Comments On The Midwest 2004 Fleadh Choeil

[synchopepper]

I had the opportunity to attend the annual Midwest Region Fleadh Cheoil in Cincinnati on May 15 - this past Saturday. As I have had little exposure to organized Irish music in the past I was amazed at the breadth and level of musicianship displayed at this gathering. Irish music academies and schools from Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis dominated competition at the Fleadh. For those of you who are not familiar with these competitions they are held in different regions of the United States. Musicians playing traditional Irish music compete against one another before judges in many categories. First, second and third ranked musicians in each category receive medals and the right to compete in the all Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Ireland.

 

I spent over 15 hours on Saturday watching competitive performances. Even then I was only able to see a small part as sessions were being held simultaneously in nine different locations within the convention center throughout the day. The Irish music schools involved with this competition are to be commended for the part they play in promoting, organizing and preserving traditional Irish music in the United States. They provide a number of important services that greatly benefit traditional Irish music. This environment nourishes the student from their first introduction to this music through to the attainment of the highest levels of musical skill. In addition to providing professional instruction the schools provide a number of venue and ensemble opportunities for musicians.

 

As evident from the enthusiasm and joy evident in the playing and the respectful competition within and between the various schools is was also clear that these schools provide a significant social context for young musicians thereby helping to cement their lifelong commitment to traditional Irish music. The schools also seem to provide professional careers opportunities for a good number of accomplished musicians as instructors furthering the Irish music tradition.

 

As I play the English concertina, the Anglo concertina competition and the Anglo players were a focus for me (sorry – no English allowed). I had the opportunity to see, hear and talk with students of Wally Carroll who teaches in the Cincinnati area and Frank Edgley who teaches in the Detroit area. While the students I talked with had been playing Anglos for only a few years I was amazed by their advanced skills. In the senior Ceili band competition I also had the opportunity to hear Ed and Wally themselves.

 

The great treat and finale of the competition was the evening Grupa Cheoil and Ceili band competition. I found the Grupa Cheoil competition especially enjoyable. This genre sounds very similar to the music of the Chieftains. In the Grupa Cheoil competition groups of traditional players perform, in a folk classical format, seven to nine minute compositions of traditional Irish themes. This competition consisted of three to four levels with the first being young children who amazed me with the level performances and the last being young adults who could compete with the best professional musical groups. During this competition it was evident from the cheering and camaraderie all around that these groups appreciate and respect each other’s skills and accomplishment. It was one of the most moving musical events I have ever witnessed – a real grass roots movement.

 

I only wish that I lived in an area with a wonderful resource like these Irish music schools - especially when I was young. If you have not experienced a Fleadh Cheoil I urge you to do so if you have the opportunity. Look out Ireland - the Americans are coming!

 

I would like to know how many Concertina Forum members have been helped by associations with these types of organizations. What kind of expert experiences have forum members had with organizations like this which foster traditional music? I would also like to know more about the Grupa Cheoil and about where they get their great compositions. Is there a body of published music specifically for this purpose? Do the instructors or someone else in the schools arrange these compositions for a particular group or particular performance?

 

I learned from the Irish judge who presided over the individual concertina competition that while not banned in traditional Irish music competition those playing English concertina should not expect to be competitive because Anglos are the valid concertina for this purpose. Having read a number of discussions in this forum about playing traditional Irish music on English concertinas I was surprised by this attitude. After all tenor banjos are hardly traditional (and for that matter neither are Anglo concertinas). Does anyone out there have any information about the tradition and history of concertinas in Irish music competition? I would like to know when Anglos became popular in Irish music and what tradition, if any, there is of the English in traditional Irish music.

[Mark Evans]

Tradition...a dangerous word. I've personally rejected any such constraints. However, an explanation was was given to me many years ago and it seems at the bottom of the pile of conjecture (from my viewpoint) to be serendipitous:

 

English were developed for (I hate this incorrect term) "Classical" music. Transcriptions of Baroque and Classical instrumental works were churned out with great enthusiasm as was music of the period written for the English. Of course it was very popular and affordable to the upper middle and upper classes in Victorian Society. Children were tutored in the instrument, parlor concerts by amatures were common, virtuosi gave concerts in evening attire, etc (a cool very upper crusty thing goin' on here). Protestant Missionarys often carried them to accompany hymn singing. These instruments did not (not my phrase here) "filter down to the lower classes" until after WWI. By this time the button box and anglo are predominant in Irish folk music. The conjecture is that we are not just dealing with an application issue here.

 

Irish music has always been much like Ireland...contradictory. It's a mine field. Some folks will scream that the music can only be presented with heterophony (everybody on the melody line only), raging against any suggestion of homophony (any instrument or group attempting chordal accompanyment). Other folks on the opposite side will hurl back their dogma. Whatever floats yer boat I guess. What would O'Carolyn say? The Cat was very fond of Vivaldi ya' know ( I knew an Italian would figger' in there somewhere!).

 

Just let me play the cursed thing. It's what works in my hands with my head and lets my heart soar.

[JimLucas]

I learned from the Irish judge who presided over the individual concertina competition that while not banned in traditional Irish music competition those playing English concertina should not expect to be competitive because Anglos are the valid concertina for this purpose.

But he didn't tell you that in Gaelic, did he? Some people feel their purpose in life is to dictate to others what is "correct". Personally, I don't think the judges should be allowed to see the players and instruments, to base their judgement solely on what they can hear. There are, of course, those who disagree.

I found the Grupa Cheoil competition especially enjoyable. This genre sounds very similar to the music of the Chieftains. In the Grupa Cheoil competition groups of traditional players perform, in a folk classical format, seven to nine minute compositions of traditional Irish themes.

I hadn't heard of Grupa Cheoil (which I believe means "Music Group" (ensemble), or maybe "Group of Music" (medley)) before, and I wonder how old that "tradition" is. I'm all for it!

[JimLucas]

Tradition...a dangerous word. 

Aye, verily! Some folks think "tradition" should mean "petrified", which can get really at odds with traditions which encourage or even demand improvisation.

English were developed for (I hate this incorrect term) "Classical" music.

"Who cares what they were developed for?," sez I. What matters is what they're used for, and how they're used. The only real difference between a violin and a fiddle is how it's played, and not even much of that. Jean Carignan -- said by many to be the greatest French-Canadian fiddler of all time -- was a taxi driver who, it's said, would go to classical concerts, then hang around outside the stage door to ask (e.g.) Yehudi Menuhin, "How did you do that....?"

 

These instruments did not (not my phrase here) "filter down to the lower classes" until after WWI.

Something Morris dancing did several centuries earlier.

I think it's generally acknowledged that one significant factor in the early days was price. There was no English-system counterpart to the cheap German concertinas. (The term "anglo" comes, after all, from the name "anglo-German", applied to English-made instruments with the German fingering system.) I'm told that price also affected the adoption of the wooden flute in Ireland -- that when the Boehm system became mandatory in classical music, the older flutes were abandoned and masses of them were sold for almost nothing, -- and that's when the Irish really started buying and playing them. (Stephen Chambers undoubtedly know more about this than I do, so if he corrects me, believe him.)

[tomlaw90]

I think it's generally acknowledged that one significant factor in the early days was price. There was no English-system counterpart to the cheap German concertinas.

Of course, price doesn't explain the pipes... Maybe insanity explains it

[Mark Evans]

Amen! And again, I say Amen Brother Jim! It's the MUSIC ladies and gentlemen.

 

Free Reeders unite! Throw off the bonds of musical bigotry (I ain't jokin' folks)!

 

Sorry, it's late and I've yet to have my supper.

[Peter Brook]

What would O'Carolyn say? The Cat was very fond of Vivaldi ya' know ( I knew an Italian would figger' in there somewhere!).

 

Terence Carolan or Turlough O Carolan or Toirdhealbhach O Cearbhallain if you prefer, probably met Francesco Geminiani in Dublin (they both lived in Dublin at the same time for a period of 5 years) and was an admirer of the italian style popular in Ireland from 1700 to 1741 when Handel arrived. The main italian composers that were favoured at this time were Corelli, Vivaldi and Geminiani. Carolan's own musical publishers erected a hall "for the practice of italian music". (These facts and many more including over 200 tunes are in the book "Carolan: The life, times and music of an irish harper" by Donal O'Sullivan.)

 

Carolan is said to have enjoyed the italian style, and to have written a piece "Carolan's Concerto" inspired by this style. Carolan was influenced by everything around him. A number of tunes attributed to him, were infact written by earlier harpists and he adapted them to the times he lived in.

 

To sum up my point is this. If we take morris dance, irish music, ecd and put them all in glass cases for the sake of keeping the "tradition" pure, they will each die. We have got to learn from Carolan. Music and concertina playing have to continually evolve to stay relevant.

 

So you should have been allowed to compete on equal terms!

[Paul Groff]

Mark, and all,

 

I am a big fan of trying every kind of music on every instrument.

 

But there is a big difference between what YOU may choose to do and insisting that some other person (or organization, or tradition, or bunch of people who hang out & play together) accept it.

 

It's up to those rare musicians who are both brilliant and unconventional to show by example that great Irish music (or great music of any type) can be played on an instrument that is unusual in that tradition. Even then, it is reasonable to expect that organizations devoted to traditional forms of music, that are trying to preserve a continuity with the past, will be conservative and may take years, or generations, to promote the "newcomer instrument" as traditional for the purposes of youth education, etc. Yes, the anglo has had these generations of use within the Irish dance tradition.

 

If you choose to play Irish dance music on an instrument that is not generally considered to have a long tradition of great players on whom you can model your style, your task in learning to play "traditionally" is harder. Certainly not impossible. But the burden of proof is on you, for sure. Yes, over many decades, the anglo has had such remarkable players in Ireland, respected and often beloved by the best players of other traditional instruments.

 

If I had been trying to work up a style of digeridoo playing for use in baroque chamber music, it might irritate me that the local groups of serious baroque musicians paid me scant respect. But it would not surprise me, and I would not blame them for a situation of my own making.

 

Good luck to the adventurous and best wishes,

 

Paul

Edited May 17, 2004 by Paul Groff

[JimLucas]

But there is a big difference between what YOU may choose to do and insisting that some other person (or organization, or tradition, or bunch of people who hang out & play together) accept it.

Certainly. Some of those I disagree with are (IMO) arrogant musical bigots, but most are not. And one thing that annoys me even more than bigotry is the inconsistency with which it's applied. But that's a tradition in its own right, and one that's older than Ireland itself.

It's up to those rare musicians who are both brilliant and unconventional to show by example that great Irish music (or great music of any type) can be played on an instrument that is unusual in that tradition. ... But the burden of proof is on you, for sure.

True, but if I ever do attempt to compete at a fleadh, I will protest strongly (and probably futilely) if I am expected to compette against anglo players, rather than in the miscellaneous category. The English is less like an anglo than a tenor banjo is like a guitar.

[JimLucas]

Of course, price doesn't explain the pipes...

Don't be so sure. The pipes were made in Ireland, not imported, and Irish labor was cheap.

 

Then again, while the pipes were popular, they were also quite rare.

There was no cheap alternative.

[Mark Evans]

Paul, I would never wish to ask a traditionalist (of whatever tradition he or she has chosen as their tradition) to change their ways, and if I offend with me poor little English, there's me low and high D whistles and me banjo (which I'm still gettin' over that bein' exceptable ya know).

 

Reminds me of a sign that used to hang here in Boston during the last century from just about every shop window, "NO IRISH NEED APPLY". What perverse, perhaps poetic justice that it should read in the hearts of some of those loving the rich culture of Irish Music "NO ENGLISH NEED APPLY.

 

I have held good humor when ribbed about me little English abomination lately (I give as good as I get). The laughing stops when we start singin' and playin' a few and the grinnin' begins. The music is the music and it is honored by the love we all bring to it. But tradition...don't scrape the bark of that tree too deep my fellow free reeder. All of us are Johnny- Come -Latelys on that ledge (beware the harp players, they hope we'll kill each other off).

 

Thank you, that got my blood going! That's why I got back into this music...Passion! Odd, twenty-five years ago, I only knew of three concertina players in Chapel Hill N.C.(my home) In my travels, I was most always the only one. How it has changed...Wonderful, healthy and vibrant. This backwoods Cracker must now go to one of these squeeze-ins!

 

Food for thought...I've never run into a musician that had a problem with the English sad to say but another free reeder (and a Bluegrass mandolinist or two).

[Robin Madge]

Is tradition just another word for habit nowadays?

 

Is it now, therefore, traditional for brass bands to play Beatles numbers?

 

How many years (15 so far) do I have to play a Status Quo number at dances for that to become traditional as an Anglo tune?

 

Robin Madge

[Mark Evans]

Robin,

Brass bands are playing their music as I write (Canadian Brass)! Bluegrass bands (one of my other secret transgressions off the path of musical purity) feel compelled to have a least one Beatles offering.

 

Transcriptions of Mozart's Opera "Don Giovanni" for wind ensemble were popular and playing in the streets of Prague while the first performances of the work were being presented (Mozart loved it).

 

I hope that in future I'll not need a visa or Papal Dispensation to play "the Musical Priest" at a session where some other free reeder may feel ownership precludes my participation.

[JimLucas]

Is tradition just another word for habit nowadays?

Depends on who uses it... and in what context.

 

I could write a treatise here on the different ways people use the term "traditional" and the different -- and conflicting -- requirements they espouse for its use... but I won't.

[fiddlersgreen]

I guess patience is needed in order to see if the English system will be accepted in the purely Irish traditional areas. There is turf to protect. Hey, why not a saxophone? (I have heard them playing ITM on few places on the Internet and of course in contradance bands). Here in the U.S., I have played English Concertina at a few sessions and no one has said anything, in fact some of the more experienced musicians were not sure weather it was an English or Anglo. Unfortunately, I would be hesitant to take my English along if I were visiting Ireland. I love the sound of both and I think the change will occur from the outside in. In other words, the musicians in countries other than Ireland will accept the concertina as the concertina and not worry too much about variations in sound, system and style. Over time no one will remember what all the fuss was about.