Readings: for 1/21/09 and after

Just a chance to move forward here. Find the pdf's (linked) on our WebCT site, but please do comment here. Keep reading, keep thinking, relate to classroom discussion.

	Glassie: Ch. 4 “The Next Day”	· In this chapter Glassie introduces Ballymenone’s “great historian” Hugh Nolan and speaks at length about local concepts of “history”; how do those concepts or definition differ from those we might expect in the academic setting? This would include questions like: Who carries history? What is history’s function? How does history serve community? What sorts of events are valid topics for history? What is the historian’s responsibility to the history s/he conveys? What is the historian’s responsibility to the community? · Also in this chapter, we get extended examples of Glassie’s method for transcribing (e.g., capturing on the page) “oral history”—that is, history which is conveyed in speech and conversation. What specific orthographic (e.g., structure, grammar, and writing style) choices does Glassie make in these transcriptions? And why do you think he makes them? What are the advantages to the rather peculiar orthography which Glassie employs?
	Carson: “Ask My Father” and “Pigtown”	· “AMF” is essentially about language: about dialog, and about the dialogs that the particularly evocative titles of instrumental tunes can create. He includes extensive quotations from several other authors in this chapter: in fact, as many words in the chapter are written by others as are written by Carson himself. Does this somehow relate to the theme of this chapter? What is the relationship between words that are borrowed from other authors and tunes that are learned by ear from other musicians? How might this concept of “ownership and sharing” relate to or differ from more formal or individual-oriented concepts of ownership? · “PT” is essentially Carson’s transcription of a joke in the “shaggy-dog story” format. Why would Carson make a whole chapter out of it? Is he perhaps saying something about Irish concepts of time versus “hurry”? Does this shaggy-dog story tell us about other aspects of Irish aesthetics? Who comes out on top in the story: the sophisticated “returned Yank” or the Irish pig farmer? Does this story remind you of some of the “bids” and “pants” which Glassie describes? If so, how?
	Ó hAllmhuráin: 25-46 “Music in Early and Mediaeval Ireland” and “Tudor and Stuart Ireland”	· These chapters pick up the history of music in Ireland from approximately the time of the Fianna (after 100AD), where our history lecture left off. What aspects of very early Celtic esthetics seem to have been maintained in later periods: about music’s power, about musician’s role, about the treatment of musicians, about music’s job in retaining cultural history and cultural identity? Note the dates and the protagonists of the various English invasions, note the response of the invaders to music and language, and ask yourself why invaders saw music and language as such severe potential threats.
	Linked: Smith, liner notes to Crossroads of the Celts	· Liner notes to the Altramar CDs Crossroads of the Celts (focusing on music of the insular Celtic languages: that is: Welsh, Scots Gaelic, and Irish Gaelic; in other words, primarily pre- and very early-Christian music) and From Galway to Galicia (focusing on music of the “Atlantic Celtic” coastal culture); these notes roughly parallel the time period covered by Ó hAllmhuráin, above. What was the role of sound in ancient Celtic society? What were music’s powers? To what categories did the Celts assign music? To what extent did these beliefs about the spoken word, the memory, and “music as sacred sound” carry on into the more recent folk-music tradition?

The Fry

Michael asked about the Fry. See Carson in "Boil the Breakfast Early" (in LNF) and find here a link to a photoset of Dublin Fries.

moving forward in readings: aim for 1.14.09

NB: Try to get your hands on the Carson and O hAllmhurain ASAP. In the meantime, find links to those and other excerpts, as pdf's, on the webct version of the Readings Calendar. But please do return and "Comment" here.

1.14

Read Introduction and “Music in Early and Medieval Ireland” (to p24) in O hAllmhurain
· In this section, O hAllmhurain describes “three interlocking traditions”; what are they, how are they distinguished from one another, and how does each impact on contemporary understandings of Irish traditional music?
· O hAllmhurain mentions many specific places, and even more specific individuals, in this short introduction. What is the significance of this emphasis upon specific places and individuals? What might these reveal about the tradition’s own priorities?

RP: Foy “Glossary”

Read the terms for familiarization purposes, but also ask yourself: why would Foy use some descriptions that are obviously sarcastic? What does this reveal about the Irish traditional sense of humor?

RP: Glassie “At the End of a Short Winter’s Day”

· A survey of approaches and editions of folklore; how does Glassie link the traditional storyteller’s art to that of academic folklorists or collectors?