Over 200 pupils from three primary schools in Co Mayo have come together to promote traditional Irish music as part of a two-year creative project.
The event took place in Ballina under a Department of Education initiative. Applications for funding are open to all schools.
The rousing performances are the result of hundreds of hours of hard work and practice.
The pupils from Behy, Cooneal and Bonniconlon national schools, have been fine-tuning their musical skills and playing their hearts out to delighted families.
Darragh Burke and Ultan Dempsey took up the accordion and it is fast becoming their favourite instrument.
Darragh said it is great to "knock out a few tunes" and meet people from other schools.
Ultan agrees.
"I went to music camp and I've been playing piano since I was eight. I'm 11 now and I play the tin whistle too and I sing," he said.
"But since I started to learn the accordion as part of this project I just love how it sounds and I'm really enjoying playing the jigs and reels and polkas".
Lillian Cullen is eight years old and learning to play the harp alongside Naoise Roche and Rian Lynn who have taken to the bodhrán.
"I'm only a year playing the harp but I find it so relaxing. It's a beautiful instrument and there are six harps performing in the project. I love taking part with the other two schools".
Hazel O'Donnell is both a parent and teacher at Behy National School.
"So it's all part of the Creative Clusters programme. Our three school communities would have had a very strong heritage and history in traditional music. It's where I learned music growing up in Behy National School.
"And I suppose over the years, we kind of felt that the history and heritage declined a little bit. So myself and staff at Cooneal and Bonniconlon schools decided to get a revival going again of traditional music.
"And so we formed a cluster together. That cluster then enabled us to get funding from the Department of Education.
"It's been fantastic opportunity to come here today and show the really hard work that we've been doing with the other two schools over the last two years, and just the whole social aspect for the children, the enjoyment of meeting up with each other.
"And there's been a massive uptake in the number of children playing new instruments. I'm teaching third class myself and we started with two tin whistle players back in first class.
"Now two years on we have children playing fiddle, banjo and harp. I have 14 in my class playing second instruments.
"So it's absolutely amazing. Everyone can do it, and I encourage everyone to try loads of different instruments".
Philip Lynott laughs and shrugs off all the people who call him Phil Lynott! "Yeah I get that all the time.
"People go 'wow your name is Phil Lynott' but then they get used to me. I wouldn't mind being a well known musician like him though."
Then cool as a breeze, Phil Junior lists off all of the instruments that he plays.
"I play tin whistle, ukulele, mandolin, a bit of banjo, harp and keyboard". He might want to add a Fender guitar to that mix!
Ailbhe Judge goes to school with Philip and is loving the whole creative experience.
"I'm playing the fiddle for a few years now but I've really got better and better since this project started two years ago.
"I love performing here on stage with the other schools in front of all our families. And it's so nice to play traditional Irish music and to honour our heritage".
The project integrates creativity into education through various programmes.
"Creative Clusters is a really successful initiative because it brings between three and five schools together who may never have collaborated before to work on a creative theme," according to National Director for the Integration of Arts in Education Dr Katie Sweeney.
"And of significance is the fact that the voice of the child is paramount to the success of all of those initiatives and they have a choice on what creative endeavour they're involved in.
"So it's not just about the arts. It can be music, it can be STEM, it can be mathematics, it can be coding. The young people decide what the theme is.
"And I think the success of Creative Clusters has been that when schools start to collaborate together, working together at primary and post-primary level, sometimes youth reach centres are involved as well.
"It's the first step in a lifelong relationship, and they continue to collaborate. And we would love to see hundreds of schools applying for these initiatives".
