Harp

The harp is among the chief symbols of Ireland. The Celtic harp, seen on Irish coinage and used by Guinness, was played as long ago as the 10th century. In ancient times, the harpers were greatly respected, considered to have near-magical powers and assigned a high place amongst the most significant retainers of the Irish lords and chieftains. Perhaps the best known representative of this tradition of harping today is Turlough Ó Carolan, a blind 18th century harper who is often considered the unofficial national composer of Ireland. Thomas Connellan, a slightly earlier Sligo harper, composed such well known airs as "The Dawning of the Day"/"Raglan Road" and "Carolan's Dream".

The native Irish harping tradition was an aristocratic art music with its own canon and rules for arrangement and compositional structure, only tangentially associated with the folkloric music of the common people, the ancestor of present day Irish traditional music. Some of the late exponents of the harping tradition, such as O'Carolan, were influenced by the Italian Baroque art music of such composers as Vivaldi, which could be heard in the theatres and concert halls of Dublin. The harping tradition did not long outlast the native Gaelic aristocracy which supported it. By the early nineteenth century, the Irish harp and its music were for all intents and purposes dead. Tunes from the harping tradition survived only as unharmonised melodies which had been picked up by the folkloric tradition, or were preserved as notated in collections such as Edward Bunting's, (he attended theBelfast Harp Festival in 1792) in which the tunes were most often modified to make them fit for the drawing room pianofortes of the Anglicised middle and upper classes.

The first generations of twentieth century revivalists, mostly playing the gut-strung (frequently replaced with nylon after the Second World War) neo-Celtic harp with the pads of their fingers rather than the old brass-strung harp plucked with long fingernails, tended to take the dance tunes and song airs of Irish traditional music, along with such old harp tunes as they could find, and applied to them techniques derived from the orchestral (pedal) harp and an approach to rhythm, arrangement, and tempo that often had more in common with mainstream classical music than with either the old harping tradition or the living tradition of Irish music. Over the past thirty years a revival of the early Irish harp has been growing, with replicas of the medieval instruments being played, using strings of brass, silver, and even gold. Further information is available from the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, Clarsach.net.

Notable modern players include the late Derek Bell (of The Chieftains), Laoise Kelly (of The Bumblebees), Grainne Hambly, Máire Ní Chathasaigh, Mary O'Hara, Antoinette McKenna, Michael Rooney, Aine Minoque, Patrick Ball and Bonnie Shaljean. The best of these have a solid background in genuine Irish traditional music, often having strong competency on another instrument more common in the living tradition, such as the fiddle or concertina, and work very hard at adapting the harp to traditional music, as well as reconstructing what they can of the old harpers' music on the basis of the few manuscript sources which exist. However, the harp continues to occupy a place on the fringe of Irish traditional music.

Accordion and Concertina

The accordion plays a major part in modern Irish music. Popular players include John Williams, Joe Burke, Billy McComiskey, Joe Joyce, Sharon Shannon, and Dave Hennessy. Concertina players include Niall Vallely, Kitty Hayes, Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh, Tim Collins, Gearoid O hAllmhurain, Mary MacNamara and Noel Hill.

The accordion spread to Ireland late in the 19th century. In its ten-key form (melodeon), it was popular across the island, and was recorded early by John Kimmel and Irish-American Peter Conlon. While uncommon, the melodeon is still played in some parts of Ireland, in particular in Connemara by Johnny Connolly.

Modern Irish accordion players generally prefer the 2 row button accordion. Unlike similar accordions used in other European and American music traditions, the rows are tuned a semi-tone apart. This allows the instrument to be played chromatically in melody. Currently accordions tuned to the keys of B/C and C#/D are by far the most popular systems.

The B/C accordion lends itself to a flowing style; it was popularized by Paddy O'Brien of Tipperary, Joe Burke and Sonny Brogran in the 1950s and 60s and is popular with box players of the Galway style including Billy McComiskey. Other famous B/C players include Paddy O'Brien of County Offaly, James Keane, and John Nolan.

The C#/D accordion lends itself to a punchier style and is particularly popular in the slides and polkas of Kerry Music. Notable players include Sharon Shannon, Jackie Daley and Joe Cooley.

A somewhat older system pioneered in America was the D/C# system that was popularized by Joe Derrane.

Piano accordions are somewhat unusual in Irish Music, but not completely unknown. Karen Tweed is one famous player of Piano Accordion in Irish Traditional Music.

Concertinas are of several types, the two most common in Irish traditional music being the English and the Anglo systems. Each differs from the other in construction and playing technique. The Anglo is the more common in Irish music and its use in that genre precedes the English. The most distinctive characteristic of the Anglo system is that each button sounds a different note, depending on whether the bellows are compressed or expanded. Anglo concertinas typically have either two or three rows of buttons that sound notes, plus an "air button" located near the right thumb that allows the player to fill or empty the bellows without sounding a note.

Two-row Anglo concertinas usually have 20 buttons that sound notes. Each row of 10 buttons comprises notes within a common key. The two primary rows thus contain the notes of two musical keys, such as C and G. Each row is divided in two with five buttons playing lower-pitched notes of the given key on the left-hand end of the instrument and five buttons playing the higher pitched notes on the right-hand end. The row of buttons in the higher key is closer to the wrist of each hand.

Three-row concertinas add a third row of accidentals (i.e., sharps and flats not included in the keys represented by the two main rows) and redundant notes (i.e., notes that duplicate those in the main keys but are located in the third, outermost row) that enable the instrument to be played in virtually any key. A series of sequential notes can be played in the home-key rows by depressing a button, compressing the bellows, depressing the same button and extending the bellows, moving to the next button and repeating the process, and so on. A consequence of this arrangement is that the player often encounters occasions requiring a change in bellows direction, which produces a clear separation between the sounds of the two adjacent notes. This tends to give the music a more punctuated, bouncy sound that can be especially well suited to hornpipes or jigs.

English concertinas, by contrast, sound the same note for any given button, irrespective of the direction of bellows travel. Thus, any note can be played while the bellows is either expanded or compressed. As a consequence, sequential notes can be played without altering the bellows direction. This allows sequences of notes to be played in a smooth, continuous stream without the interruption of changing bellows direction.

Despite the inherent bounciness of the Anglo and the inherent smoothness of the English concertina systems, skilled players of Irish traditional music can achieve either effect on each type of instrument by adapting the playing style. On the Anglo, for example, the notes on various rows partially overlap and the third row contains additional redundant notes, so that the same note can be sounded with more than one button. Often, whereas one button will sound a given note on bellows compression, an alternative button in a different row will sound the same note on bellows expansion. Thus, by playing across the rows, the player can avoid changes in bellows direction from note to note where the musical objective is a smoother sound. Likewise, the English system accommodates playing styles that counteract its inherent smoothness and continuity between notes. Specifically, when the music calls for it, the player can choose to reverse bellows direction, causing sequential notes to be more distinctly articulated.

Banjo

The four-string tenor banjo is favoured by most Irish traditional players, and is commonly tuned GDAE, an octave below the fiddle. It was brought to Ireland by returned emigrants from the United States, where it was developed by African slaves. The banjo, as a relatively loud wire-strung instrument, serves a similar musical function in sessions as the usually more expensive cittern, which it has largely replaced. Unlike the cittern, however, it is not often strummed (although older recordings will sometimes feature the banjo used as a backing instrument), instead being played as a melody instrument using either a plectrum or a "thimble". While the instrument's percussive sound can add greatly to the "lift" of a session, a poorly played or overly loud banjo can be disruptive. Skilled and sensitive players will generally find themselves welcomed in "open" sessions. Barney McKenna of The Dubliners is often credited with paving the way for the banjo's current popularity, and is still actively playing. Great players include Kieran Hanrahan, John Carty, Angelina Carberry, Fergus O'Byrne, Gerry O'Connor, and Kevin Griffin.

The five-string banjo has had little or no role in Irish traditional music, and is often actively loathed by Irish musicians as a potential session-killer, since the clawhammer and three-finger picking styles used on this instrument by old-time and bluegrass musicians appear to be almost directly opposite to the pulse of Irish tunes. While a sensitive and well-informed five-string player can develop an approach which would complement Irish traditional music, he or she would have to overcome considerable skepticism in a session context.

One of the very few respected five-string banjo players involved with Irish music is Chris Grotewohl, who also plays oldtime and bluegrass.

Guitar

Guitars have become commonplace in modern sessions. These are usually strummed with a plectrum (pick) to provide backing for the melody players. Irish backing tends to use chord voicings up and down the neck, rather than basic first or second position "cowboy chords"; unlike those used in jazz, these chord voicings seldom involve barre fingerings and often employ one or more open strings in combination with strings stopped at the fifth or higher frets. Modal (root and fifth without the third, neither major nor minor) chords are used extensively alongside the usual major and minor chords, as are suspended and sometimes more exotic augmented chords; however, the major and minor seventh chords are less employed than in many other styles of music. Players usually strum only two to four strings at a time, rather than across all six at once; the strings are often slightly muted with the palm of the plectrum (picking) hand. A monotonous alternating bass is not appropriate, but basslines and flashes of improvised counterpoint, well played, can add considerable style and verve.

The guitarist follows the leading melody player precisely rather than trying to control the rhythm and tempo. The backing should follow the rhythmic emphasis and pulse of the tune, rather than being simply metronomic counting; a backing that does not "lift" the tune generally kills it. "Folk," "old timey," rock, and bluegrass guitar styles do not fit well with Irish traditional music, not least because many Irish tunes do not fit into a neat chord progression.

As a general rule, no more than two guitarists should play at any one time, and players must strive to complement the tune and each other, instead of competing. The guitarist must be as skilled and as dedicated to the tradition as any of the melody players, and must hold in mind that "less is more." A "rhythm section" is not necessary in the traditional session, and it is always better to sit out a tune or to play so quietly as to only be heard by oneself than to wreck the music by playing jarring chords or an incorrect beat.

Many of the earliest notable guitarists working in traditional music, such as Dáithí Sproule and the Bothy Band's Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, used the DADGAD tuning, to the point that some musicians came to believe that only DADGAD was appropriate. However, tasteful use of standard (EADGBE) and dropped-D (DADGBE) tunings is perfectly suited to traditional music, as shown by the work of, amongst others, Steve Cooney, Arty McGlynn and John Doyle. A host of other altered tunings are also used by some players, most of them modal, like DADGAD, (Paul McSherry), rather than being open-chord tunings like Open-G.

The guitar is used to accompany singers as well as instrumentalists, but it is generally considered to be a serious violation of session etiquette to play behind a singer without being asked. The purest form of Irish traditional song is the unaccompanied solo, and singers often vary their rhythm and alter the melody from verse to verse; an accompanist unfamiliar with the specific song and the individual singer's approach to it will throw the singer off completely.

Melody playing on the guitar is quite possible, but tends to be drowned out in a session environment by the louder instruments such as fiddle and flute. Masters of the guitar in Irish traditional music include Arty McGlynn, Dáithí Sproule, John Doyle, Paul McSherry, Zan McLeod, Loughy (Kieran O'Loughlin), Dennis Cahill and Steve Cooney.

Bouzouki

 

A relative of the once-popular cittern imported from Greece, the bouzouki was introduced in the late 1960s by Johnny Moynihan and then popularized by Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, and Alec Finn. Today's Irish bouzouki has four courses of two strings each tuned GDAD, GDAE, or ADAE; unison courses are probably most common, although octaves in the bass are favoured by some players. The back is flat or lightly arched and the top is either flat or carved like that of an arch top guitar or mandolin. All in all, the Irish bouzouki has evolved into a member of the mandolin family with little resemblance to the round-backed Greek bouzouki with its guitarlike (in the four course version) tuning. Alec Finn is the only notable player still using a Greek bouzouki, one of the older style three course (six string) instruments tuned DAD.

Mandolin

 

The mandolin, a fretted instrument strung with eight steel strings in four unison courses and played with a plectrum (pick), is not a common instrument amongst Irish traditional musicians. When it appears at a session, it's usually tuned GDAE, like the fiddle.

Although almost any variety of acoustic mandolin might be adequate for Irish traditional music, virtually all Irish players prefer flat-backed instruments with oval sound holes to the Italian-style bowl-back mandolins or the carved-top mandolins with f-holes favoured by bluegrass mandolinists. The former are often too soft-toned to hold their own in a session (as well as having a tendency to not stay in place on the player's lap), whilst the latter tend to sound harsh and overbearing to the trad ear. Greatly preferred are flat-topped "Irish-style" mandolins (remniscent of the WWI-era Martin Army-Navy mandolin) and carved (arch) top mandolins with oval soundholes, such as the Gibson A-style of the 1920s. The mandolins built by British luthier Stefan Sobell are perhaps the most highly prized for Irish traditional music, although many other makers, such as Ireland's Joe Foley, also make well-regarded mandolins.

Chord-strumming on the mandolin (particularly bluegrass-style "chop" strumming) does not fit at all well with Irish traditional music; an approach of two and three note chords mixed with "countermelody," as used by Irish bouzouki players can be more appropriate, but is often lost amidst the other instruments of a session.

Noteworthy Irish mandolin players include Andy Irvine (who almost always tunes the E down to D), Mick Moloney and Paul Kelly.

Bodhrán

 

A frame drum, usually of bent wood and goatskin, the bodhrán is considered a relatively modern addition to traditional dance music. Some musicologists suggest its use was originally confined to the wrenboys on St. Stephen's Day and other quasi-ritual processions. It was introduced/popularized in the 1960s by Seán Ó Riada (although there are mentions of "tambourines" without zils being played as early as the mid nineteenth century), and quickly became popular. Great players include Johnny 'Ringo' McDonagh, Tommy Hayes, Colm Murphy and Fergus O'Byrne (of Ryan's Fancy) and John Joe Kelly of Flook.

Although skilled bodhrán players are highly prized by most traditional musicians, the inaccurate perception of many neophytes and other persons only peripherally involved with the living tradition that the bodhrán represents an "easy" way to participate in sessions has caused some players to develop a deep and abiding, if sometimes unreasonable, hatred for the instrument. (A well-known fiddler once described the sound of an ineffectively played bodhrán at a session as 'sounding like a sack of spuds falling down stairs'.) It is therefore considered wise for those who play the bodhrán to cultivate a skin thicker than that upon their drum.

Mention should also be made here of the "bones" -- two slender, curved pieces of bone or wood -- and "spoons". Pairs of either are held together in one hand and shaken rhythmically to make a percussive, clacking sound. They should be used sparingly and never (one may fear the worst from the simple existence of this warning) during waltzes, airs, or songs.

Harmonica

A well-known instrument found in many kinds of traditional music, the Irish harmonica tradition is best-represented by Mick Kinsella, Paul Moran, the Murphy family from County Wexford, the late Eddie Clarke and Brendan Power (the latter being of New Zealand).