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My final project briefly explores various traditional Irish and Celtic pieces of music such as jigs and reels. I will also cover a range of Irish instruments such as: the bouzouki, various whistles, harps, bagpipes/uillean pipes, fiddles and flutes. I am cutting down content so as to be able to give an overview of these instruments as well as show hoe they are used in context (in Irish music and dances).
For a rough draft or sampling, I am going to show two videos here. The first is the Irish band Lunasa playing a traditional Irish reel with Kerry Whistles. The reel is humorously titled The Last Pint:
I took this same Irish reel and attempted to learn it on the guitar (started this huge task at the beginning of the semester). A guitar is normally tuned EADGBE, but for this tune I am playing in DADGAD. This is an open G tuning; more specifically tuned to a D Sus 4 chord. I have found it to be very suitable for Celtic pieces for various reasons. One, by lowering the bass string E down to D, I am able to make a droning sound that is suited to the tonal qualities of fiddle music and pipes. Two, I also attempt to use numerous hammer ons and pull offs to mimic a pipe sound. I wasn't able to get all of the beautiful ornaments from The Last Pint correct, but it still holds some resemblance to the original. The open tuning allows the strings to ring out and allows me to play numerous parts at once. I will go more into Celtic guitar techniques in detail but il for now here is a video of me playing The Last Pint (LOL, I know there's still a tree in the background) I tried to increase the tempo a lot more...once you get started it's too much fun playing it fast. Also, it recorded a little quiet so you might have to turn the volume up:
I was able to muster enough strength to play through the back pain and made a more polished video...but my five year old nephew deleted it :( I will try to borrow a camera and attempt it again. Anyways, this is only part of the final project. I also am going to explore and discuss Irish Rebel music. I will especially focus on how many of the lyrics have to do with Nationalism and the struggle to gain independence from British influence and rule. Well I hope everyone liked the little sampling here of what I plan on doing. I still have much to organize and blend together.
I have learned a mountain of wealth this semester. I have enjoyed almost all of the readings and literary criticisms. Looking back now, I would have to say my two favorite novels were Carmilla and Portrait of Dorian Gray. What I am going to take away more than anything is a greater understanding of Irish history and how it is so intertwined with Great Britain. More specifically, I am fully aware now about the conflict in Northern Ireland and the enormous and complicated struggle for identity. I have found Irish literature to be very unique and original in many ways. Each novel we've read has kind of blown me away...each unique and fascinating as the next (in different ways). I know that sounds cliche, but obviously these Irish authors have some wicked literary skills....(especially Wilde!!!!) I really enjoyed having this class function through blogs. It totally blows D2L out of the water. It was amazing to see how everyone was able to expand upon the readings and share ideas so effectively. I've never had a class work like this before but would love to do it again. It is much more helpful and interesting to be able to share more than just words.
I hope you are successfully recovering from your surgery! I am very impressed by your skillful guitar playing. What a creative idea for a final project. I have been very impressed by your outside research on the Irish tradition throughout the semester. Having no musical skill or knowledge myself I don’t have much constructive criticism to offer you. Do you intend to some how connect this to one of the novels we have studied throughout the semester?
ReplyDeleteAs for your course reflection, the portrait of Dorian Gray was also one of my favorite novels. Perhaps the reason is because it was a bit easier to read than some of the other novels we studied. I also learned an abundant amount of information about Irish culture and history. Perhaps I learned the most just by doing outside research for various blog posts. I think blogging is perfect for this course because it required each of use to contribute to the critical analysis of each novel. It was also a great way to view varying perspectives and view the novels through a critical lens. I took this course not to develop my skills as a writer (however, I do think it helped a little considering I’m not a very good writer) however, this course taught me how to critical examine a piece of writing and consider the multiple perspectives of my peers.
Good luck with your final product and I hope your spine heals well!
Hey Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are feeling better, I have the back of an eighty year old and have been having problems for years so I can definitely sympathize with you, although in your case it seems to be just a tad more serious.
Your idea for your final project is really cool. I would have never though of that, although as I have disclosed earlier I am creatively impaired. I am very interested to see what you come up with; it looks as though you have your hands full with all those instruments. Although anything involving instruments always seems intimidating to me, seeing as how I do not know how to play so much as a triangle (which I have heard is a lot harder to play than it looks)! I do not know if it is that the instruments are Irish or my own lack of knowledge in anything involving instruments, but I have never heard of some of those instruments (the bouzouki and the uillean pipe). Also, how many different types of whistles are there? Anyways, I think that it was really awesome that you took the time to learn how to play the song, especially considering the fact that it involved a different tuning of the guitar, which I am not going to lie I have no idea what that means, but it sounds complicated. As you can see from my inexperience concerning anything musical I do not have much to contribute as far as advice for your project so I am just going to say good luck and Godspeed.
As far as this course is concerned, I completely agree with you that the use of blogs totally put D2L to shame.
WOW!!! So amazing. I've always loved music and have played the clarinet, oboe, flute, minimal percussion, and piano/organ, but try as I might...the guitar escapes me. My fingers just won't hold the strings down and they get all mixed up. So I'm am majorly impressed with your playing ability and even more so with the fact that it sounds like you've learned this melody by ear and without any sheet music. I am so not good at playing by ear either. Anyway, I really, really enjoyed your rough draft and actually hope we get to see your final too. I'm definitely showing this to my hubby (he's a major guitar music fan).
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with your back surgery...spinal surgeries are not fun or easy recoveries. I'm a nurse and worked in work comp for a few years so I'm way too familiar with spinal surgeries and recoveries.
I also really enjoyed Carmilla and Dorian and totally agree that the use of the blogs was so fun and interesting. I always looked forward to reading what everyone had to say and how differently we could all see things from the same novels. I really enjoyed this class a lot. Thanks for all your great insights.