Transforming tradition: Gaelic psalms in the works of Capercaillie and Runrig (original) (raw)
Related papers
Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies, 2019
In the Netherlands, traditional churches and religious institutions are losing ground, as is the case in the rest of western Europe. Religion changes and traditional religious forms migrate to other realms, sometimes to return to ecclesial contexts again. In this article, we present a research project on ritual-musical appropriations of psalms in contemporary Dutch culture. The concept of ritual-musical appropriations implies this is a social, and sometimes a collective process of meaning-making, which raises questions relating to formations of community, identity, and the power relations which structure and are structured by this very process.
Using Indigenous Oral Art to Compose and Perform Psalms of Praise
This is a condensed form of my 2017 PhD thesis written to be more accessible to interested readers. It looks at the underlying theory of African praise poetry, features of orality and performance, some theory of using music in performing pslams, and the basic theory of translation. It then applies this theory to two examples, Psalm 134 and Psalm 93. Finally it gives some ideas of how to run a Psalms workshop.
Irish Song-Craft and Metrical Practice Since 1600
A systematic analysis and classification of Irish accentual verse-metres, this book will be of interest to linguists and students of metre as well as ethnomusicologists studying the context of Irish traditional song, and musicologists studying the historical development and dissemination of European song-forms. In the context of a metrical theory of Irish accentual verse, space is devoted to a phenomenologically-based discussion of the role of rhythm in spoken Irish and its implications for verse-structure. A taxonomy of Irish accentual verse-types based on line-length, as well as stanzaic and supra-stanzaic structure and verse-ornament, the musical context of verse, the ways in which musical metre differs from verse metre, and the implications of such differences for a system of versification primarily transmitted through a musical medium. "[This book] provides a rigorous, linguistically and musically sophisticated, and above all practical approach to the totality of Gaelic non-syllabic verse [and] fills a large gap in scholarly understanding. Anyone whose work touches on Irish metrics will have to take this work into consideration. It is in the fullest sense a pioneering and groundbreaking work." -- Prof. William Gillies, U. of Edinburgh. Because the purchase price of this book, whether from the publisher or other booksellers, is now well beyond the reach of most readers, it has been reformatted from the author's original files and is attached here in its entirety.
Sacred Harp Singing in Europe: Its Pathways, Spaces, and Meanings
2020
The formulation of this dissertation was not the result of my efforts alone, but was dependent on the interventions of many senior colleagues, fellow students, friends, and family. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Mark Slobin, for his four years of support regarding this project, for his patience, for imparting his expertise, for his ever constructive criticism, and also for his encouragement of my intellectual independence. This dissertation, and even the topic itself, has been influenced by Mark Slobin's writing and thinking, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with him throughout my time at Wesleyan University. I would also like to thank the two other members of my dissertation committee, Su Zheng and Neely Bruce, who advised me throughout the process of preparing for my qualifying exams, and commented extensively on this project. The questions they posed significantly shaped my thinking on the topics found in this dissertation. Professor Zheng, who advised my M.A. thesis, has not only guided me through broader ethnomusicological topics in multiple graduate seminars, but has also guided me through the process of completing a large research project, without which I might never have finished in a timely manner. Professor Bruce has taught me so much about The Sacred Harp and other music surrounding the shapenote genre through his hymnody course, and also through active practice within the Sacred Harp affinity group, that my work would be severely diminished without his influence. My appreciation extends to the entire music department at Wesleyan University for their encouragement, and for providing summer research funding. Thanks to Jane Alden and Paula Matthusen for taking the time to have several extensive conversations with me about my dissertation research. Other Wesleyan faculty who helped develop my project in the early stages include Khachig Tölölyan in the sociology department, and Elizabeth McAlister in the religion department. The help I received for this project reaches far beyond the limits of Wesleyan University, and my gratitude extends beyond as well. This dissertation was dependent on the willingness of singers in Europe to give their time, voices, and stories to me on record, and I am therefore forever grateful to
Traditional Song in Ireland: Living Fossil or Dynamic Resource?
The Phenomenon of Singing, 2013
When I submitted the abstract of this paper, I did not realize that the late Frank Harrison used almost exactly the same title in an 6 Riada memorial lecture at University College Cork, Ireland some years ago (Harrison, 1988). I can only say by way of excuse that it was not conscious theft on my part, but an example of inadvertant intertextuality. In this paper I propose to give a survey of the traditional song scene in Ireland, its main events and also to attempt an exploration of some of the issues which concern singers and indeed the wider community of musicians in Ireland at the moment. Folk song has long been a subject of interest to scholars and has meant many things to varying groups since the time of its coinage by Herder in the eighteenth century (Bohlman 1988, 32-33). Bruno Nettl (1983, 304) has noted that: the term "folk song" has strong emotional connotations in Western society as already illustrated by Julian von Pulikowski ... who showed, in a large study of the term, how the concept was batted about by politicians of the left and right, by social reformers, nationalists, educators, antiquarians, musicians theoretical and practical, even in the nineteenth century.