Celtic Folk

Dance tunes and songs of Ireland and Scotland, carried by ornamented melody rather than harmony.

Related

TraditionalModeViolinFlute

Celtic folk gives melody to ornament rather than harmony, and dance tunes and songs share one set of modes.

Origins and era

Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany and the Isle of Man had their own oral traditions. Collectors began writing down harp and dance tunes in the late eighteenth century, and national movements organised language with music. After the 1960s the Chieftains, Bothy Band and Planxty brought traditional instruments into concert halls. Celtic began as a linguistic term and was later used by the record industry for this region's music.

What you hear

Melody is usually single-line, with harmony unwritten and supplied by unison playing or added bass. Ornament is dense, and flute, whistle and fiddle fill long notes with cuts, rolls and slides. Dorian and Mixolydian modes are common, and phrases do not always return to the tonic. Dance types include the 6/8 jig, 4/4 reel and slow air, and one tune can take different metres.

Key figures

O'Carolan left many harp tunes, and Michael Coleman's recordings carried fiddle style to America. Seamus Ennis and Willie Clancy preserved oral detail, while the Chieftains and Bothy Band modernised the line-up.

Lineage

Irish and Scottish harp, pipe and dance feed in; the folk revival, New Age Celtic, film and session culture come out.

Common misunderstandings

Celtic is not one people's music, since it covers several regions and languages. It is not New Age music, as traditional playing avoids layered synths. Harmony is not the core, where melody and ornament lead.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry Ireland（Oxford University Press），用于核对爱尔兰传统音乐
• Fintan Vallely, ed., The Companion to Irish Traditional Music, 2nd ed.（Cork University Press, 2011），用于核对舞曲型与装饰

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.