Irish music
Vadim Kudryavtsev
=== Cut ===
Innovation in Traditional Irish Music
Anyone who has followed the discussion threads on rec.music.celtic or the tradi
tional Irish music discussion list (Irtrad-L) has likely seen a recurring argum
ent between people with different approaches to how to play "Traditional Irish
Music". The arguments can be quite divisive, with each side
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no logical reason to believe that the styles of traditional players th
at come from the teacher-student relationship are somehow better than the styles
of modern bands with their own approaches to the music
------------------------------------------------------------------------
launching emotionally charged defenses of their positions, and attacks on the o
ther side. The goal of this essay is to explore some of these issues surrounding
innovation in traditional music.
In general, "traditional" music in Ireland is defined as music that comes from
a certain region of Ireland and is passed down through the generations from tea
cher to student (sometimes father or mother to son or daughter) in a continuous
line that stretches back into the past. 100 years ago or more, this was certain
ly the only way that dance music could be learned. A person's exposure to the m
usic would come entirely from hearing live acoustic performances from local or
travelling musicians. Recordings of the music were not available to large numbe
rs of people until many many years later, and sheet music was rarer, and consid
erably more expensive to the average person than it is today. The pace of chang
e and innovation was also slower than it is today, due largely to the singular
method of transmission. Style and techniques (even for individual tunes) would
survive the transmission process mostly unchanged, resulting in styles that were
linked to a family or a small region of Ireland.
The major difference between modern times and this hazily defined traditional p
eriod is the accesibility we all have to recordings, radio broadcasts, sheet mu
sic books, music festivals, and live performances in distant areas that we can
drive to listen to. The individual style of a musician is much more likely to
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even traditional period musicians were innovative- don't forget that someone
invented fiddle rolls!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
be based on combinations of several sources than ever before- a fiddler might s
tart playing from listening to Kevin Burke recordings and learning to use some
of Kevin's techniques, followed by a few years of instruction from James Kelly,
and later several years of touring with the Pogues. The result is that an indiv
idual player may choose from several sources what they like to do, resulting in
a unique combination of influences on their playing.
A factor often overlooked though, is innovation. Even traditional period musici
ans were innovative- someone had to invent fiddle rolls, for example. The pace
of innovation tended to be slower due to several controlling factors- playing f
or dancers who have rhythmic needs to be able to dance to a tune, playing so th
at your melody line fits in with how the other local players play the tune, etc
. In modern times, the number of different approaches to the music can be overw
helming- styles from Sligo, Donegal, Scottish highland pipes, Galicia, Brittany
, Appalachia, England, and many more regions can cause people to experience inf
ormation overload. The natural response is to limit the input by selecting which
is the most "pure" from the choices.
In some people, the process of selecting a specific tradition to focus on creat
es a mental block, and the argument that some facets of the music are not just
disliked from personal preference, but because they are not part of a tradition
al line. The problem is that the traditional process has changed now- most livi
ng musicians will have heard at least some recordings, and many of us will have
heard more recorded performances in our lives than live ones. This results in a
fundamental separation of the individual player from decisions about what is go
od in the music- by appealing to a tradition as an authority, you are in fact w
eakening your own authority to decide what you do and do not like in the music!
There is no logical reason to believe that the styles of traditional players th
at come from the teacher-student relationship are somehow better than the style
s of modern bands with their own approaches to the music. It is all matters of
personal preference, of which traditional style is now just one of many choices.
I think that the mental block that comes up around traditionalism can be avoide
d after examining one of the core facts about the music- it has become far bigg
er than any one player. No single musician can learn all styles from all tradit
ions and all techniques. The decision to play in a certain style is very person
al, and to a large degree arbitrary. The music is such a personal event when yo
u play it, and by all means should include the player (you!) as an integral par
t of what makes it right and what makes it good. The invocation of tradition as
an authority can be a way of saying that you feel you have little or no personal
involvement in your music- not true!.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments on this article are welcome- please fill in the Feedback form
Copyright й 1997 Dan Beimborn
=== Cut ===
Hу всего,
Vadim