Saturday, July 5, 2014
Lúnasa - Morning Nightcap (Glasgow, 2007)
The title of this piece is: Morning Nightcap
This groups is called: Lunasa
This group is the real deal. They are as authentic for Irish music as it gets. Here is a link to their website validating their authenticity: Lunasa
The origin of this piece is: Irish
The orchestration of this piece is: Fiddle, flute, stand-up bass, Uilleann Pipes, and Guitar.
This is a beautiful Irish piece that is a perfect example of Irish celebration through music. The melody makes you want to grab a partner and perform a jig. The fiddle is the first to unveil the main theme of the piece while the other instruments back him up. On the second time through the piece, the piper joins in and performs a variation of the original melody that was presented. Then the flute comes in and unleashes a brand new melody for the piece, almost like a bridge. After this new motive is introduced the rest of the band backs up the flute and the tempo steadily increases, building an intensity in the piece. The ornamentation throughout the piece is typical of Irish music. A theme is never played the same way twice, it is always enhanced and changed with the ornamentation and improvisation of the performers.
I have chosen to use the example of instruments while referring to the classification systems of this piece. The two classified groups of this piece according to their instruments are: wind and strings. The flute and uilleann pipes would obviously be classified in the wind instrument category because they are "blown" while the fiddle, bass, and guitar would fall into the strings classification. This goes hand in hand with Wade's discussion on pages 37 and 38 of the required reading this week. According to the chart on page 42 and 43 of the text, the flute and pipes would be considered "Aerophones." The fiddle and guitar would fall into the "Chordophones" classification. These two classified groups work together to create beautiful music and produce a wonderful, lighthearted Irish dance number.
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Thanks for sharing! I love how energetic Irish music like this can get. I think it is that theme are variation that jigs like this use that have always drawn me in. Thank you for including the link for the group...I want to hear more!
ReplyDeleteAlso, great example of the different instruments in the classification system. I only used a solo instrument in my video this week because I loved how it sounded only have one instrument using air (aerophone), but it is great to show how all different classification instruments put together can create such wonderful music.
Thanks for sharing!
Stephanie
Since I have started my teaching career at a school that is known for bagpipes, I have found myself listening and admiring Celtic music more and more. The group is extremely talented and I never saw a set of uilleann pipes before. I did some addition research on them and saw their range, tone, volume, and tuning is different from traditional pipes and they also have regulators. You can tell that the whistle player incorporates the "celtic" style that almost mimics bagpipe technique with the various forms of grace notes, very impressive. I think celtic music is another form of music that is very accessible to students being that it is very upbeat as you stated in the beginning. For teaching points you can incorporate dance, discuss the different styles of Irish/Scottish music (reel, jig, march, etc.), and take a look at the traditional instruments and their uses. Teaching the different instrument classifications early in the school year could allow you to have students place instruments of different cultures into these categories for each cultural music style you choose to do. I really enjoyed listening to this piece and it made me want to go on to their website.
ReplyDeleteJordan,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed listening to this piece. By the time the fiddle came in I was hooked! I agree that the ornamentation was an important aspect of the song as the rhythmic strumming of the strings (guitar) against the smooth melodies of the winds (flute) worked to bring a soothing energy. I particularly enjoyed the mode change around 1:28 after which they engaged another groove but not too long before reintroducing the original theme with variation around 2:18. Thanks for sharing!
Well written and thorough but your blog was posted late this week. Make sure you have each week’s initial blog entry posted by Friday evening.
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