Josh O'Loughlin

Josh O' Loughlin is a professional freelance musician/ writer/ educator from County Clare in the West of Ireland. His main instruments of focus are the Irish Tenor Banjo, The Mandolin, The Irish Bouzouki, and the Acoustic Guitar. Josh holds an Honours Bachelor degree from Trinity College Dublin in Music Education and a Masters Degree in Music Performance from Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama. He is a member of International Touring Group 'The Kilkennys', and has also spent time on the road with Irish Ballad Group 'The Fureys' and the 'National Folk Orchestra of Ireland'. He is a regular performer in the Irish Folk Music Scene, having toured and performed in Asia, North Africa, and many parts of Europe and the USA as well as in his home country. His new folk music group, 'The Boxty Gang', have recently released their debut album. 

Josh is a fully qualified Post-Primary Music Teacher in Ireland and has taught music both in schools and privately over the last 10 years. Josh also features as a Teacher in Irish Masterclasses throughout Ireland each year, the most prestigious of which being the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, with whom he has been teaching Masterclasses for 8 years. Josh holds awards at local and provincial level in Ireland on the Tenor Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitar, as do several of his students. He has performed on stage in the past as a guest musician with Folk Music acts such as Moving Hearts (with DIT Traditional Music Ensemble) The High Kings (With DIT Traditional Music Ensemble), The Kilkennys, The Fureys, Kieran Hanrahan and The Banjo Heads, and more.

First and foremost, my teaching style and methods are always student-centered. Lessons with me focus on the needs of each student individually, and are very practical. We always learn through active engagement, listening, and performance.

In University, we learned methods of Music Education that are very active, i.e. 'Learning By Doing'. This involves several different methods, depending on the lessons at hand. For example, the majority of my lessons in Banjo focus on Irish Folk Music, of which there are thousands of melodies with the most common being the Jig, Reel, and Hornpipe. For a complete beginner, we work towards this by first playing and understanding the notes of the common scales of D and G major (unlike classical music, the most common scales in Irish Traditional Music are G and D Major), and learning simple, common melodies such as 'Twinkle Twinkle' and 'Row Your Boat'. These will be learned with focus on the sound, performance, and the notes on a page. An intrinsic method of teaching music involves all aspects of the music all of the time - Performance, Listening, and Composition.  Lessons vary in difficulty but all involve these three key elements. Young people in Ireland learn much of their music 'by ear', which encourages strong ear training and better improvisational skills in the long run. However, it is also important to have a strong grounding in theory. My aim is to ensure my students are good 'all rounders' - never stuck relying on sheet music, and always musically literate.

Classes raise in difficulty as levels rise, moving from simple melodies to easy polkas and jigs before continuing to learn , improvise, and add folk music ornaments to many Jigs, Reels, and Hornpipes as well as more difficult melodies such as Barndances, Strathspeys, etc. Students have an opportunity to have their own input in what they want to learn, and this can include all musical styles and genres. In the long run, anything is possible. The aim is to start simple and work our way up.

While this style caters particularly to Irish and American Folk music, it is also true for my theory and composition classes. I believe that all lessons should incorporate the three key elements of the music - Listening, Performing, and Composing. Following this plan ensures that students become clear, confident all-round musicians.