Readings for Tues 4.3 & Thu 4.5

Carson: “Marking Time”; “The Mountain Road”; “The Hurler on the Ditch”

“Marking Time” is a wonderfully evocative portrayal of “going to the fleadh”—or, in this case, going to Miltown Malbay on the coast of Clare for the Willie Clancy Summer School, a huge “gathering of the clans” of traditional musicians. Classes in singing, instrumental music, and dancing are all given during the Summer School, but many musicians attend just for the crack and the sessions. I have uploaded a photo of O Looney’s on WebCT under “Materials – Week 14 – Images” and you can see that Carson’s description is no exaggeration. Note that the intense participation he describes is characteristic of the best sessions and ceilis (not least the fact that it goes on until dawn).

• Carson quotes the Old Testament in this passage; why? What is the point of the Bible story, and how does it relate to musicians?
• The balance of the chapter is a lengthy and detailed description of the kinds of activities that tend to go on during any festival like the Willie Clancy (or the Fleadh Nua we will attend in Ennis). What skills does he say a good “punter” needs to have? And which of those skills will you all need yourselves in Ennis?
• He closes with a description of a museum of “material culture”; that is, of objects whose physical details tell the history from which they emerged. What is the “material culture” of traditional music?
  

“Mountain Road” is a short description of the role of cigarettes and of whiskey in Irish traditional music.

• How does Carson describe the interaction of music and cigarettes? What analogies does he see between them? Between music and whiskey?
• In this chapter he also alludes to names and what the represent; names of who or of what? What is the symbolism of names (of tunes or of people) in Irish traditional music?
  

“The Hurler” is a beautiful, very evocative reverie (dream-like memory) of all the associations which the ancient Gaelic sport of hurling (a kind of very aggressive, macho field hockey) brings up from Carson’s own past.

• What sorts of language does he use to describe his experiences of hurling as a child? How does that language create the sense of “dream-like reverie”?
• What is the role of sound in these memories? Of space? Be prepared to comment.
  

RP: Curtis, “Farewell to Erin: Emigration and Traditional Music.”
Foy, “The Nature of the Session.”
Kearns and Taylor., “Monday.”
Raftery, “Map & Introduction” and “Photograph of bronze artifacts.

• Read Curtis for a sense of why the Irish left and where they went to;
• Read Foy (short and very funny) for a sense of the commonest errors that unwitting punters make in sessions;
• Read Kearns and Taylor for a description of the opening day of the Willie Clancy Summer School (referenced in Carson, above) and to get a feel for how the summer schools and Fleadhs feel;
• Read Raftery (and look at the map and introductions) for some background information on the Ulster Cycle sites we’ll visit in Sligo and Roscommon