Celtic music is a fanciful term which expresses a world-view or record-shelf category rather than actual links between music genres. More specifically the term Celtic has come to apply to easy-listening mood music with dreamy, non-specific but Irish/Scots flavour, marked as relaxing and evocative. The origin of Celtic music comes from the roots of ancient Celtic people – a group of Iron Age “barbarian” tribes with common language and culture that inhabited vast territories of Europe. The Celtic dominion stretched from Ireland and the western Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) in the west to Bohemia (Czech Republic), Bavaria (Germany) and Austria in the east. The Celts were a mixture of western Indo-European peoples who created vivid ornamental art and spoke a language described by the Romans as Celtic. Their social power structure included warlords and priests known as druids. They lived in hill towns made to defend populated areas from other warring Celtic tribes.
With the arrival of the Roman Empire, Celtic civilization nearly disappeared. Most of Western Europe, except Ireland, was romanised. From the period of the first century BC Celtic settlements moved north and west, reaching the territories of Bretonic land. And it was about the fourth century B.C. that the first great wave of Celts migrated to Britain and Ireland. Being influenced by different nationalities Celtic traditions hardly survived in Europe. But in Ireland it managed to save its originality due to its geographical location. Surrounded by the sea it was hardly reachable, thus safe for Celtic traditions.
The Term Paper on Music As A Nationalistic Tool
Music has been a powerful force throughout history. Its power has affected all aspects of peoples lives. The ideas and attitudes people have toward their country can easily be seen in their music. While music in the early part of the modern era (1400-1900) served to promote patriotism and nationalism, musics role in the late 20th century seems a reversal and has been a deconstructive force ...
It can be only imagined what the music of the ancient Celts really sounded like. What we know as Celtic music today is really the traditional music developed recently in several western European Atlantic regions that used to be inhabited by Celtic tribes over 2,000 years ago. But nevertheless Celtic music saved its original peculiarities. Being a part of Irish/Scottish /Bretonic folklore it represents light and evoking. Music is for fun and entertainment. Such music is played during national holidays, festivals.
National Celtic dances and songs are performed during such festivals, and of course they are accompanied by national music. Church music in Scotland and Ireland also contains elements of Celtic traditions and history that refers to the times of Druids. Famous local legends are accompanied by such music. Combining such music with poems of different prominent Irish writers, such as Robert Burns, beautiful songs are created. Nowadays Celtic music is merged with such modern musical genres as jazz and rock, in order to make it more stylish and adapted to the modern world, in order to make it more appealing to the contemporary listener But of course the significance of Celtic music is in the diversity of national instruments used for its composing and performing. Here is a list of the main Celtic instruments: Fiddle – is the mainstay of most Scottish and Irish music.
The instrument is exactly the same as a violin. Fiddle is simply the term used in traditional music. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Flute – the ‘simple-system’ flute with six holes and up to eight keys. Its cylindrical bore and wooden construction give a hollow, airy tone, softer than the classical flutes and much smoother than the tin whistle. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Tin Whistle (pennywhistle) – simple metal tube, with six holes and a mouthpiece like a recorder, and a range of about two octaves. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Bagpipes and Uilleann pipes – the tin whistle is a simple metal tube, with six holes and a mouthpiece like a recorder, and a range of about two octaves. Among them differ: Scottish Highland pipes, uilleann pipes, Northumbrian small pipes, the binous and giatas. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Bombarde – small oboe-like shawm with a penetrating sound, used widely in Breton music.
The Essay on Metropolitan Instrument Instruments Music Ancient
The musical instruments collection of the metropolitan museum holds approximately five thousand examples from six continents and the pacific islands dating from about 300 B. C. to the present. In this exhibit we can find all categories of instrument present in our history. Indeed, classified by continents and different region of the world, the categories of instrument presented are: wind ...
It is fingered like a tin whistle with an extra hole to allow one note below the stated key. The bombarde is usually played for only part of the tune, giving the player time to relax from the very high breath pressure required to play the instrument. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Free Reed Instruments – this family of instruments was developed in the early nineteenth century. They all work on the same principle: air is blown across a set of paired metal reeds, causing them to vibrate and produce a particular note. All but the harmonica are powered by bellows pulled in and out by the arms (hence ‘squeeze box’).
The two reeds of a pair are placed in opposite directions, so each is vibrated by either the press or the draw (in or out) of the bellows. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Melodeon – is a simple single-action accordion. It has ten keys, giving a twenty-note diatonic range, usually pitched in C.
It also has two bass keys, which give the chords of the tonic and dominant keys. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Button Accordion – has a second row of keys, tuned a semitone above the first set, giving a fully chromatic instrument. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Piano Accordion – has a piano keyboard on the left and an extensive bass keyboard on the right hand. It is a double-action instrument and much larger than the button accordion. It is most popular in Scotland and is also widely used in central European folk music. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Concertina – is a small, hexagonal accordion, which comes in both double-action chromatic (‘English’) and single-action diatonic (‘Anglo’ or ‘German’) forms. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Banjo – the American five-string banjo came to Ireland in the nineteenth century, losing one string along the way. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Mandolins, citterns, bouzoukis, guitars – these fretted instruments are mostly used in accompaniment and for rhythmic backing. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Harp – There have been harping traditions in the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany for hundreds of years and in Ireland at least it was closely tied to the old aristocracy and ‘high’ culture. Most Celtic harps are small, and can be played on the knee. (http://www.ceolas.org/instruments) Voice accompaniment also plays an important role in Celtic music.
The Essay on Socio-economic Conditions In 18th Century Ireland
Early in the 18th century turmoil began to brew in Ireland. A series of rulings in the British house of Parliament took more and more control out of the hands of the Irish. Britain passed laws and instituted practices that were highly lucrative to it self yet immensely damaging to the people of its colonies (Colley 213). A number of political and intellectual figures began to speak out on the ...
In Scotland there is a rhythmic form of unaccompanied singing that can be danced to. There is a long and popular choral tradition in Wales. In the west of Ireland, sean-nos singing is a very unusual unaccompanied and highly ornamented form. Celtic music is a part of Irish/Scottish folklore that represents its traditions and peculiarities. Being extremely beautiful and pleasant for the listener, it also helps us to sink into this great atmosphere of the medieval Scotland and Ireland and to imagine more vividly its origins and the life of Highlanders..
