Next readings and Discussion Ideas

Glassie: Ch. 5 “Late Harvest”

This chapter introduces Michael Boyle, one of Glassie’s principle informants and the leader of the mummers’ play (folk-drama) we will enact later in the semester; he also talks about “talent,” “excellence,” “reciprocity,” and the responsibility of the artist to the community and of members of the community to one another. What are the roles and the responsibilities of those with talents in certain areas? What do they owe to other community members? Why does Glassie use the term “reciprocity” to describe these complex networks of obligation?

Glassie PTT: Ch. 6 “Sacred Beginnings” and Ch. 12 “Plans and Snags” (both short)

In Chapter 6 Glassie transcribes and describes a number of sacred phenomena: stories, biographies, specific places, and specific “cures.” What is the relationship between history and such “sacred lore”? Does a close familiarity with such lore help people in Ballymenone make sense of their own lives and identities? Can you compare the degree of detailed “local knowledge” held by the people of Ballymenone, versus that held by people who live, say in a city apartment building? What else is lost when one loses “local/nature knowledge”? Does this sense of “the sacred in history and in nature” change how Ballymenone people relate to the natural world?

In Chapter 12 Glassie lets the people’s words articulate their own sense of the “meaning of life”: why humans are put on earth and how they can make sense of life’s seeming contradictions. Based on this chapter, how would you summarize Ballymenone’s “cosmology” (understanding of the world)? Be prepared to articulate this in class discussion.

Carson LNF “Hard to Fill” (and, if you wish, going on to the next chapter, “The Steampacket”)

This chapter is (mostly) about Carson’s own instrument, the flute, the various flutes he’s played, how he learned to play, and the whole lore and mystique that surrounds specific instruments. Note the almost obsessive (but wonderfully evocative) description of the flute-maker’s shop and its contents, and likewise the description of the subtle playing differences between various flutes. Why do you think Carson includes such detail? Is there a relationship between description of construction details and the kinds of details that musicians deal with? What is that relationship? Do you think Carson believes that knowing the visual details of the shop will somehow help us-the-reader understand the sonic details of the music? What kind of playing/listening experience might such attention yield? (Hint: ask me in class regarding Tommy Potts’s quote about “the Hidden Note”).

No readings in Ó hAllmhuráin for this section