Musical Instruments Found In Gaelic Celtic Culture

prepared by Caoimhin O'Brolcain & Iain Mac an tSaoir

Bodhran (baugh-ran):

The Bodhran, or Irish drum, is relatively new on the scene as a widely recognized musical instrument, coming into use in traditional musical performance in the early 1960's. Until the time when the Bodhran became better known it was rarely seen outside of Southwestern Ireland. The Bodhran is a rather old style of drum, some version of it being found the world over. Some writers say it evolved from an agricultural implement used for the separation of chaff from wheat. Many people likewise believe that it was carried into the blessed Isles out of Central Asia by the Celtic migrations which brought our forebearers as far as Ireland. Other than it's likely use in the aforementioned separation of chaff from wheat, it was mainly used in times of war and celebration as a rythm instrument. The larger varieties of Bodhrans were the ones used for war. Within the realm of celebration it was used by mummers as well as wren-boys.

A traditionally formed Bodhran, like so many primitive drums, is formed on a Ash wood hoop, which is bent while the wood green. Within that hoop is a set of crossbars used to prevent the warping of the rim. The heads were traditionally made with goatskin, sheepskin or greyhound skin heads. The skins out of which the heads were made were prepared by burying them in lime for six to eight weeks, then soaking them in a river for nine days to wash away the hair.

According to Eolaire, a guide to Irish for musicians, published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Èireann, a player is called bodhránaí (bow-rawn-ee).The Bodhran is played either with the hand or a beater. The beater is used at both ends, unlike the modern drum stick, and is used in sweeping movements across the face of the drum head.

The Feadan:

This a whistle made of Alder wood. The tin whistle of today is a more durable version of the wooden Feadan. It is the Feadan which gives the sound that is so distinctive to Gaelic Music. This instrument makes a wide range of sounds and is used in jigs and reels as well as in dirges and other more haunting pieces of music.

The Clarsach:

This is the commonly recognized Celtic harp. Traditionally the Clarsachs were constructed of either Oak or Willow wood. Pieces of the wood were hollowed out and animal gut strings were stretched across the box, though sometimes horsehair was also used.

The Piob:

If there is one instrument that is identified above all others with Gaels and other Celtic people, it is the Bagpipe or Piob. The Piob is found in one form or another wherever Celtic peoples have been or are. From North Africa to Eastern and Northern Europe to Ireland, some form of the Piob is found.

Just how old this instrument is a matter of speculation. However, because it is depicted in a heiroglyph in an Egyptian pyramid, we know that it is quite ancient indeed. Much latter we find an Alexandrian terra-cotta from about 100 BCE as well as four Latin and Greek references from about 100 CE.

Exactly when the Piob came to the Isles is also unknown. The matter of the Piob Mor is still not completely settled though, yet most scholars hold that the Piob Mor didn't come to the Isles till sometime around the thirteenth century. That school of thought is based off of there being no hard evidence whatsoever to support an earlier date.

In the Isles, the first pipes probably only had one drone, if they had any drone at all. The second drone came to be used sometime around 1500 CEI. The third drone is thought to have been added to the Great Highland Bagpipe some- time in the 1800's. This date is assigned because there are a number of early descriptions of Irish and Scottish pipers playing at military gatherings or wapinshaws, and none of these texts make any mention of the (three droned Scottish) bagpipe as we know it. Another type of pipe, the Uillean is an Irish pipe probably developed as a result of the oppressive acts of the English government, more on that pipe shortly.

The summit of classical piping came in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries when the MacCrimmons (sept of the Clann MacLeod) and the MacArthurs (sept of the Lord of the Isles -- Clann Dhomhnaill) created the Ceo\l Mo/r, or Piobaireachd. Much of this music, like early Irish harping and piping, sounds strange because it follows a melodic standard drawn from the Scots Gaelic language. Piping in places like Spain, France, and Italy follows an entirely different logic -- the isolation of Ireland and Scotland produced a truly unique musical environment.

The first mention of bagpiping in English comes in a 1549 description of Highlanders at the battle of Pinkie who replaced trumpets with bagpipes, and a troop of Irishmen in London in 1544 who boldly strutted "with bagpipes before them." The English onlooker also observes that the Irish also used the pipes to "accompany their dead to the grave, making such sorrowful sounds as to invite, nay compel the bystanders to weep."

The Piob is a wind instrument traditionally made of Rosewood. It consists of two or more single or double reeded pipes. The reeds are set to motion by the wind caused by pressure applied by arm movements on an animal skin bag. The pipes are set into wooden sockets (stocks) and tied to the bag. The bag is then inflated by either the mouth, through a blow pipe outfitted with a one way valve, or by way of a bellows strapped to the musicians body. Melodies are then played on the 8 finger holes of the melody pipe (chanter) against a background made by the remaining pipes (drones). Seven of these holes are on the front of the chanter's stock and there is one hole on the back. The traditional music of the bagpipes is known as Piobaireachd, or Ceol Mor (big music), the classical pipe music. Ceol Beag (little music) was the music of the people, the popular or folk music. TheUillean pipes usually come equipped with seven holes, and the bottom of the chanter stock also acts as a kind of finger-hole. The Great Highland Pipe does have some limits to it's musical scale. However, Highland bagpipers make up for that limited scale by concen- trating on creating intricate gracenoting. That is, playing short notes between melodies. If this is done well its gives the listener the impression that the piper is playing a number of notes simultaneously. Uillean pipers press the butt of the stock against their knee or thigh to change octives. The Uillean pipes are the only pipes capable of transcending the nine note bagpipe standard. They actually play two complete octaves! "Concert Set" Uillean pipes also have a collection of regulators which produce a kind of tonal counterpoint which sounds magnificent when played by a skilled piper. -- The Uillean pipes are the end of the evolutionary chain of piping.

Although the Uilleann (or "elbow") pipes came to predominate in Ireland, they were most likely created as a reaction to the active repression of an Irish great piping (piob mor) tradition. Although there is not a tremendous amount of legislative evidence for the outlawing of the military bagpipe in Ireland, one might imagine that the same process of cultural genocide that followed the fiasco at Culloden, happened significantly earlier in Ireland. The execution of Irish harpers throughout the medieval and early modern period IS well substantiated in both written and oral histories, and the supression of the "Great Irish Warpipe" probably followed a similar course. We do know that Irish bagpiping (great piping) had become completely extinct by the 1700s. The Uilleann pipes were softer and more intricate, and came to be played along with other traditional instruments but nearly always indoors. - This move- ment of the bagpipes to an indoor setting came about largely as a result of the demilitarization of the great Irish Clanns and families. -- After all, where there is no military market, there are no great (upright) pipes.

Organized pipe bands were first created by the British Army. There is absolutely no historical precedent for the great pipe bands of Scotland and Ireland. -- In traditional communities, SINGLE pipers were the norm. This emphasis on the solitary piper survived in Ireland, where a community's piper is generally considered the town character -- This is very much like the tradition of the outlaw blues guitarist in the African-American communities of the American South.(Is bre/a liom /e!!)

Mass piping has worked to suffocate much of the improvisational piping which was widespread pre-Culloden. In Ireland the absence of Uilleann pipe bands has given rise to wild stylistic variations. This may account for much of the popularity Uilleann piping had enjoyed in recent years. Harmish Moore has recently written a number of articles on Cape Breton piping and argues that old-style Scottish (pre-pipe band) piping still exists in parts of Canada.

Sources:

Encyclopedia Britannica, 1994

The Highland Bagpipe and Its Music, Roderick D Cannon

Learn To Play The Bagpipe - A New Method Of Practice Chanter Tuition, Pipe Major R.T. Shephard,

Various Internet Sources

prepared by Caoimhin O'Brolcain and Iain MacAnTsaoir

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