Music Essay - Never Fear

madgal

I'm only on the computer for bout 10 minutes now ... but later on tonight I can post up some sample essays that my music teacher gave me from years ago. Knowing that the same topics come up year after year, they are like an answered prayer!!

If anyone has any other contributions for essays please post them up, as I only have 4-5 essays and I think there is 12 possibilities.

sunflowerz

I have
harp and uillean pipes
turlogh O carolan
is anyone needs them

and i will much appreciate any of your essays PLEASE!!!

madgal

Main Features of Sean-nos singing

Sean-nós is acknowledged as being one of the oldest surviging song traditions in the world.
It has been subject to change, as the effects of modernising trends affecting the country generally were also felt in terms of cultural traditions.
Sean-nós still retains many of its features identified in the early 20th centrury.

There are 3 regional styles of sean-nós siging:
1. Donegal
Characterised by having least use of ornamentation
2.Connemara
Characterised by having the most use of ornamentation
3. Munster
Charactersied by using a fair amount of onramentation and usually more vibrato than found in the other 2 regions

Sean-nós is interpreted differently by different people, but it mostly understood to mean singing in the Irish language. Most sean-nos singers come from the Gaeltacht area.

Sean-nos is usually sung in fairly free rhythm, but there are also rhytmic songs in the tradition.
It is also, at its heart, an unaccompanied solo tradition.
It is a lyrical tradition in which words and melody generally have equal importnace and like other aspects of the I.T.M* the emphasis is on individuality.
This is created by usaing a combination of techniques such as variation, phrasing and ornamentation in creative and distinct way.
Improvisation is also an inegral part of the process.

Singers include Seosamh óhéanaí, Cití Ní Ghallchóir (all since passed on) but continue to be an important souce of reference and inspiration for current singers.

Modern-day singers who are mostly known for singing in an unaccompanied style include Lillis ó Laoire, and Sarah Ghriallais, and singers in bands like Altan or Danú - which they frequently sing in Irish alsmot alwasy sing with accompaniement.


*I.T.M = Irish Traditional Music




You can cut this down to fit the size of the page - but just a few tips for basing your essay on this.

kisaragi

Wow! Thanks

I've got...

Irish Fusion
Regional styles of Fiddle playing
Ornamentation
Sean-nos

I have more I'd say, just can't remember off the top of my head (someone needs to revise his Irish music essay haha)

Luckily it's worth what? 2.5% of the paper... you can probably scrape 1% of that by making up anything haha

WildCardDoW

Great work, sadly due to a virus, I lost all my typed essays for music! If you have anymore, kindly appreciated.

bright

If you are hoping to help many future generations, I would recommend posting any note/essays you have on Zulunotes.http://www.zulunotes.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

it was set up this year by someone on this board and could use the content.

WildCardDoW

Zulu notes, I fear would just leave the future generations of this boards with all work, and they would do none. Especially in subjects like history and english where they just hand up essays by us to teachers, without actually studying the stuff.

dhaddock

can u please post the other essays??

Cousin it

Hopefully this is of use to someone:

Harping tradition

The harping tradition in Ireland was fostered and developed among the powerful and wealthy Irish and Anglo-Irish families. Harpers were employed along with poets and orators, known as reacoirs, to provide entertainment for the families. As the families acted as patrons to the harpers, they would often have solo pieces, known as planxties, written in their honour by their harper.

The harping tradition was passed on, father to son, for many years and was one of very few viable career options for blind boys at the time. However, as the great families went into decline this left the harpers unemployed. The harping tradition then became a nomadic one, as harpers would travel from county to county, playing for money and food.

There were two styles of harp: the Bardic harp and the Neo-Irish harp. The Bardic harp had between 29 and 31 strings made of wire, which were played with the nails. Usually around 70cm in height with a curved pillar and a hollow soundbox, the Bardic harp was the more resonant of the two.

The Neo-Irish harp typically had 34 strings made of nylon or cat gut, which were played with the pads of the fingers. They were taller (about 91cm in height) than the Bardic harp, but less resonant.

In 1792 the Belfast Harp Festival was setup. It consisted of eleven harpers from the age of 15 to 97, playing pieces in their own particular style. Edward Bunting was commissioned by the Belfast Harp Society to record the lifestyles of the harpers as well as recording and writing down the music from the festival. This method, unlike the oral tradition which had existed up until then, did not allow for particular nuances in style and some of these were lost.

madgal

Jigs:Reels:Hornpipe.

There are 3 types of jigs: single jig, double jig and slip jig.

A double jig is divided into 6/8 and the tune is rhythmically divided into 3 quavers.
6/8 (2 groups of 3 quavers)

The slip jig is similar to the double jig in that the quavers are structurally dived into 3 queavers. However, the time signature is 9/8 (3 groups of 3 quavers)

The single jig is similar to the double jig as well, however the rhythm tends to be crochet quaver motion. It is often represented in 6/8 or 12/8.

The reel is a fast rhythmically structured in beats divided in 4. The reel is thought to have come from Scotland in the 17th Century.

The hornpipe is rhythmically structured in bars of 4, divided in 2. The time signature is 4/4. The hornpipe may have arrived from England but probably Scotland in the 18th century.

remus808

madgal wrote:

Jigs:Reels:Hornpipe....

I can't even understand any of that, nevermind reproduce it!

madgal

Its a Question on Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes that comes up? You may find out in the morning.

remus808

madgal wrote:

Its a Question on Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes that comes up? You may find out in the morning.

Hmm I'l stick to my Harping, Sean Nos and other such Tomfoolery!!

christophicus

Dammit if only I had seen this yesterday!! No use now really !!!

fionated7

it is of use now, jus read over it a few times n u might remember some of it

kawaii

Not a lot of this stuff came up... I just waffled about ceili bands. Was fine, I like to think.

justbringit89

i used the harp essay , would i get many marks outta ten for that??? i didnt refer to any preformers

kawaii

I heard they deduct marks like crazy for lack of references... That's just what I heard is all.

Cousin it

really wish I had looked over my own essay!:rolleyes: ah well.

also, with the lack of references thing, apologies for not putting any in my teacher didn't specify/give us any really. I lobbed Turlough O carolan in. Whether he played the harp or not I've yet to find out.....................:p

Steve01

I was pleasantly surprised by the essay options this year. I did the question on the harping tradition and brought Turlough O'Carolan in as well. I was rushing to get it finished though, had to fill up an extra page and all!

fionated7

oh no, i only filled the space provided????????
was i supposed to fill extra pages?

Steve01

fionated7 wrote:

oh no, i only filled the space provided????????
was i supposed to fill extra pages?

So long as you filled the space provided with relevant information and musical references you'll be fine. If not, you're fúcked :rolleyes:

Cousin it

Steve01 wrote:

If not, you're fúcked :rolleyes:

LOL!:D

I filled the space provided and left it at that, wasn;t confident putting down extra info which could potentially have been wrong and lost me marks yadayadayada.

Anyway the essay isn;t worth much is it? 2.5%? did I pluck that figure out of nowhere? Who put a question mark on the teleprompter?

TheInvisibleFie

It's something like 10 marks out of 400. So whatever percentage that is. Everyone in my class was banking on Sean Nós. I had the smarts to learn the chieftains. At least that's 2.5% I'm sure I got.

fionated7

id say i got at least 1.5% for my attempt on the ceili bands, i was also banking on sean nós!!

Kamikageyami

Thanks so much for that harping tradition essay man, my teacher killed a few forests with the amount of notes we got but not one mention of harping..

J_E

Great idea, I always find the Irish music essays are a pain for me, so many names and things to learn from...

Murphdog94

Cousin it wrote: »

Hopefully this is of use to someone:

Harping tradition

The harping tradition in Ireland was fostered and developed among the powerful and wealthy Irish and Anglo-Irish families. Harpers were employed along with poets and orators, known as reacoirs, to provide entertainment for the families. As the families acted as patrons to the harpers, they would often have solo pieces, known as planxties, written in their honour by their harper.

The harping tradition was passed on, father to son, for many years and was one of very few viable career options for blind boys at the time. However, as the great families went into decline this left the harpers unemployed. The harping tradition then became a nomadic one, as harpers would travel from county to county, playing for money and food.

There were two styles of harp: the Bardic harp and the Neo-Irish harp. The Bardic harp had between 29 and 31 strings made of wire, which were played with the nails. Usually around 70cm in height with a curved pillar and a hollow soundbox, the Bardic harp was the more resonant of the two.

The Neo-Irish harp typically had 34 strings made of nylon or cat gut, which were played with the pads of the fingers. They were taller (about 91cm in height) than the Bardic harp, but less resonant.

In 1792 the Belfast Harp Festival was setup. It consisted of eleven harpers from the age of 15 to 97, playing pieces in their own particular style. Edward Bunting was commissioned by the Belfast Harp Society to record the lifestyles of the harpers as well as recording and writing down the music from the festival. This method, unlike the oral tradition which had existed up until then, did not allow for particular nuances in style and some of these were lost.

It came in useful 5 years later
Sound....

biohaiid

kawaii wrote: »

Not a lot of this stuff came up... I just waffled about ceili bands. Was fine, I like to think.

Tha panic I got when I saw this post!!
I didn't see the date at first and thought maybe the exam was in the morning and I missed it. :L

Freewheelin_

Anyone else going off Junior Cert knowledge to do the harping tradition one? :P