Sesame S

An American charity is footing the bill for Sesame Street to produce 26 episodes aimed at countering the development of "sectarian" (e.g., "Protestant versus Catholic") attitudes in Northern Ireland.

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?

Due 1.31.06 9:20am: Reading III Ó hAllmhuráin

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.

Ó hAllmhuráin: 25-46 “Music in Early and Mediaeval Ireland” and “Tudor and Stuart Ireland”

These chapters pick up the history of music in Ireland from approximately the time of the Fianna (after 100AD), where our history lecture left off.

• What aspects of very early Celtic esthetics seem to have been maintained in later periods: about music’s power, about musician’s role, about the treatment of musicians, about music’s job in retaining cultural history and cultural identity?
• Note the dates and the protagonists of the various English invasions, note the response of the invaders to music and language, and ask yourself why invaders saw music and language as such severe potential threats.

Due 1.31.06 9:20am: Reading II "Ask My Father"

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.

Carson: “Ask My Father”

“AMF” is essentially about language: about dialog, and about the dialogs that the particularly evocative titles of instrumental tunes can create. He includes extensive quotations from several other authors in this chapter: in fact, as many words in the chapter are written by others as are written by Carson himself.

• Does this somehow relate to the theme of this chapter?
• What is the relationship between words that are borrowed from other authors and tunes that are learned by ear from other musicians?
• How might this concept of “ownership and sharing” relate to or differ from more formal or individual-oriented concepts of ownership?

Due 1.31.06 9:20am: Reading I

Folks:

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.

Glassie: Ch. 4 “The Next Day”

We spoke in class about "history" as it works in an oral culture; refer to your class notes on that discussion. In addition, please respond on the blog with 1 comment to at least 1 of the following questions (e.g., pick 1 of the following questions and post 1 comment containing your response):

"Also in this chapter, we get extended examples of Glassie’s method for transcribing (e.g., capturing on the page) “oral history”—that is, history which is conveyed in speech and conversation."

• What specific orthographic (e.g., structure, grammar, and writing style) choices does Glassie make in these transcriptions? And why do you think he makes them?
• What are the advantages to the rather peculiar orthography which Glassie employs?

nice new "young persons'" site from Ireland

Interesting commentary on social life, politics, religion, and various other pretty-darned-explosive-to-the-Irish topics.

if you're having trouble fine-tuning the research proposal

Folks:

See header. If you're having trouble fine-tuning your research proposal, let me suggest a couple of strategies that may help jump-start ideas:

(1) Go to the blog and read the various comments and self-descriptions of classmates that I posted. Look especially at the comments and descriptions of those people whose key interests seem to be similar to your own;

(2) Browse through our reading packet and look at the different kinds of topics AND approaches by the various authors: music, dance, song, food, genealogy, place names, language, storytelling, etc; if you find topics that are interesting, read the articles, run web-searches, look in our TTU library database, and find out more;

(3) Visit Wikipedia.org and browse the various topics related to Ireland;

(4) Visit the online magazine "Musical Traditions" and browse their (often very detailed) articles, which also often include images and sound files.

(5) Feel free to post a query or request for ideas to the blog, including whatever thoughts you've already had but also asking for additional feedback--that way, not only I but also classmates can bounce thoughts around.