Defining "Celtic Music "

There has been much discussion over whether "Celtic music" can be defined. There are those who say there's no such thing outside of the record store labelling system. Others believe there are certain characteristics that distinguish a Celtic idiom in music, and that it is possible to distinguish genuine Celtic music from its imitators, such as the Tin Pan Alley "Irish" songs of early 20th century America. Here are some points toward a working definition of Celtic music.

"Celtic music" as a genre refers to the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland (including the Hebrides, Shetlands and Orkneys), the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Galicia, and certain areas of North America such as Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. Some common characteristics of the Celtic idiom, many of which are observable in the oldest surviving identifiably "Celtic" pieces, include the following:

• Form
  • Strophic forms, especially in vocal music (repeated verses, or verse plus refrain)
  • Prominence of theme and variation form in instrumental music, especially that for the harp and bagpipe
• Use of characteristic modes, some of which are more common in certain regions:
  • pentatonic modes
    • gapped modes avoiding the half steps, with the first and fourth pentatonic being most common
    • modes that include a sequence of five notes, then skip two scale degrees to repeat the octave
  • hexatonic modes
    • gapped modes avoiding a half step, especially the minor with no sixth scale degree (Aeolian/Dorian) and the major with no seventh (Ionian/Mixolydian)
    • modes omitting a "weak" scale degree, such as the Ionian with no sixth or the Mixolydian with no fourth
  • heptatonic modes
    • Dorian
    • Aeolian
    • Mixolydian
    • Ionian
    • Phrygian (to a lesser degree, and mostly in Scotland)
    • Harmonic Minor (especially in Wales).
    • The Lydian and Locrian are both rare but not unheard of.
  • In areas with a lot of Scandinavian influence sometimes you'll find an alternation between the parallel major and parallel minor (for example a passage in C major following by a similar passage in C minor), not really useful to those of us with lever-free harps, but an interesting and very identifiable sound.
• Tonal Center
  • A tendency to feature two chords prominently, to the point that a tune may appear to have a "double tonic" and may end on a contrasting chord or note from that initially perceived to be the "home" chord or tone.
  • Among tunes that do not have a "double tonic" there may still be a tendency to end on a note other than the keynote.
  • Some tunes, referred to as "circular," don't have an apparent ending and proceed without pause into the next verse or repetition. This is particularly common in dance music. Circular tunes generally end on the second or fifth scale degree.
• Melodic and harmonic structure
  • Frequent use of parallel octaves.
  • Especially in the Gaelic speaking regions, the prominence of fourths and fifths in chordal texture, with the fourth treated as a consonance. (Some of us have this so strongly built into our traditional music arranging habits that we have difficulty hearing the fourth as a dissonance in other contexts that treat it as such.)
  • Use of chord inversions, including using the second inversion as a stable interval interchangeable with the root position.
  • Wide intervals, whether in open harmonic spacing or large melodic leaps, especially prominent in gapped modes.
• Rhythm
  • The use of compound rhythms (those divisible into groups of triplets, such as 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 15/8, etc.)
  • Some non-mensural music (without fixed time signatures), especially in the lament repertoire
  • A pause or fermata at the end of a verse or section. Sometimes this significantly breaks the rhythm.
  • Rhythmic and/or melodic ornamentation of the melody, sometimes following a formulaic progression.
  • "Sprung" rhythms such as the "Scots snap." These are often written differently than they are performed, with the performer expected to interpret them appropriately.
• Performance context
  • The use of specific-purpose songs such as laments, lullabyes, and work songs.
    • Work songs are closely identified with the rhythm of the work being performed, for example waulking songs, milking croons, rowing songs.
  • A distinction between songs traditionally performed by women and those traditionally performed by men. (Luckily, a number of waulking songs that were in danger were saved when the men of Cape Breton began to learn them and pass them on. Such traditions are changing.)
  • A cultural distinction between song and "music," which term generally refers to instrumental music. (This distinction may be fading.) "Mouth music" falls into the "music" category rather than the "song" category, for example - it's using the mouth to create music that would originally have been performed on an instrument.
• Performance practice
  • Heterophonic texture - a group of musicians or singers performing the same melody together, but each ornamenting it differently.
  • Expectation that the performer will embellish or alter any given tune, even if it is learned from another performer or from a written source.
  • The use of vocables (so-called "nonsense syllables" which in fact may or may not have lexical meaning), especially in repeated sections such as refrains.
  • Occasional use of macaronic lyrics - those alternating a line of English with a line of a Celtic language. Often the English line(s) functions as a refrain, and may have no relationship to the Celtic language lyrics. I've seen this most often in sea shanties.
  • Improvisation of variations or ornamentation, varying from performance to performance even by the same performer or group. May include the addition of freely composed verses appropriate to a setting or audience.
  • Emphasis on virtuosity in solo performance.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
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