IRISH INSTRUMENTS

The music of Ireland In this land, famous for its love of music, modern

forms such as country-and-western and rock flourish, but it is traditional music that captures the essence of the country.

Whether you are listening to Gaelic love songs that date back to medieval times or 17th- and 18th-century folk songs with their English and Scottish influences, the music is unmistakably Irish.

Dance is an equally important aspec of Irish traditional music, and some of the molst popular airs are derived from centuries-old reels, jigs and hornpipes.

Nowdays there are mainly performed at fleadhs (festivals) and ceilís (dances).

Ireland is the only country in the world to have a musical intrument.

The arp is the principal.

Traditional Instruments

There is no set line-up in traditional Irish bands.

The fiddle is probably the most common instrument used.

Like the music, some instruments have Celtic origins – The uillean pipes are related to the bagpipes played in Scotland ang Brittany Today

Celtic Harp The harp is a truly ancient instrument, with a history spanning almost

5,000 years.

It has been used in Ireland for well over 1,000 years, surviving periodic doldrums of persecution and social upheaval. Queen Elizabeth I, who saw harpers as foci of local resistance to her rule, bid Lord Barrymore "hang the harpers wherever found and destroy their instruments". The queen was a tough critic.

The Irish wire-strung harp used by the earliest harpers began dying out around the turn of 19th century, supplanted in part by the gut-strung harp, and in part by the European pedal harp that was invented about this time.

This break in the tradition means that players of modern reconstructions of the Irish wire-strung harp use a technique that would probably have sounded quite foreign to their 18th century counterparts.

Foremost among the

traditional

instruments of

Ireland is the harp,

the symbol of the

Irish Republic, and

also of that country's

most popular

beverage .

Celtic Arp The modern Irish harp stands about 4 feet high, and has 34 strings, as

opposed to 47 strings on the modern orchestral harp.

The so-called Neo-Irish harp, strung with gut or nylon, is the most popular. It's tone is soft, like water dripping into a crystal bowl. Contrast this with the penetrating, fuzzily resonant, bell-like tones of the wire-strung harp.

Foremost among the

traditional

instruments of

Ireland is the harp,

the symbol of the

Irish Republic, and

also of that country's

most popular

beverage

Uilleann Pipes The inflated bag is held under the arm and pressed with the elbow to

force air through several reeded pipes that are attached to the bag. The musician plays by alternately covering the various holes on one of the pipes, called the chanter, producing the melody. The remaining pipes are drones, each tuned to a single note, that provide a continuous background tone. Bagpipes were used mostly in armies to provide marching music.

In Ireland the war pipes were gradually supplanted by the Uilleann (pronounced "illyun") pipes, which were invented sometime in the 16th century. This instrument is smaller and quieter than the war pipes, with a greater range: two octaves, as opposed to one for the war pipes. Uilleann pipes are not blown; instead, air is provided to the bag by means of a bellows that is held under the opposite arm and is worked with the elbow (hence the name Uilleann, or "elbow", pipes). A neat little animated image that shows a piper playing can be seen on the Ceol Rince web site, which also provides some pipe tunes in midi format.

Bagpipes, while not

quite as ancient as the

harp, have been played

in Ireland three or four

hundred years longer.

The bagpipe features a

bladder made of

leather that is inflated

through a pipe by the

breath of the musician

Uilleann Pipes A full modern set of Uilleann pipes has seven reeded pipes: the chanter,

with its two octave range; bass, baritone, and tenor drones that can be turned on or off at need; and three regulators, which are chanters fitted with keys like those on a flute, and can be used to produce various chords.

The Uilleann pipes are the most complex and versatile of all the bagpipes.

Bagpipes, while not

quite as ancient as the

harp, have been played

in Ireland three or four

hundred years longer.

The bagpipe features a

bladder made of

leather that is inflated

through a pipe by the

breath of the musician

A Piperby Seumas O'Sullivan

A piper in the street todaySet up, and tuned, and started to play,

And away, away, away on the tideOf his music we started; on every side

Doors and windows were opened wide,And men left down their work and came,

And women with petticoats colored like flame,And little bare feet that were blue with cold,

Went dancing back to the Age of Gold.And all the world went gay, went gay,For half an hour in the street today.

Fiddle Despite Bierce's rather puckish definition, most fiddles these

days are strung with steel instead of gut or nylon. This difference, along with variations in technique, is all that really distinguishes the fiddle from the violin.

It was first used in Irish music in the 17th century, and has remained a popular fixture of Irish music ever since.

Many distinctive regional styles have cropped up over the centuries, the most popular today being the quick-paced bowing of Donegal, although the music of other counties have also made their mark.

An instrument to

tickle human

ears by friction

of a horse's tail

on the entrails of

a cat.

.

Bodhran & Bones The best are made from a sheet of treated goatskin stretched

over a wooden frame. The older models had frames made of green wood and were liable to warp, so a crossbrace was added. Modern versions are often made of laminated woods that are less prone to this fault, although the crossbrace is often included to provide a handle for beginners.

The instrument is held in one hand and played with a beater in the other. Styles of beaters vary, but it is commonly a wooden rod about 7 inches long, held in the center so that the player can strike the drum with either end.

A decorative design of some sort will often be painted on the drum-head.

The bodhran

(pronounced

bow-rahn) is a

member of a

class of

percussion

instruments

known as

"frame drums"

.

Bodhrán & Bones A modern bodhrán of standard size, about 18 inches in diameter,

provides a deeper, rumbling resonance. Some bodhrán are also equipped with tuning screws.

Differences in manufacture also affect the sound of the instrument - craftsman have developed their own special techniques, particularly regarding the treatment of the goatskin drum-head, and by and large they don't share them.

Another percussion instrument used in Irish music are the "bones". These are typically laths of wood or bone (the ribs of sheep are common for the latter), which are held between the fingers and tapped together. Spoons have served as substitutes of expedience, from time to time.

The bodhrán

(pronounced

bow-rahn) is a

member of a

class of

percussion

instruments

known as

"frame drums"

.

The Whistle & Flute Most tin whistles, or "penny whistles", as they are sometimes

called, are metal cylinders, sometimes tapered, with a mouthpiece and six holes, or "stops". They've been used in Irish music since at least the 18th century, replacing the bone whistles that had been used from time immemorial.

Flutes have been about in various designs for centuries. The modern flute, with its pure, mellow tones, was the invention of a 19th century musician named Theobald Boehm, who made his flutes from silver instead of wood, enlarged the holes and equipped them with padded stops

However, Irish musicians tend to prefer older style wooden flutes with six open finger holes, as they feel it gives a tone more appropriate to their style of music.

The high, shrill

notes of the tin

whistle have long

been a fixture of

traditional Irish

music. It is cheap to

make and simple to

play, and produces

a wonderful music

that is by turns

lively or plaintive

.

Concertina In 1844 he modified it so that the air that powered the

instrument was provided by a bellows, and the concertina was born

It was a generally popular instrument in the 19th century, and was even used in orchestras from time to time, but has been pretty much defined as a folk music instrument ever since.

The concertina and the accordion, an instrument that works on a similar principle, are often used in Irish folk music.

In the early 19th

century, Charles

Wheatstone

invented the

symphonium, a

brass-reeded

instrument that

was a precursor of

the harmonica. .

Banjo It became popular in ceili bands and in ballad

groups such as the Dubliners and recent recordings by American based Seamus Egan and Mick Moloney are furthering it's spread.

The banjo most used in Irish music is a 4-string tenor banjo, with the standard strings replaced by heavier ones, tunes to GDAE.

The American

five-string banjo

came to Ireland

in the nineteenth

century, losing

one string along

the way .