Transcript Scottish Music

Scottish Music
Traditional Scottish Songs

Waulking songs
– sung in Gaelic
– Unaccompanied
– sung by women
– contain Vocables
(meaningless Gaelic
sounds or nonsense
words such as “Hi ri
horo iri ho”)
– Solo singer
Question and
Answer with Chorus
Traditional Scottish Songs
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Bothy Ballad
– Sung by men (about their farm work)
– Sung in Scots
– Unaccompanied
– Strophic (Solo verse alternates with
repeated chorus as others join in)
Traditional Scottish Songs
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Ballads
– Songs telling a story
– Usually a sad story
– Often sung entirely solo
– Strophic (but without chorus)
Traditional Scottish Songs
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Gaelic Psalms
– Modal (Ancient scales,
different from major
and minor)
– Sounds middle eastern,
arabic
– Sung by congregation in
unison
– But at different speeds
so confused, sounds
polyphonic
– Ornaments added
Traditional Scottish Songs
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Mouth Music
– Gaelic vocal music
– Used for dancing to (when they didn’t
have instruments)
Traditional Scottish Songs
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Gaelic Choral singing
– A cappella (unaccompanied singing)
– Unison – all sing same tune at once
– Harmony – all sing different parts to
create chords
Highland Bagpipes
Highland Bagpipes
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Ceol Mor
– Pibroch – The classical music of the bagpipes
– Consists of a long slow theme and a series of
variations using complex ornaments and grace
notes
Highland Bagpipes
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Ceol Beag
– Music of pipe
bands
– Marches
Strathspeys and
reels
The Fiddle
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Scottish name
for the violin
High Style
– Slow airs
– Strathspeys
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Neil Gow
J Scott Skinner
The Fiddle
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Scottish name
for the violin
High Style
– Slow airs
– Strathspeys
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Neil Gow
J Scott Skinner
Scottish Dance Band
Instruments
Fiddle
Accordion
Piano
Double
bass
Snare drum
Fiddle
 Plays
the melody
 Scottish name for
the violin
 Played with bow
(bowed –Arco)
 Traditionally used
for reels and slow
airs
Accordion
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Plays both Melody and
Chords
Most commonly used is
piano accordion because
of keyboard at the side
Bellows are squeezed to
push air through reeds
The performer presses
buttons to play chords
Imported from central
Europe
Piano
Plays a Vamp
(”oom-cha”) chords
 Nowadays often
replaced by the
more portable and
versatile keyboard.
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Double Bass
Plays the bass line
 Largest instrument of
the string family
 Plucked (Pizzicato)
 Often replaced by the
electric bass guitar
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Snare Drum
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Also known as the
side drum
Used to play
rhythm sometimes
in unison with the
melody
Especially heard in
Marches
Sometimes
nowadays an entire
drumkit is used.
Scottish Dance Band
Instruments
Fiddle
Accordion
Piano
Double
bass
Snare drum
Waltz
3 beats in the bar
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Slow to moderate
tempo
Reel
2 or 4 beats in the bar
Fast tempo
 “Macaroni” rhythm
 Binary Form AB
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Jig
2 strong beats to the bar
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Compound time signature (6/8)
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“Strawberry, strawberry” rhythm
Strathspey
2 or 4 beats in the bar
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Moderate tempo
Dotted rhythm
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Scot’s Snap
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MARCH
2 or 4 beats in the bar
 Moderate tempo
 Lots of snare drum
 Simple rhythm
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Clarseach
Scottish harp
 Originally used to
accompany ancient
heroic songs
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Scottish trademarks
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Instruments used
– Bagpipes, fiddles accordions
– Dance bands etc
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Modal sound
– Ancient scales
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Drone
– Usually imitated by notes a fifth apart
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Grace notes
Scots' snaps
Pentatonic scale
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Scottish
concepts
Theme
– Tune/idea
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– Theme developed/changed
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Variation
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Vamp
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Drone
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– Continuous unchanging note
(bagpipes or imitation of
bagpipes)
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Modal
– Old fashioned scales
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2/3 beats in the bar
Anacrusis
– Lead in
Key Change
– (modulation)
– Chords oom cha
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Compound time
– Beats divided into sets of three
quavers
Ornament
– Twiddly bit/grace note
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– Not compound time
Pentatonic
– Old 5 note scale
Simple time
Binary form
– AB
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Ternary form
– ABA
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A capella
– Unaccompanied singing
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Pibroch
– Classical music of the bagpipes
theme and variations
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Scottish concepts
The sounds of:
– Pipes
– Fiddle
– Clarseach
– Accordion
– Voice/vocal
– Gaelic psalm
– Scots ballad
– Bothy ballad
– Waulking song
– Mouth music
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Tell apart:
– Waltz
– Jig
– Reel
– Strathspey
– March