thanks for your comments Sharon,

I have a great deal of respect for Seamus Connoly, its a huge undertaking to organize this kind of festival and to keep everyone happy (both students and instructors). However, when I go to a festival that advertises certain instructors, I expect to be able to take classes from them. If I had stayed in my assigned class - I would not have had a chance to go to Brendan McGlincheys class, or to Kevin Burkes or Paddy Glackins (I have nothing against Laurel Martin or Randal Bays - they are wonderful players but that was not why I went there. Its not an inexpensive workshop and its also fair distance from Vancouver).

I was really disappointed at Sandy's (Seamus' wife) attitude that - 'if you dont like it you can have a refund' I didnt want a refund, I just wanted to study with the well known players. (in the end I did anyway and no one had a problem with that - except Paddy Glackin.

To be fair, the way the class was posted there were not many other obvious classes on Mon. morning so its understandable that so many people went to Paddys class - but I dont think he handled it terribly well - it was quite rude in fact - and there werent 80 people as Seamus joked in the concert (there were maybe 30 at best).

As someone whos attended Fiddle Tunes at Port Townsend for the last 5yrs - where people go to whichever instructor they want - it would be an outrage to be kicked out of a class because theres too many people.

(of course people have different personalities and some are much better teachers than others - I would rank Liz Carrol among the best as well as Randal Bays, and Bruce Molsky who clearly have thought a lot about the subject. while some fiddle players, may be excellent players but not necesarily good teachers - (Kentucky Fiddler Charlie Walden comes to mind - who once told one of the players to 'airbow' at the band lab concert )

I also see the organizers standpoint that they dont want everyone to go to the big name players - as the instructor may never come back. INterestingly Sandy said Bruce Molsky asked 'please dont put me in a class with 300 students' but then suggested that we either go to either Bruces or John Mcuskers (scottish) class after the Paddy Glackin 'incident'.

Overall I found it a very enjoyable festival, and I really liked Brendan McGlincheys as well as Kevin Burkes classes - I especially found Brendan a very friendly and helpful person - he never did get to know us by name but he did recognize and talk to me a few times outside of the classes.

I also really enjoyed Peter Barnes beginner whistle class. He was an excellent teacher and a really fun personality.

I think the organizers were quite overwhelmed by the fiddle students - most of whom obviously came to see Tommy Peoples - who backed out for some reason. I also think they felt they had a lot of intermediate students and didnt quite know what to do with them. Their ranking systems did seem to be all over the place, a lady I know from Vancouver (and Ive played with sessions and ceili dances for 6 years) was placed in Randals total beginners class. It didnt make sense.

WHile I would consider myself intermediate, I played in sessions with someone that was in Paddy Glackins advanced class - and I know that she was not more advanced than I was (I dont mean this in any superior or arrogant way - I will always consider that Im never as good as I could be, just that the ranking didnt make sense)

Seamus will probably experiment with other formats, but I feel that the best option would be to give people a choice - have the well known players offer classes in all levels and everyone is happy.

As for me, Im not sure if Ill go back. PEtr