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A song in her heart

Elizabeth Nist will be going to Ireland next week for a music competition and series of workshops.
Viola player to compete in Ireland

Elizabeth Nist says she carries about 50 tunes that she can play on her fiddle around in her head. The home-schooled student found her path to learning through the strains of Irish folk music.

“There's another 50 I can play if I could hear some of it first,” said Elizabeth, 13, who's about to expand on her repertoire of Irish folk songs when she travels to Drogheda, Ireland, for the Fleadh Cheoil Na hEireann, billed as the world's largest celebration of Irish music, language, song and dance. It runs Sunday to Aug. 18.

At Drogheda, about 30 minutes from Dublin, Elizabeth will be tutored by the top traditional Irish music teachers before she takes the stage for her final exam, a competition against other viola players.

She lives with her parents, Janine and Erin Nist, and two brothers, Gavin, 15, and Ethan, 16, in New Sewickley Township, Beaver County, near Zelienople.

But her music has taken her far afield.

While in Ireland, Elizabeth and her viola will be competing against fellow musicians in the under 15 miscellaneous instruments category, but she also will be attending a week's worth of workshops before the competition, learning new songs and getting instruction from Irish master musicians.

About 750 students are expected to take part in the Scoil Eigse, the summer school that takes place before the competitions.

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Elizabeth said there is very little written down in keeping with the musicians' tradition of passing down songs orally.

“It's just all playing,” she said of the workshops. “It's usually by ear. Sometimes there's a chalkboard and there will be some notes written on it.

“They will play you part of a tune and let you figure it out.”

The new songs are presented and then students learn to “ornament” them.

“I usually pick up things really fast. It depends on the level of the tune, if it's really tricky, but it takes 10 minutes at the most,” she said.

“It usually stays in there and when I hear it, it comes back. Once I know the key, I can pick the tune up,” she said. “Once I get the pattern using the key I can figure the rest out.”

She'll be playing the two songs she's picked for the competition from memory also.

“I hope they like my style,” she said.

Irish music comes in different styles and Elizabeth plays in the Sligo style.

Her mother said, “In Northern Ireland, they are influenced by Scottish music so it's more jagged. The Sligo style is more gentle.”

Elizabeth will compete against 20 others viola players for either first or second place.

This will be her third trip to Ireland for the Fleadh Cheoil Na hEireann. She competed in the under 12 fiddle slow airs category in 2017 and the under 15 miscellaneous instruments category in 2018.

This year she will also vie for a title in a group competition with the St. Cecilia Irish music ensemble of the Bronx, N.Y.

For Elizabeth, the upcoming classes at Ballymakenny College in Drogheda is just another stop on journey she's been on since she has been 6.The teenager began as a Suzuki classical music student.“Then when I was 8, I started the viola and then I started doing the fiddle,” she said.When Elizabeth was 9 years old, she was introduced to Celtic fiddling by Sean Garee of the McPharlin Music Studio.Her mother said Elizabeth was an Irish step dancer and quickly became obsessed with learning the tunes she and her friends would dance to in class.Garee agreed.“Getting into improvisation is a different approach. Working in improvisation after classical music lessons is a big leap,” Garee said of Elizabeth, who is now almost 14.“She started with (Irish) dancing then classical music,” he said. “That merged into Celtic music. That's really her big passion.”“I took her to see Celtic Woman when she was 5 and she begged for a violin,” Nist said.“I guess I saw them and fell in love with it when I was little,” said Elizabeth of the all-female Irish music ensemble.In 2017, after winning the Under 12 Slow Airs competition at the mid-Atlantic Regional Fleadh, (competition) she began learning traditional Irish music with teacher Katie Grennan, a fiddle player with the band Gaelic Storm.She proved to be a natural, practicing four to five hours a day to hone her technique.

She's a member of the Pittsburgh Youth Concert Orchestra, as well as the Youngstown Symphony.She's also part of an Irish music band that plays the first Wednesday of every month at North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock.“She was playing at the Barn in Harmony at one of the festivals and they heard her play,” Nist said.And that doesn't include the trips to New York City every two weeks to practice with St. Cecilia.“She likes what she does,” Nist said. “I just drive her around everywhere.”That includes to the recording studio at McPharlin Music Studio where Elizabeth recorded her first CD, “First Mile,” over the course of 18 months.Garee arranged the songs and the engineering and recording.“It was eye-opening. That was the biggest coolest project I've ever done with student,” he said. “She's very passionate and laser-focused on Celtic music.”Her mother said Elizabeth won't be alone in Drogheda. She and Gavin will be with her. Gavin will be competing in the Fleadh playing cello.“I would like to be a professional musician,” Elizabeth said. “I could join Gaelic Storm, which is big.”“The sky's the limit for her,” Garee said. “She's going to make some waves.”

From left, Deb Takacs, Elizabeth Nist and Janet Leise were among the musicians who entertained guests at Early American Day at the Old Stone House in Slippery Rock earlier this summer.
Violinist Elizabeth Nist will be heading to Ireland later this month for a music competition and series of workshops.

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