Boy was I wrong...

One of my final assignments for my music class:

This summer, out of excitement for my pending trip, I wrote an entire entry about the Irish music I had been listening to on Pandora. Man was I naïve. Looking back at this June entry, I am amazed at how little I knew. And how excited I was about something that I knew nothing about. 

This entry may seem unconventional, and that’s because I have gone back to analyze my former self. The old blog is in orange, my current commentary in teal. While I was so very wrong, I think this post reflects a lot about the musical stereotype of Ireland in America. It also reminds me of how much I did learn in the Music Early Start, and how glad I am that I could correct my misperceptions and ideas.

Title: Irish Pandora Which in itself is an oxymoron because Pandora can only be played in America. Bad Start.

One night, when avoiding Spanish vocabulary for my summer class, I decided to turn on Pandora. I came across the Celtic Radio station (Celtic being added to the title as a marketing strategy towards people just like me) and am (somewhat) expectedly obsessed. While I love nearly every song on the channel, I am most taken away by the more traditional pieces - the ones that, (to a novice American kid) sound bluegrassy, and really get the heart racing and the feet tapping (and now I know that there is a whole portion of the music tradition with non-feet-tapping songs like lullabies). The jigs, reels, and hornpipes are all wonderful and as I facetiously expressed to my father, "This is the music of my soul!" Which is now a lie because the real music of my soul is by Solas and John Spillane. Linked here and here.

Americans, in their diversity, have a whole variety of music that could be considered "American." Aaron Copeland's classical compositions are often said to embody the American spirit and feeling. However, others would look to jazz for this authenticity - especially those Americans in the Kansas City Area, where I was raised and reside. Country fans and musicians identify with the cowboy aspect of America's society claiming they know what American music sounds like, and even others identify with Blues or perhaps most popular, Rock and Roll.

I still think this is a good paragraph except I never mention Ireland once so many English teachers would call it off topic.

I love that Ireland's musical heritage is seemingly more focused (not exactly) and allows easier source identification (which was filler but now I know that by the ornamentation of a piece one can usually tell the musical region where it came from. Munster for example). Irish music explores the wide capabilities of bagpipes (Scottish, very very Scottish), fiddles, guitars (though not until relatively recently), tin whistles (just because I knew we needed one for this class), flutes (but I didn’t realize they were not the kind played back home in my high school’s band), harps (bull’s eye, plus, I’ve seen an Irish passport), etc. and when these come together, I cannot help but feel in tune with and in awe of their production.

While I have been trained in various instruments throughout my life and in singing, I have limited experience (more accurately no experience) in music considered specifically Irish in sound and spirit. Before I begin my fall semester, I will be participating in a three-week workshop where I will be introduced to traditional (and modern, and contemporary) Irish music and instruments.

Wanting to hear a sample of the music I discuss?

Here are some links:

Cheap Flights For 50p - Irish - Really Funny - Hilarious

Shameful by my new sophisticated standards but still very enjoyable and witty.

An Irish Flash Mob!

This is pretty much Riverdance, on hydraulics, at a mall.

An American interpretation by my favorite music group, Barnaby Bright:

"Donol Ogue" from the album "The Longest Day"

They are American but an awesome song nevertheless.

And for modern Irish music, check out Steaphan Hanvey on SoundCloud or by going to his website.

Apparently nobody in Cork has heard of him but he actually is Irish, I promise.

Until next time,

The Opinionated Lassie

And that’s all folks - a final philosophical reflection of a class that has been instrumental (pun intended) in helping me feel more Irish. As I mentioned other times in my blog, I came to Ireland to learn about a grandmother I never got to know and to find a culture my branch of the family left behind only 68 years ago. This class, though a small amount of my two semesters in Ireland, got me off to a really, really great start.