I increase my range?

Students come to me often complaining about how they can’t hit a high or low note in a song. I feel it is important to stretch out out ranges from just our speaking voice tones to get extra versatility. By slowly humming 5 notes up and down from the bottom to the top of your range daily you can gently stretch by a semi-tone at a time on either side. This should mean that eventually a song sits comfortably in your mid-range and you should have a few notes grace on either side, so your voice feels most comfortable.

How do I improve my tuning?

Tuning is all important. If your ear is untrained, it can sometimes be tricky to pick up melodies. Especially with complex sean-nós melodies that are taught by ear. It helps to break phrases down and to even draw out the pattern of the notes. Some people do very well to sing along with an instrument rather than another voice, it helps them avoid confusion. If you do play an instrument, play the air on the instrument. That way you are getting it into your head using the easist most direct route known to you. Muscle memory is everything and pre-planning. Singers are always a step ahead of the notes they are singing.

How do I not run out of breath during a phrase?

Breathing is our engine and keeps us going as singers. When we run out of breath we struggle to complete our song as we start to suffer physically from oxygen shortage: dizziness, sweating, shortage of breath; we all know these feelings! It is important to remember that we need to breathe more efficiently than usual as we need our normal amount of breath (to live!) and the extra for singing. Through the lessons I show how to breathe using the diaphragm, to achieve a full breath, and then to exhale with care, not wasting breath on sounds like “ha”, “Sh” and “ah”. Through using a correct balance between air and sound, you achieve a perfect tone. And by staying a step ahead and conserving air for the end of your phrase, you should reach the end of your line with ease before topping up again efficiently and effectively.

Just wondered if you have courses for male singers - or are the songs accessible for men and women? I was wondering about pitch as well as lyrics.

Yes you may have to change the pitch depending upon your vocal range. We will certainly look into creating an Irish song course for men, it’s a great idea !

Detailed questions and discussion on the course can be found in the Community Forum, available to paying members only.

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