Here's the next chunk of readings. As always, find the pdf'd links over on WebCT, but please do participate in "Comments" over here:
1.23-30 | 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? |
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| 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. |
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| 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”).
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| No readings in Ó hAllmhuráin for this section |
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| Reading Packet: Glassie, "Hugh Nolan: I'll Tell You the Way It Was." | · This is a short summary of the role of the "mummer's plays" (seasonal folk plays, staged in people's rural kitchens in the shortest days of the winter, with a cast of historical characters including St Patrick, St George, Oliver Cromwell, and various mythological characters as well). Read the description, see what Hugh Nolan and Glassie both have to say about the meaning and social function of the mummer's play, and then read the play's text, linked on WebCT at "Course Menu - Mummer's Play." Try reading the poetic lines aloud and see if you can figure out the appropriate timing to make the lines really swing. |
9 comments:
The Last Harvest was truly a wealth of knowledge to delve into. The responsibility of the artist that he discusses is simply to keep to the integrity of the art itself whether it be keeping true to the story, playing the tune with truthful skill, or keeping to the history that is known. It is a responsibility to the artist to keep these things pure within a community that relies on such integrity. Unlike here in America where we would bastardize any type of art to satisfy an audience, it seems that in Ballymenone it would not only diminish the artist but also the community.
I agree with Jules. Also, considering that a story is more than entertainment and what it can do helps to understand why there is such a great responsibility in the telling of a story. To name a few of the things a story does....creates unity, help with establishing social order, convey history (which gives listeners information for the future and warnings learned from the past), establish political and religious beliefs, strengthens friendships...and more.
In Hard to Fill I particularly enjoyed his description of learning to play the flute. I myself was taught to lay on my back and blow into the flute to develop my diaphram. There is a joy in playing the flute that seems conveyed in this chapter. It is like playing with time before and after you, the air moves through you and the flute and then somehow back again filling not just the flute but you as well. I have had the opportunity to play on single key flutes and it is a different craft than the boehm flute, taking more time to craft the perfect sounds from each note and fingering. I wont say much more as this is getting to long. It was a marvolously descriptive chapter and one I very much enjoyed.
Jules commented: "It is a responsibility to the artist to keep these things pure within a community that relies on such integrity."
I would agree that, in Ballymenone, an artist (or a "historian") was understood to have very significant social responsibilities. That is, the art, or the historical tale, was viewed as a *possession of the community*, and the artist/historian was responsible for maintaining the well-being, accuracy, and "good repair" of that possession. How does that differ from views regarding artistic "ownership" in the technological West?
Kalli commented, about the role of stories: "creates unity, help with establishing social order, convey history (which gives listeners information for the future and warnings learned from the past), establish political and religious beliefs, strengthens friendships."
In other words, stories (e.g., oral history) were THE central mechanism that ordered society. So, an erosion to or inaccuracy in a story--much less a LIE--would have negative ramifications in which social systems?
Re/ "Hard to Fill", Jules said: "It is like playing with time before and after you, the air moves through you and the flute and then somehow back again filling not just the flute but you as well."
This is a wonderful line, well-worthy of Carson himself. Well done!
Sacred Beginnings
This chapter reinforces the idea that memories are associated with places and landmarks. Each island is associated with a different and specific memory or thought. And it is very specific as well—who was there, where they came from, what they did. It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence either that sacred places like monasteries, abbeys or graveyards are often associated with saints here. It is also interesting to note that the home of a historian is what “precisely define[s] the historian’s responsibility.” (pg. 163) If stories and histories are linked to landmarks, a historian would know about those landmarks he knows intimately by nature of close proximity. The smaller the radius of landmarks and stories, the more detailed the history can be.
I agree with Kalli and Jules's comments about Glassie Chp 5 (Late Harvest). Glassie is definately talking about Irish artists keeping true to an artform and not changing it merely for entertainment value. One example of this can be found on p152-3, when he talkes about historians telling history from their point of view. He writes "Protestants and Catholics do not have different versions of history. They have different histories." In keeping with the idea that history is an artform, Glassie finds that even in the retelling/recounting of history Irish historians keep true and resist a retelling that puts others in a poor light. Villians are not exagerated to be extra-evil. Which, brings up the point Glassie is trying to make about a person's social obligation. Glassie this up by writing "You cannot luxuriate in the assumption that people with whom you disagree will not be seen agian, that you can go through life seeing them but not engaging with them. You may need them." (142) This statement applies to all people - living or dead.
Hard to Fill:
I'm still trying to understand the chapter title here. Maybe it has something to do with the use of air while playing or maybe it refers to filling up the air with the sound of music. I can't be certain. Anyway, I like Carson's description on p. 50 about the differences between the simple system, Boehm system, and the baroque one-keyed flute. It speaks volumes about the skill needed to play in different tuning systems and how notes are played. Knowledge of which instruments are used in a musical genre coupled with and understanding of how they work, can greatly affect understanding and appreciation for that particular genre.
Jules: I too have played a on a baroque flute! It is a very different experience for sure:-)
Re/ Anna's query about "Hard to Fill": I think, most directly, this is a reference to the steep learning curve that is required in finding and learning to control the air-flow in a timber flute--which requires far more "blow" than either a silver flute OR the tin whistle that he mentions also playing. And, as you've inferred, it also references the ways that the specific design of an instrument impacts the style of the music.
Finally, I think he is fascinated (and wants us to be fascinated) by the actual *physical history* of an instrument as old and as personal as a wooden flute--the realization that the instrument is both older than the player him/herself, AND will likely outlive that player, is a pretty profound statement about the *brevity* of life.
Irish Cosmology based on Chp 12 in Glassie
-This is God's world, created for men to live in. Take care of it.
-Look to the future with hope but don't despair when plans get off course because there are things beyond your control.
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