Scoil Mhuire, Trim, Co. Meath

'Home Is Where the Music Is', performed by the Scoil Mhuire Performing Group.
Post-Primary Finalist in the 2024 Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition.
The competition group from Scoil Mhuire is made up of students from First to Sixth Year, as their music teacher wanted to give all year groups the opportunity to participate. The group came together before Christmas and were asked to think about what 'Music Moves' meant to them over the weekend. Their piece, which tells the story of Irish emigration, was inspired by a number of factors. Initially, four students came back with the same idea - to tell the story of how the Irish had to emigrate and how they brought their music and culture with them. The idea arose because members of these students' own families had done this. As the group developed the idea further, Sixth Year students who are in the school's traditional music group started reminiscing about their trip to Chicago in 2019 where they represented Ireland at a music festival. They remembered the enthusiasm of their American audiences and experienced first-hand the power of music to move people. Chicago is home to many in the Irish diaspora, and the students also remembered that after one particular performance, a number of people in the audience were in tears as the group performed and told them afterwards that it felt like a 'home from home' for them. Finally, the group wanted their piece to end on a positive, optimistic note - the hope of anyone with a relative living abroad that he/she will one day return home, where the music is.