Chapter 16: Music in Ireland- Historical Continuity and Community in Irish Traditional Music (pages 252-274)
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Title: Maid Behind the Bar/Gregg’s Pipes
Culture: Irish
Instrumentation:
- Fiddle
- Flute
- Concertina
Tempo: Tempo and meter stay the same throughout the performance of the melody.
Time: Duple meter, (4/4)
Structure:
- Maid Behind the Bar:
- Binary form; each section is repeated in performance (AABB)
- Greg's Pipes
- Three-part tune (ABC)
- Eight-measure melodic sections are not repeated
- Entire tune is played three times
Cultural Contexts: The most popular tune type in the Irish tradition today is the reel. Reels are distinguished by their duple (4/4/) meter, and are usually played at a quick tempo. When dancing to a reel, the feel is in two, with steps taken on beats 1 and 3 in each measure. Like the jig, reels are often in binary form with two sections of eight measures each. Maid Behind the Bar and Gregg’s Pipes are both reels.
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Title: Uirchill A' Chreagáin (Creggan Graveyard)
Culture: Irish
Instrumentation: Voice
Rhythm: Free-rhythm (without pulse or meter so there is little or no sense of predictability about the organization of time), to emphasize the meaning of the text.
Pitch: Pitch and volume are slightly higher than speaking voice- elevated enough to indicate that something more passionate than normal conversation is going on.
Melody: Monophony- the texture is sparse, one accompanied voice. Melody is richly ornamented; its contour reinforces the meaning of the text.
Harmony: Unison/ solo
Timbre: Warm and intimate.
Time: Irish traditional sean-nós ("old style") free rhythm. Free rhythm- used to express the meaning and emotion of the song or text.
Cultural Contexts: Uirchill A' Chreagáin demonstrates the sound of sean-nós through an aisling ("vision poem") composed by the eighteenth-century poet Art McCooey. In the medieval aislingi, the poet recounted a dream meeting with a women of supernatural beauty. The story became a political allegory, in which a series of questions and answers revealed. the beautiful woman to be the personification of Ireland, awaiting deliverance from foreign rule (p. 261).
Teaching Strategy Possibilities: One possible teaching strategy is listen to this Irish voice solo. Do you believe the free rhythm helps the artist express meaning and emotion?
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Title: Garett Barry's Jig
Culture: Irish
Instrumentation: Bagpipe
Harmony: Solo
Time: 6/8
Rhythm: Compound meter consisting of recurring groupings of beats, but with each beat consisting of a subgroup of three pulses with equal duration.
Timbre: Light, airy
Structure: AB
Cultural Contexts: From these examples, it should be clear that the idea about the piece is entangled with ideas about performance practice This Irish jig a tune composed most often in two sections, (A & B) of predetermined length that will be carefully transmitted within a community if music makers. However, the performer of a jig knows that the performance tradition not only permits but expects ornamentation to be added to that tune.
Teaching Strategy Possibilities: One possible teaching strategy is to share the following video of Irish bagpipes being played. What instrument family does the bagpipe belong to (woodwind family)? How do you know?
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Title: The Green Fields of Canada
Culture: Irish
Instrumentation: Voice
Rhythm: Free-rhythm
Melody: Richly ornamented
Text: The text is emphasized through the free-rhythm and richly ornamented melody.
Cultural Contexts: This song is thought to date from c. 1810-1820. The song begins as a lament, outlining the tragic breakdown of community and economic life in Ireland, but final verses brim with hope. "The composer catalogues the wonders of the new world, where nature provides bounty instead of hardship and blight" (p. 269).
The Green Fields of Canada and Edward Connors are both examples of emigration songs.
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Title: Edward Connors (1989)
Culture: Irish
Performers/ Instrumentation:
- Andy Irvine
- vocals
- bouzouki
- Donal Lunny
- harmonium
- guitar
- Frankie Gavin
- fiddle
Rhythm: Free-rhythm
Time: 6/8
Structure: Ballad
Cultural Contexts: This performance of Edward Connors reflects the newer traditional style of solo singing over layered instrumental accompaniment. Edward Connors documents the painful process of selling his farm, packing up. his family, and sailing to Quebec. In the penultimate verse, he wishes he regrets the trip and wished he were home in Ireland.
Overtime, Edward Connors and The Green Fields of Canada became expressive symbols of shared positive and negative experiences, creating identity and reinforcing community.
Teaching Strategy Possibilities: Compare and contrast Edward Connors with The Green Fields of Canada.
1) How does the rhythm differ? Does the presence of instrumental accompaniment influence the rhythm? Why or why not?
2) How are these ballads similar? How are they different?
3) Both of these examples represent emigration songs. What would you sing about if you had to emigrate from home?
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