The Celtic tradition presents a wealth of largely untapped resources to adapt for brass instrumental use.
The Celtic folk music tradition is not primarily based around the use of brass instruments, although the use of brass instruments to provide harmonic support and rhythmic backing figures has become popular in various contemporary settings of this traditional music. The Celtic tradition nonetheless presents a wealth of largely untapped resources to adapt for brass instrumental use.
The Strathspey: A Strathspey is a dance tune in 4/4 time characterised by its many dotted rhythms; particularly the iconic Scottish pairing of semiquaver followed by dotted quaver known as the Scottish Snap. The Highland Fling dance is often set to a Strathspey.
The Reel: A Reel is a folk dance and holds s significant place in the folk music cultures of the British Isles, Breton and North America. Reels are performed in simple meter either as 4/4 or 2/2 and are binary in structure, consisting of two contrasting sections. The sections contain much fluid quaver activity with an emphasis on the 3rd and 7th quaver of each bar.
The Waltz: In Celtic folk music traditions the Waltz is a piece of music in triple time. Historically, tunes & hence dances were more common in simple time (Reels) or in compound time (Jigs) but during the 19th century many folk tunes of the day were adapted to fit the ‘new’ triple time meter.
The Jig: A Jig is a lively folk-dance tune in duple compound metre (6/8 time signature) with eight bars of music per section. Jigs gained popularity in 16th century Scotland and Northern England before spreading to Ireland and mainland Europe.
The Slide: In Irish traditional music a Slide is similar to a jig but the melodies are phrased in four rather than two beats hence notated with a 12/8 time signature, with four bars of music per section. They originate from the Quadrille dance tunes, popular in the 18th & 19th centuries.
The Slip Jig: The Slip Jig is common in the Irish folk dance tradition. Unlike the Jig which gives the impression of a two-beat meter (6/8 time signature), the Slip Jig has an extra beat, hence a three beat meter (9/8 time signature). In performance it is typical to emphasis the fifth and ninth quaver of each bar.
The Hornpipe: In the Celtic music tradition a Hornpipe is essentially a Reel but with a swing effect imposed to the movement of the quavers. Still notated in 4/4 or 2/2, the quaver activity will have a dotted rhythm effect. Folk musicians will often discretely vary from reel to hornpipe by simply swapping to and from this swing effect.
