Janice Hopper wrote:
>
>
> What's the definition of "Scottish in style?"
>
> Maybe I just need to go back to my CDs and listen a while longer. I think
> it's not so easy for many of us USians to recognize Scottish style. It's a
> good bit harder for me to recognize the Scottish musical "accent" in music
> than it is in language. So Allison Kinnard's comments as quoted by Rita
> are not helpful to me,
>
> Janice in Georgia
> feeling a little argumentative this am
>
It has a lot to do with how the emphasis is placed on tones relative to
their place in the melody, I think. Someone has mentioned a website with
midi tunes for a lot of folk songs and tunes which is costing its
originator $150 a month due to traffic. This site - can't remember what
it's called - is a labour of love but relatively useless for conveying
the music, since the tunes have been put into MIDI just as written on
paper. The result is that they don't have any of the rythm or emphasis
which is present when a real singer or player handles them, and in some
cases you hardly recognise the tune. Useful though ABCs played through
Barfly etc are, they have the same fault and a real live performance is
so very different.
I've come across examples of written music which use ridiculous 1/32nd
notes and complex instructions to convey emphasis, hiatus, changes of
pace for Scottish music. The original early notation for the same sort
of tunes often turns out to be nothing more than a bunch of quavers on a
stave (and sometimes without the courtesy of a time signature).
Another point is the use of slightly microtonal sharps/flats and
instruments which are not in modern equal temperament. This is why most
Scottish music sounds utterly, totally wrong on electronic keyboards;
even the accordion, which is well loved for dance music, has a
temperament which is not compatible with correctly played Scottish
fiddle, or with traditional pipes (some modern pipes are set up to play
more compatibly with other instruments). A good reason for NOT
accompanying a solo singer is that left unaccompanied, the singer will
use the natural vocal temperament and intervals, and when this happens
some of the classic Scots tunes take on a special quality and beauty
which they don't have if forced to a piano scale.
The solution in the guitar world is to adopt a drone accompaniment style
typically in DADGAD tuning, and to stick to specific keys or fingers,
using a capo to change (this follows the tradition of 250 years ago).
For harp you would assume that tuning using an advanced electronic tuner
set to the same kind of temperament used for virginals, or a vocal
natural temperament, would be better than tuning to modern equal
temperant. Fiddlers are lucky, they can play using natural temperament.
When learning a reel in A major with a fiddler, I had to question a 7th
frequently used: was it a minor of major, G or G sharp? Neither - it was
a note similar to the G on smallpipes and distinctly sharper than a
standard minor 7th. So on the guitar this needed a sort of 'bluesy' bend
upwards. It is written as a minor 7th in the music.
This is only part of it and I am only on the fringes of even telling
when something is right. I am informed by those who do when I am, or am
not, playing or singing in Scottish style. The general opinion is that I
don't, and when I do not play in English style, generally go towards
Irish. So my experience of this is mainly based on people telling me
that I do it WRONG.
David
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