Dear Reader –
Today we say goodbye to my favourite month of the year…
**All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
Still enjoying the afterglow of Theme Night #31, we had another great night last Friday - The Young Songwriters’ Showcase.
We initially ran it for a couple of years before the the pandemic and so when we got the green light last year to run events at full capacity again it was one of the first things on my agenda to revive.
Because songwriting isn’t something you either can or can’t do. It’s a skill and can be learned so the sooner you start the better. It can also be more difficult psychologically to stand up and perform something that came from inside you. All sorts of fears can come to the surface - can I do this? Will people like it? Will people laugh at me? It’s not quite finished yet! Will people know what I really feel inside if they hear my lyrics?
So huge respect to the teenagers who got up and did it last week. It was noticeable that those who had taken part last year seemed to have learned lots from that experience, so hopefully those who took part for the first time this year will continue to write. Well done to all involved.
One man who is a bit further along the songwriting path is Teenage Theme Night graduate Callum Wall. We invited Callum back to be a guest on this show and it was a joy to hear how he has developed in recent years - as a songwriter, singer and performer. Here is Callum performing his song ‘Limbo’ on In The Lamplight in 2021.
Where else but Sligo?
Today is the end of January, and as alluded to earlier, it’s my favourite month of the year. There is so much possibility around, although it was a bit more difficult to see this in January 2021 - I can’t remember a January that people were so keen to see the back of. We were in lockdown, and no-one was really sure when or how the end would come. I was writing a column for the Sligo Weekender at the time and there was so little happening in our world that I wrote about a new road opening!
Anyway, this ‘new road’ is now two years old. Thankfully a lot has changed in the meantime, but if anyone is looking for something to cheer them up this morning, read this and be thankful that the road ahead in Jan 2023 looks a lot different to how it did in 2021!
What’s New?
CHRISTMAS CONCERT: December is always a busy month, so this Thursday and Friday we are hosting our Christmas concerts (!) for all of our fantastic piano students. Annette, Niamh, Scarlett, Shauna and I can’t wait to see everyone play their pieces and perhaps enjoy a treat or two after!
PADDY KEYES: Another Teenage Theme Night graduate now writing and releasing his own music is Paddy Keyes. Listen to his latest single ‘Best Friend’ here.
IN THE LAMPLIGHT IS BACK: After a quiet 2022, we have made ourselves (and our listeners) a New Year’s promise to release at least one episode of our podcast each month in 2023. Which means one needs to appear today! Hopefully it will - keep an eye on your podcast feeds or search for ‘In The Lamplight’ later this evening…
Finally…
It wasn’t all doom and gloom in early 2021 however - this is from our lockdown season of In The Lamplight, and still one of my favourite things we did - will Luke ever learn to play the violeeeeen?!?!
Till next time - Kieran.
