Noah Merriman prepares for Irish Fest with GOTAK

Morgan Womack, Co-Editor-In-Chief

Senior Noah Merriman is a member of GOTAK, the fiddle club at the high school. He’s getting ready for GOTAK’s biggest gigs, Irish Fest, and talked with reporter Morgan Womack about his experiences.

MW: What are you currently working on for Irish Fest?

NM: So this set we have like 10 or 11 songs we’re doing so we’ve just been working on that in rehearsal, there are different some jigs, some polkas, I think a ballad or two, but just stuff like that.

MW: What are you excited about for Irish Fest?

NM: Irish Fest is obviously one of the biggest gigs we do, there’s a lot of people there and it’s kind of a big event so it’s something that you look forward to and we have a band coming in called Ten Strings and a Goat Skin and they’re doing their own set. We’re playing with them so it’s gonna be cool to hear them as well and to get to learn some stuff from them and just play with them.

MW: What is your favorite thing about GOTAK?

NM: I think just how different it is than normal orchestra. In both, when you’re playing music, it’s a very emotional expression, you know, when you’re playing. But the differences are in normal orchestra when you’re playing it’s very personal and with GOTAK the music we play naturally makes more of a shared group experience and people are clapping along, people are dancing, things like that, so it’s just kind of a different experience, and I enjoy it for that.

MW: What do you want to achieve through GOTAK?

NM: I think pretty much just have fun with it is really my big thing, I don’t know if I’d say I have any set things I want to achieve besides just enjoy it.

MW: Why do you continue to do GOTAK?

NM: Kind of like I already said, because it’s a different kind of music, it’s fun to play, and then also the people in the group, they’re just fun people, we kind of have a lot of people, we’ve been in it for a couple years. It’s almost like similar to orchestra but it’s kind of a smaller, tighter group so it’s kind of fun just to play with them as well and I think a combination of those two things make me want to keep doing it.