Celtic Languages in Music Education: Part 1

Yeah, I was also going to just follow on from what Eilidh was saying and what you were saying there, Steve, about... that kind of sense of belonging with the language.

And for me, as now learning Welsh, I've lived in Wales for a few years now, but I feel like I'm a few of my friends and things are like us language Welsh speakers.

And I feel like there's always a real welcoming, like you're part of this community now.

So like encouragement, you know, just to learn a bit of the language.

And that's definitely something that I think It's great to hear how the music projects have facilitated that because I found actually through being a musician myself and working with other musicians, that's how I've kind of come to learn a bit of the language.

So it's nice to hear that reflected in your work as well.

If I could just add, in terms of the music as well as that culture and identity, sometimes it isn't just the language.

There's several multi-school projects that we've done.

For example, there was one in the Menack Theatre with nine primaries, two secondary schools and 500 staff and students.

So it's a large multi-school project on a cultural theme.

So even where things are not necessarily explicitly using Cornish language, It's really important to keep that cultural identity.

And I know

from hearing call my home at every possible sort of social event, it's that sense of place seems to be growing.

I've lived here on and off for a decade now and you do too.

you do get the impression that more people have that and more people know what it is to be in Cornwall, to be Cornish, even if they're not born here.

The question I was going to ask, I suppose, is also from a practical perspective, both for learning the language and for learning music, why you think it might be of benefit for young people to pick up Celtic languages in a musical context? I

think using any language to learn music works, but...

It's nice to take any kind of history and background with you because you're learning a broader thing.

And music is giving you a stage to learn a broader thing because music is just not an isolated thing.

It's beautiful.

Notes and rhythms and such like are beautiful.

But even...

If we're learning instrumental music and not actually using language, I think it's nice to bring, again, we're back to identity, to bring that identity and context of where we are and who we are into that, which in school with children that are hopefully unaffected by language, Diversive thinking that can actually unite and that people have all got the same sense of purpose because we're listening to, you know, music is always a connection and creating stories.

So in the background there, there is always the language because different languages offer different nuances also because of different words.

And that's another beautiful thing about learning a different language, whether it's a Celtic one or not.