West of Ireland musician’s website a finely tuned fusion of technology and tradition
Hailing from the Renvyle Peninsula in west Connemara, Luke Gannon grew up surrounded by traditional music.
Watching his grandfather, Paddy Gannon, playing the accordion at a cousin’s wedding when he was just eight years of age inspired the start of his own journey just three years later.
Luke comes from a musical lineage. His great-great-grandmother’s first cousin, Michael Canavan was the first button accordion player in the Renvyle Peninsula. Luke started playing professionally at the age of 13 along with other young local musicians and subsequently went on to win county and provincial titles at the Fleadh Cheoil as well as representing his county in numerous All-Ireland competitions.
His self-composition journey took off during those formative years and has now culminated in the creation of over 60 original tunes including Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes, Polkas, Barndances, Waltzes and Laments.
Luke has featured on Radio na Gaeltachta on multiple occasions and according to Neansai Ni Choisdealbha (Head of Traditional Music at Raidio na Gaeltachta) he is a musician “mature beyond his years.”
“Luke has his own distinct style of accordion playing, with a hint here and there of the master accordionists that influenced him over the years.’’
Multi-All Ireland winning accordion player, PJ Hernon is also an admirer.
“I asked Peter Horan one time what would his advice be for a young musician and he told me to listen to all the great musicians and then do my own thing. Obviously, Luke has done this very well. He plays with heart and soul. He’s an inventive player of Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes, Barndances and Waltzes. He’s a great player.’’
Luke Gannon is the founder and creator of irishaccordianlessons.com and its mission is to make Irish traditional music accessible worldwide to people of all backgrounds, countries and cultures at a fair and affordable cost.
It is a website where anyone from any corner of the globe can start to learn how to play Irish traditional music. The website gives a step by step approach on how to start from scratch and work your way up to becoming an accomplished player of reels, jigs and more.
The courses are for anyone who has a keen interest in learning Irish traditional music. These courses are focused on how to play the button accordion but due to Luke’s proficiency in breaking down each tune into the sum of its parts, the lessons can be learned on all instruments including tin whistle, fiddle, flute, concertina and banjo.
The Starter and Improver courses are now up and running and is for anybody looking to start their journey with Irish music. The Advanced course will be out in September 2023.
The Advanced course is split into two sections with Section 1 focusing on the learning of all the various types of ornamentation on the accordion including cuts, rolls, triplet and chords. This is the only part of the irishaccordionlessons curriculum that is specifically just for the button accordion.
Section 2 includes more advanced tunes. Each lesson consists of two videos. The first video breaks the tune down to the sum of its parts. The second video then teaches how to decorate the tune with various types of ornamentation that was learned in the previous section. This course will be available from June 1, 2023.
All courses on the website are available on a monthly subscription of €25 or an annual subscription of €250. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.
So if you want to get your Irish traditional music journey started then go to http://irishaccordionlessons.com/.