Willie Clancy Summer School

Miltown Malbay is a small west Clare town that fills every July with several thousand musicians for a week of classes named after the piper Willie Clancy, who lived here. It has run since the early 1970s and it is a teaching event first: fiddle, flute, pipes, concertina, banjo, singing and set dancing, taught in schools, halls and back rooms by players at the top of the tradition. What draws everyone else is what happens outside the classes, when the town turns into continuous sessions from mid-afternoon until very late. Uilleann piping, which is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list, is unusually well represented here, with recitals and workshops running all week.

What you actually see

• The classes - a week of teaching on every instrument in the tradition.
• The street sessions - informal playing through the town from afternoon onward.
• The piping - uilleann pipes recitals and workshops, the school's particular strength.
• Set dancing - taught in the halls by day and danced in them at night.

When to go

The first full week of July, with dates fixed well in advance. Book a bed in Miltown Malbay or along the coast months ahead, because the town has very few rooms and they go early. Classes need registration and fill fast; the sessions need nothing beyond patience and a willingness to stand for a long time.

Honest expectations

The town is overwhelmed for the week: no parking, long queues, and every room packed to the door by early evening. Sessions exist for the musicians, and a listener standing in the middle of one is in the way. It rains, and much of the standing around happens outdoors. Accommodation prices rise steeply for those dates.

Nearby

Lahinch and the Cliffs of Moher are twenty minutes north along the coast.