Celtic music in meantone

I have done midi files and jammed like this before, but I'm reminded of it
since I just got back from Milwaukee's IrishFest: Celtic music would work
beautifully in meantone: most of the keys never wander beyond three sharps,
and flat keys are all quite rare. The most common keys are G major/e minor, C
major/a minor D major/b minor, F major/d minor.

Any more thoughts on the matter from anyone? (of course, the fretted
instuments would present somewaht of a problem, perhaps?)

Best,
Aaron.

Aaron,
As a small building block for your question, may I
bother you with a bit of medieval German literature?
In Gottfried�s �Tristan� (ca. 1210) there is the
following passage, where the young hero shows his
proficiency with the harp at the court of king Marke:
�do begunde er suoze doenen
und harpfen so ze prise
in britunscher wise,
daz maneger da stuont unde saz
der sin selbes namen vergaz.
da begunden herze und oren
tumben unde toren
und zu ir rehte wanken.�
(he played so beautifully and struck the harp with
such skill in Breton manner, that many who stood an
sat there forgot their own names. Their hearts and
ears were dazed, and they lost their normal
condition.). Verses 3588-3595, my translation.

In the very same passage, mention is made of Tristan�s
playing technique. He �ruorte� and �sluoc� (V. 3553)
the instrument, which means he both plucked single
notes and was strumming chords with all fingers, and
�sus nam er sinen plectrum:
nagel unde seiten zoher,
diese niderer, jene hoher,
rehte als er si wollte han.�
(he took his tuning key and turned the tuning pegs,
lowering and raising the string pitches as he liked
it) Verses 3558-2561.

Why am I citing this? Because, while we don�t have any
record of early �Celtic� harp tuning, at least the
passage shows that Tristan was playing both melodies
and chords with his instrument, and that he was an
early member of this group.
Michael

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On Aug 20, 2005, at 10:19 PM, Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:

> I have done midi files and jammed like this before, but I'm reminded > of it
> since I just got back from Milwaukee's IrishFest: Celtic music would > work
> beautifully in meantone: most of the keys never wander beyond three > sharps,
> and flat keys are all quite rare. The most common keys are G major/e > minor, C
> major/a minor D major/b minor, F major/d minor.

A maj is quite common, F maj is rarely used.

Celtic music is inherently modal, here are the most commonly used keys based from root tone.

B: minor

E: Dorian and minor

A: major, mixolydian, Dorian and minor

D: major, mixolydian, Dorian and occasionally minor

G: major, mixolydian and occasionally Dorian

C: major (occasionally)

Most of the music is in 1, 2 or 3 sharps, although there are exceptions.

Seth
-----------------------------------
Seth Austen
seth@sethausten.com
http://www.sethausten.com

On Sunday 21 August 2005 8:36 am, Seth Austen wrote:
> On Aug 20, 2005, at 10:19 PM, Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:
> > I have done midi files and jammed like this before, but I'm reminded
> > of it
> > since I just got back from Milwaukee's IrishFest: Celtic music would
> > work
> > beautifully in meantone: most of the keys never wander beyond three
> > sharps,
> > and flat keys are all quite rare. The most common keys are G major/e
> > minor, C
> > major/a minor D major/b minor, F major/d minor.
>
> A maj is quite common, F maj is rarely used.
>
> Celtic music is inherently modal, here are the most commonly used keys
> based from root tone.
>
> B: minor
>
> E: Dorian and minor
>
> A: major, mixolydian, Dorian and minor
>
> D: major, mixolydian, Dorian and occasionally minor
>
> G: major, mixolydian and occasionally Dorian
>
> C: major (occasionally)
>
> Most of the music is in 1, 2 or 3 sharps, although there are exceptions.

Seth-

Thank you for fleshing out this list more--absolutely I should have clarified
the modal emphasis, but I think most people here understand that implicitely
about Celtic folk.

...and you're right, I was hasty to put F major in the 'most' category, my
first statement should have stood more: 'flat keys are all quite rare'. There
are a handful of F major tunes in Henrik Norbecks ABC collection, however.

All of these is of course related to using/playing in open and first positions
on fiddles and guitars, etc.

I think a great joke would be to go to an Irish session and call a tune in Eb
major (or worse Ab or Db, but I think Eb is funnier *because* it's less
extreme) and see what the old-timers do, esp. if you call a tune they know,
play it well, but transposed! (maybe you would get beaten, who knows).

BTW, do any world folk specialists know if different tradtions (say, Eastern
European) use different key areas more than Celtic does? I would guess not,
but who knows?

Checked out your website--cool! Do you live in New Hampshire or something?

Anyway, you would have fit right in at the Milwaukee Irish Fest, the countries
largest, and according to many of the musicians, its best.....maybe you
*have* played there?

Cheers,
Aaron.

On Aug 21, 2005, at 10:27 AM, Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:

> ...and you're right, I was hasty to put F major in the 'most' > category, my
> first statement should have stood more: 'flat keys are all quite > rare'. There
> are a handful of F major tunes in Henrik Norbecks ABC collection, > however.

There seem to be more flat key tunes in the Scottish tradition than the Irish.

> BTW, do any world folk specialists know if different tradtions (say, > Eastern
> European) use different key areas more than Celtic does? I would guess > not,
> but who knows?

In eastern European Klezmer there are a lot of tunes in D, G, A and E, all good fiddle keys. Klezmer master clarinetist Dave Tarras had a number of signature tunes in Bb min.

> Checked out your website--cool! Do you live in New Hampshire or > something?

Yes, I'm in Wolfeboro, NH.
>
> Anyway, you would have fit right in at the Milwaukee Irish Fest, the > countries
> largest, and according to many of the musicians, its best.....maybe you
> *have* played there?

Haven't ever played that one.

Seth
-----------------------------------
Seth Austen
seth@sethausten.com
http://www.sethausten.com