Transcript Skye Waulking PowerPoint

‘Skye waulking song’
by Capercaille
GCSE MUSIC Area of Study 4 (World Music)
WHAT IS FUSION?
• Two or more musical styles mixed together
FOLK MUSIC
• Folk music is found in every region across the world.
• It reflects local traditions, life and myths .
• Music was generally performed by the ‘lower classes’ of society and passed on by
oral tradition (by word of mouth) and is rarely notated.
• Lots of Celtic folk music comes from Scotland & Ireland.
• Folk tunes are fairly simple so they can be easily remembered and played by
untrained musicians.
• The tunes are based on pentatonic scales (using only 5 notes) or modes (very old
types of scales)
• Due to the scales, there are no semitones so the melodies are easy to sing and
harmonise with (no clashes)
Skye Waulking Song
• Performed and composed by a band called
‘Capercaillie’ from Scotland.
• They are a Fusion Band – fusing
Celtic folk + western popular music
• This song is from their album ‘Nadurra’ released
in 2000.
• The song is sung in Scots Gaelic.
• It is a work song –‘Waulking’ is a stage of cloth
making, traditionally done by women pounding
& trampling on tweed cloth. It would last for at
least an hour, with 1 woman singing the verses &
the rest joining in for the choruses.
• Title translation: ‘My father sent me to a house
of Sorrow’
Instruments used
Bodhrán
• Accordion, Piano & synthesiser
• Flutes, Whistle & Uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes
• Vocals
• Acoustic & electric bass
• Fiddle (folk style violin)
• Bouzouki
Accordion
• Bodhrán
Bouzouki
• Drums
• Percussion
Important points…
• The melody is based on a pentatonic scale in E minor.
• It modulates to G Major (the relative)
• The time signature is unclear at the beginning between 6/8 or
12/8 (2 or 4 strong beats per bar) The percussion give a feel of
3/4.
• A mix of traditional and popular instruments are used – all within
their middle range.
• It has polyphonic texture
• It has a strophic structure , with the melody the same for each
verse.
• Only 4 different chords used. E min, G, C & A min9
The Lyrics
• It is sung in Scots Gaelic
• Each verse has 1 line of lyrics then an ‘insert’ – words which make no sense!
followed by a line of lyrics and another ‘insert’.
• These inserts would have been when everybody joined in.
• The lyrics are taken from a 13th Century lament, about a girl who is unhappy with
an arranged marriage for her.
Section
Intro
Description
Sustained keyboard chord – E minor
‘Tremolo’ (shaking) on fiddle and electric piano.
Keyboard, bouzouki, bass & bass drum join in,
Ambiguous time signature (no real pulse)
Very atmospheric
A
Verses 1-3
Vocals rhythm different to accompaniment, still unclear time signature.
Few breaks between verses.
Use of unaccompanied singing into 2 section
B
Verse 4-8
Modulates to G major
Accordion joins in
Backing vocals singing ‘nonsense syllables’
Drum part provides a clear 12/8 feel – (4 strong beats per bar)
Longer chord pattern
Instrumental section – Uilleann pipes & fiddle solo, Weaving in and out – a
polyphonic texture, improvising around the vocal line.
Dynamics change with instruments dropping out, before returning of final verse.
Outro
Vocals improvising around nonsense syllables weaving (contrapuntal texture)
with the instruments improvising
Alternating between chord C & G
Long fade out