Scottish Music

1
Scottish Music

• National 3-5
• Understanding Music

2
Outcomes

• Scotland has a rich musical heritage, but what
  makes it different from music anywhere else?
• In this unit we will look at the main features of
  Scottish music.
• At the end of this unit you will be able to
  identify
• Traditional dances of Scotland
• Instruments used in Scottish music
• Different styles of Scottish vocal music
• You will then be able to use some of these
  features when composing a piece of music in a
  Scottish style.

3
The Music Of Scotland

• Folk songs, dances and piping form the major part
  of Scotlands musical inheritance. They give us
  an insight into the lives and loves, work and
  wars that shaped our history.
• Scottish music often uses the pentatonic scale (5
  note scale) e.g. Auld Lang Syne, Skye Boat Song.
  
• Grace notes or ornaments are also found and are
  used to decorate a melody to make it sound more
  interesting. These are most commonly found in
  bagpipe playing. Another prominent feature in
  Scottish music is the scotch-snap (short note
  followed by a long note oo-ya!).

4
Scottish Instruments

• The main instruments associated with Scottish
  music are
• Bagpipes made from a sheep-skin bag, mouthpiece,
  two tenor drones, a bass drone and a chanter.
  The pipes are known for their distinctive
  drone (long continuous note in the bass)
• Fiddle Scottish name for the violin
• Accordion Hand held keyboard instrument with a
  left hand bass
• Clarsach Scottish/folk harp
• Bodrahn Hand held drum

5
Instrumental Groups

• These instruments can be used in various
  combinations to create instrumental groups
  associated with Scottish music. These are
• Scottish Dance Band
• Traditionally consists of lead accordion, 2nd
  accordion, fiddle, piano, drums, (bass).
• Pipe Band
• Made up of bagpipes, snare drums, tenor drums and
  bass drum.
• Folk Group
• Guitar, fiddle, voice. May also hear a tin
  whistle or folk flute. The sound will be
  acoustic.
• Celtic Rock Group
• Electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and
  voices.

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Concepts
CONCEPT DEFINITION
Pentatonic Scale A five note scale
Bagpipes Scottish instrument made up of pipes and chanter
Fiddle Scottish violin
Accordion Scottish keyboard/button chord instrument used in dance bands
Clarsach Scottish harp
Bodhran Hand held drum played with a beater
Scottish Dance Band Band consisting of fiddle, accordion, piano and drums
Pipe Band Marching band made up of pipes and drums
Folk Group Fiddle, accordion, whistle, guitar, voice acoustic instruments
Celtic Rock Group Electric guitars, keyboard, vocals, pipes, drum-kit
7
Scottish Dance Music

• REEL is a fast dance with either two or four
  beats in a bar (2/4 or 4/4). It is in simple
  time which means each beat is split into 2 equal
  parts.
• Task 1 - Listen to this example of a reel. Write
  down the instruments you hear and the type of
  group playing.
• Sometimes the first bar of the music is preceded
  by an anacrusis. This is one or more notes
  appearing before the first strong beat of the
  melody
• Can you find another example of an anacrusis in
  this piece?

Anacrusis
8

• STRATHSPEY is a more moderate dance than the
  reel.
• It is in 4/4 time (four beats in a bar) but it is
  distinctive because of its use of dotted rhythms,
  including the scotch snap. This is made up of a
  short note followed by a long note (oo-ya!).
• Here is an example
• Straight rhythm Scotch snap
  rhythm
• Task 2 - Listen to your teacher playing the
  excerpt below and circle each example of a scotch
  snap. (There are 22 so count carefully!!)

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• JIG is a common dance in Scotland and Ireland.
  It is the only one of the dances with a time
  signature of 6/8. This means
• There are 6 quavers in each bar
• Grouped into 2 lots of 3 quavers
• This gives the jig a strong feeling of 2 beats in
  a bar.
• This type of time signature is known as compound
  time (the beat is heard in groups of 3s e.g. 6/8,
  9/8, 12/8).
• Jigs are lively dances. They are usually fast.
  An easy way to spot a jig is to listen to the
  music and if you can fit hoppity-skippity or
  strawberry into each bar, then its a jig!
• Task 3 -What instruments are playing in this
  example of a jig?

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• MARCH has a strict 2 or 4 beats in a bar.
  Marches are often played by pipe bands.
• WALTZ is the slowest of the Scottish dances with
  3 beats in a bar.
• Come Oer the Stream Charlie is based on the
  pentatonic scale. Ths is a scale consisting of 5
  notes, missing out the FOURTH and SEVENTH notes
  of the diatonic scale. So in C major the notes
  would be C, D, E, G and A.
• Task 4 - If the scale started on G, write down
  the notes of the scale. Do the same for D as
  the starting note.
• 
  Task 5
• Some of the bar lines have been
  removed. Complete them,
  remembering that you should have 3
  beats in each bar.

11
Concepts
CONCEPT DEFINITION
Reel Fast dance with four beats in a bar
Anacrusis Up-beat before the first full bar of music
Strathspey Moderate dance with four beats in a bar. Uses scotch snaps
Scotch Snap Short note followed by a long note (oo-ya!)
Jig Fast dance in 6/8 time notes in groups of 3
Compound Time e.g. 6/8 time notes in groups of 3 (hoppity-skippity)
March Usually with 2 or 4 beats in a bar
Waltz Dance with 3 beats in a bar
12
Scottish Vocal Music

• Scottish songs often relate to tragic events, for
  example the loss of a fishing boat or maybe the
  scars of battle. They were often very simple
  like a lullaby to rock a baby to sleep. Most
  Scottish songs are sung in Gaelic or Scots.
• The songs can be split into 5 different groups
• Bothy Ballads
• These songs were sung and composed by farm
  workers who live in bothies of the farm. Each
  ballad told a story about their jobs, their
  family and their lives in general. It was sung
  in the local dialect, by men and sometimes
  accompanied by instruments f they were available.
  
• Waulking Songs
• Waulking songs are from the Highlands and
  Islands, sung in Gaelic. They are sung by women
  while they worked, shrinking the tweed. They
  take the form of call and response. You can hear
  a thumping noise as the workers beat the tweed on
  the work boards. This is called waulking the
  tweed. The thumping keeps a strong and steady
  rhythm during the song.

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• Mouth Music (Puirt-a-beul)
• A vocal performance used when no instruments were
  available to provide music for dance. Words were
  often humorous and they were also sometimes
  improvised made up on the spot.
• Scots Ballad
• A Scots Ballad is a song with the story told
  through a mixture of narrative and dialogue.
  Folk songs, centuries old telling a story about
  an important event or disaster. These ballads
  can be quite long compared with other songs.
• Gaelic Psalms
• Psalms are religious songs sung in churches.
  These were sung slowly because of a shortage of
  text and lack of reading skills. The precentor
  sings a line then the congregation sing the line
  back, often very free in rhythm. This creates a
  very haunting effect. Gaelic Psalms are sung a
  cappella unaccompanied.

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Other Features of Scottish Music

• Pibroch
• Pibroch is the classical music of the bagpipes
  (ceol mor). A solo piper plays the music in
  theme and variation form. This means the main
  melody is heard and then repeated slightly
  differently, with changes in the rhythm and
  melody.
• Grace notes (embellishments and ornaments) are
  always featured in pibroch.
• Vamp
• The accompanist in a Scottish Dance band plays a
  vamp on the piano left hand plays a bass note
  and the right hand plays chords, rather like an
  oom-cha rhythm.

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Concepts
CONCEPT DEFINITION
Bothy Ballad Folk song sung by men about their work
Waulking Song Sung in Gaelic by women while waulking the tweed
Gaelic Psalm Improvised song of worship with precentor and congregation. (Heard in the Western Isles)
Scots Ballad Folk songs telling stories about everyday life
Mouth Music Vocal improvisation used to accompany Scottish dance
Pibroch Solo pipe music, uses grace notes as ornamentation
Grace Notes Additional notes used to decorate a melody
Slow Air Slow, simple melody played like a Scottish song.
Vamp Type of chord accompaniment (oom-cha, oom-cha)