Due 1.31.06 9:20am: Reading IV Altramar liner notes
As described in class and on WebCT, you are asked to respond via the "Comments" function to ONE of the questions about the reading. Please complete this "Comment" response to one of the following questions by Tuesday 1.31.06 9:20am.
Readings packet: Liner notes to the Altramar CDs Crossroads of the Celts (focusing on music of the insular Celtic languages: that is: Welsh, Scots Gaelic, and Irish Gaelic; in other words, primarily pre- and very early-Christian music) and From Galway to Galicia (focusing on music of the “Atlantic Celtic” coastal culture); these notes roughly parallel the time period covered by Ó hAllmhuráin, above.
- What was the role of sound in ancient Celtic society? What were music’s powers?
- To what categories did the Celts assign music?
- To what extent did these beliefs about the spoken word, the memory, and “music as sacred sound” carry on into the more recent folk-music tradition?
posted by CJS @ 11:50 AM
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The beliefs regarding the spoken word, memorization, and "music as a sacred sound" were important aspects of medieval Ireland. They are still important aspects of Irish culture today. In regards to the more recent folk-music tradition, it is the musician's job to perform a work as close to the original as possible. The goal is to re-create "the sound, the impact, and the affect of these great works of sung poetry." In a sense, people are trying to preserve (or perhaps sometimes recover) a part of their history that they have previously lost. Therefore, past beliefs carry on to influence the present.
Bards and filid were able to sing three types of music: laughing (summer) music, sleeping (fall) music, and weeping (winter) music. Within each of these categories, there was music that could heal the sick and wounded and defeat enemies.
the power of sound and music was believed in ancient celtic society to be very much related to the supernatural, and almost always related to nature. the three categories of music symbolized summer, winter, and autumn. also, were a person to imitate sounds of nature, their words would be able to attain a magical status. it would hold a magic that would enable the singer, or performer, to change circumstances that otherwise couldn't have been altered. for example, there were songs to "confound enemies, aid lovers...comforting and healing the sick, wounded, and weary."
I think that one of the most wonderful things about music is its power to connect people to one another, and I think this must be a power that is timeless, as the ancient Celts obviously recognized it too. For them, just as for modern people, music and sound were something that could speak without words and completely encapsulate a person's thoughts and emotions. It was, even in ancient times, a way for people to connect to one another on a deeply personal level. It created a sense of community, just as it does today. Consider how much attention people today pay, for example, to what songs they want played at their wedding. For those important moments in our lives (and even in everyday life) we have those songs that just seems to perfectly say what we are feeling (even if the song is only instrumental), and I think songs played much the same role in ancient festivals, as well as more common gatherings. In short, I think music has always been a tool for personal and societal connections.
In early Celtic society, sound/music was considered to be holy. It was very important to them and not something to be taken lightly. I believe it could be said that they revered it. In ancient Celtic society, music was used in almost everything. It was used as a means of entertainment, a way to amplify relgious services, a way to convey emotions, a way to tell stories, and more. From what we have gone over in class, everyone should know that music has always played a very important role in Irish history. My favorite example of this is that if someone killed a bard, the punishment was more severe than for killing a regular person. I believe the Irish felt this way because music and bring people together and convey messages that can not be expressed in words. It also had the power to help people forget about all the problems they were having and allowed them to relax for a little while. Music is a very powerful tool and the Celtic people knew this. Because of their knowledge and interest in music, it is strange that so little of it has survived.
Being so closely associated and connected with nature, three types of music were mainly viewed: summer (laughing), autumn (sleeping), and winder (weeping). However music was thought to contain supernatural powers. Music was capable of great magical feats according to folklore and legend. Also fili were the prophets, scholars, and arbiters of disputes in war and peace. Thus, music was associated with how to run society and live ones life.
Irish culture holds the spoken word and memory to a high esteem. And, they feel that many stories and songs lose their true meaning when they are written down. They lose the performance practices that are so crucial to this culture. As this practice has been passed down through the generations, I think this is a way for the Irish to perserve their rich heritage. It's extremely important to remember where you came from, and I think that by passing down this oral culture, the Irish are doing just that.
In Celtic society, music was powerful. It had the power to affect the mood (laughing, weeping, sleeping). It also had the power to influence nature. In the more recent folk traditions, a class of "bards" has been formed. People like Robin Williamson, Seamus Ennis, and Kevin Henry are passing down this traditional "priesthood" to those of us who are willing to listen. We apprentice to them through actual contact or objectified forms of contact, but throughout it all we trust in the power of the tradition and the power of the memory.
The Irish have a mystifying retention for facts, folklore, and music. In the pre-Christian era of Ireland, the mind was all one had to keep the culture alive. It is assumed that most didn't know how to read or write, and with all the constant changes in Ireland, people had to find a way to realy their heritage and their honor to future generations. Just as in Glassie's chapter "The Next Day," I believe there were individuals within every community that fell into place of historian since his birth. Hugh Nolan is an example of this, and the only way for the oral history and music of a culture to survive so long is if the people of that culture revere those who took time to remember, which the Irish did.
There are three kinds of music in the Irish culture. They are geantrai, suantrai, and goltrai. These terms mean laughing, sleeping, and weeping music. This very general topic scheme covers most genres of mucis. It covers the emotions of life. The music was carried on in these characteristics by bards and filids, but the traditional Irish music lost osme of its polyphony after the Christian movement in Ireland.
In pre-Christian and Christian society, music was communicated and carried along with material goods from port to port along coastlines. Music in these societies took on multiple roles including religious and sacred functions as well as that of a powerful source of emotional expression in performance.
There are three categories of music in celtic culture, which have all been explained in previous comments. Each of these had specific purposes which the bards and filid were expected to understand. Music was not only a means for entertainment, but was considered a "supernatural" force. It was described in celtic literature to be able to confound enemies, aid lovers, comfort and heal the sick, wounded, weary, and maternal. What I found interesting is the dord fiansa.(sp?) This suggests that it was not just an ambience, but a real medium for communication. "Music as a sacred sound" easily carries into the folk-music tradition. Prayers and hymns, particularly within pagan Ireland, may not have been written down and would have had to be remembered orally. I imagine that this, in addition to storytelling, would have contributed to the long-standing oral tradition in Ireland.
The beliefs about the spoken word and memory held by ancient Celtic peoples (many of which have been described by earlier comments) have carried through at least through the "Troubles," during which time Glassie wrote about his experiences in Balleymenone. Dr. Nat Cooper talked about the same three categories (sleeping, laughing, and weeping) just last week.
Given this, although I haven't been there myself, I suspect that if the beliefs about music were so powerful to outlast the cruel suppression of the Elizabethan rule (and continued repression through several more centuries), then those beliefs are most likely still strongly held today.
The fact that these beliefs lasted through such violent repression (and in some instances these beliefs were actually bolstered) serves to reflect the remakable function of social cohesion that music elicits within Celtic culture. (Glassie talks about this more in ch. 5)
What was the role of sound in ancient Celtic society? What were music’s powers?
Sound in ancient Celtic society was very imitative, vocal drones, mimics of thunder, rainstorms, birdsongs, etc. It was though that the different types of sounds had the capabilities of confounding enemies, aiding lovers, comforting and healing the sick, and performing other supernatural powers. It was their way of communicating with each other, with supernatural beings and with nature.
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