Music Therapy Through Irish Eyes

A Student Therapist�s Experience of Irish Traditional Music

By Ruth Armstrong

Introduction

As I step through the double doors, invited in by the gold stencilled Céad míle fáilte (one hundred thousand welcomes) emblazoned across the glass, a palpable warmth greets me. The warmth is not just the respite from the cold southerly wind, but also the cosy atmosphere produced by the hum of small groups conversing in corners over a few pints and the posters and memorabilia adorning almost every available wall space. The familiar faces of friendly musicians slowly fill an assortment of wooden chairs and tables clustered at the back. I perch on the edge of one of these chairs, breathing in whisky and Guinness. I study the posters, recognising names such as The Pogues, The Chieftains and Christy Moore. Several old black and white photographs display the rugged beauty of Irelands landscapes, while two hurleys and a couple of jerseys are proudly displayed on another wall.

The musicians warm up their instruments in between exchanging stories of their weekends and strolling over to the bar to take advantage of the musicians tab. I take out my whistle and sit near a fellow University music student who plays the flute. One of the accordion players leads us in the opening set as more musicians gradually filter in, unceremoniously finding seats. Several punters, sitting at tables alone or in pairs, watch us avidly, absorbed in the music. Others continue their conversation, with our music providing a background to their storytelling.

At the end of each set of tunes, there is a pause where we talk to one another until somebody offers another tune to start us off again. We join in as we pick up on what they are playing. Most people in the group have learned the tunes by ear, and I have heard some of these musicians refer to music notation as a bunch of confusing black dots on a page. I get the sense that the music is much more vibrant and alive because of this. It must first be somehow digested by the musicians and stored in their memories, before they can recreate it on their instruments. There is none of the formality of classical performance, with the precision that comes from detailed directions printed on the manuscript. Instead, the musicians seem to take hold of the soul of the piece. They rely on their intuition to express the character of the music. It does not matter if they have their own variations in the way it is expressed. Somehow it works. There is a real sense of community, of playing together as a group, and there is no room for stars, despite the fact that there are some extremely talented individuals here.

Personal Background

The beginning of my own journey with Irish music began a couple of years ago, when a friend and I planned a trip to the United Kingdom. My friend was born in England and was going back to visit her grandparents and other relatives. My own grandfather had moved to New Zealand from Ireland when he was a teenager, and married my grandmother, the daughter of Irish emigrants. As such, I hold dual New Zealand and Irish citizenship. However, my grandmother died before I was born, and my grandfather died when I was still quite young, and I have no recollection of him ever talking about what it was like growing up in Ireland.

I decided I wanted to go to Ireland to try and discover more about where I came from and where my roots lie. I left my friend in England and travelled to Ireland on my own. It was here that I got my first taste of Irish traditional music at some of the pubs I visited, and I picked up a whistle in Sligo on my travels. However, it was not until a year later that I got involved in playing Irish music. A friend bought me a ticket to accompany her to see an Irish band called Gráda. I remember being surprised by the energy of the music and the friendly atmosphere. I had never been at a concert before where the audience all seemed to know one another, and where the band invited everyone to join them at the pub at the end of the show. It was here that I was introduced to people involved in the sessions at the local Irish pub, Molly Malones. After hearing I was a music therapy student, I was quickly recruited to join them, and my whistle from Sligo came off the shelf and started making weekly appearances. It was not long before I became fascinated by Irish music and began considering ways in which it could inform my practice.

Cultural Considerations

In culture-centred music therapy practice, an attempt is made to use music that might help clients connect with their culture. Forrest (2002) elucidates,

Music that is culturally significant or meaningful to the patient may trigger memories of other times, people and places, potentially allowing patients to explore and resolve past conflicts, and to reconfirm their identity as a member of their family, social circle, and wider cultural and ethnic heritage. (p. 79)

It is my belief that as such a young nation, many New Zealanders of European descent may, like me, feel disconnected from their roots. There may be only two or three generations of family settled in New Zealand, yet, many of us do not seem to know very much at all about our history and where we come from. It is my personal experience that even without specific memories and links with Irish music, it is still powerful in connecting me to my culture, and helping me discover a part of my identity.

Not only can Irish music be used in practice to reconnect clients to their culture or discover part of a lost identity, but there are features in the music and the way it is played that may be useful for music therapy practice. The social aspect of music making can have implications for group work. Music therapy practice could utilise the strong rhythms and melodic forms found in Irish traditional music in a variety of ways.

It is important to establish what is meant by "Irish traditional music". The term "traditional" can refer to a number of different types of Irish music, including songs sung in both Irish Gaelic and English, slow instrumental airs (which are frequently derived from song melodies), and dance music, including solo and group set dances. Hast and Scott (2004) state that these forms are often also found in other European traditions, but the use of specific melodies, techniques and instrumentation distinguishes Irish music from these other cultures.

Social Interaction

The opening vignette describes a typical weekly session at Mollys one of the Irish pubs in town. At these sessions, it seems as if the informal and friendly atmosphere is as important as the music, and its almost as if you cant have one without the other. Hast and Scott (2004) comment that this setting for making music together is important because it places the emphasis firmly on playing music as a social activity rather than playing professionally. Clients may feel intimidated or inadequate when faced with the opportunity to make music, with doubts about their musical ability. An informal and social setting where the music can grow out of interactions within the group may help put clients at ease.

Darnley-Smith (2002) describes how working with an older Irish patient who had mild dementia and severe dysphasia helped her draw links between music therapy group work and the Irish traditional music sessions which she had witnessed during a holiday in the Republic of Ireland. Darnley-Smith indicates that the spontaneity of music making in sessions is an important element in bonding people together. She noticed that there did not seem to be any particular planning, but that the musicians would play and sing the music that came to mind in the moment. Her patient seemed to identify with this way of music making, going between singing and playing instruments freely.

Hast and Scott (2004) summarise the setting of a session by saying,

There is a balance between the celebration of individuality...and the strength and sociability of the community....The music is also imbedded in the larger cultural context of céilíing ("visiting") and craic ("conversation"), in which values of hospitality, generosity, reciprocity, humor, and social intimacy take precedence over sheer musical virtuosity. (p. 18).

Creative Freedom

This use of music in a free and relaxed way can be transferred to the music therapy room, where it can facilitate social interaction between group members. It provides a non-threatening atmosphere which can foster music creativity. This is also reflected in the way the music is played. Often a tune is repeated several times, and when played through again, musicians will often make melodic or rhythmic changes. The "skeleton" of the melody will remain, but the musicians will decorate the notes with ornamentation and variations in the moment, so that no two renditions of the same tune will necessarily be identical.

Darnley-Smith (2002) discusses the concept of a continuum between pre-composed music and free improvisation. Her experience in attempting to join a client in songs she was not familiar with led her to begin improvising around what a client was singing. In this way, she could support the client and their choice of music. Additionally, providing clients with structured music or a familiar melody as a basis for improvisation may be perceived by the clients as less threatening than free improvisation. It is easy to see the similarities between Darnley-Smiths idea of improvising on an established melody and the way musicians can vary their playing of a tune in a session.

Melody and Expressiveness

Melody is of particular importance in Irish traditional music. Not only are there distinctly "Irish" melodies, but there are tunes and styles specific to particular regions too. Traditionally, melodic instruments such as fiddles, flutes and whistles play the melody in unison, and it was not until about the 1970s that instruments like bouzoukis and guitars began appearing in Irish traditional music, providing harmonic accompaniment for singing and instrumental tunes (Farrington, 1998). While accordion accompaniments have been present in Irish traditional music for a longer time than the bouzouki or guitar, the melody of a tune has always been prominent. Indeed, Vallely (1999) claims the melody "is supreme in traditional music..." (p. 242).

The seán-nos style of singing is the traditional unaccompanied form of singing in the Irish language. The spirit of seán-nos singing lies in its expressivity (Henigan, 1999). Seán-nos singer, Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin reflected on singing in Irish to foreign audiences who do not understand the language.

Where I find myself performing in Norway and in Denmark, Scandinavia, the audience who come are only interested in the expression of feeling, so what comes across is what impacts, regardless of language. And that appeals to me, because maybe thats where my strength is, in the expression of feeling and emotion... (Hast and Scott, 2004, pp. 106-107).

Expressivity is a main characteristic of Irish traditional music in general. The flautist Seamus Tansey explained,

See, Irish traditional music came from the very warbling of the birds and the sounds of the countryside, the bees or whatever and our forefathers harnessed that and put their own genius to it. It became the expression of their soul. And down through the years irrespective of any historical disasters that befell them, they held on to that music as their religion and every turn, every variation, every bit of vibrato had a meaning and expression. (Irwin, 2003, p. 240).

The melodies and the way they are expressively communicated can be utilised in music therapy. Slow airs and modal melodies can create evocative moods, and the term draíocht ("spell" or "enchantment") is used to articulate this emotional expression. It often translates to a "lonesome" quality that inspires a sort of pleasurable pain, only achieved by certain skilled players (Vallely, 1999). In music therapy, one can aspire to capture something of this quality, or even to just hold the concept in mind. Additionally, several Irish tunes employ the pentatonic scale, which is easily accessible for clients to improvise on, for example, playing the black keys on the piano.

Recently I had the privilege of being invited onto my local marae (Maori meeting place). As part of the welcoming ceremony, we each gave our mihi ("speech") where we introduced ourselves and told others about where we come from and who our family and ancestors are. Accompanying this is the thought in Maori culture that we each carry our ancestors with us in the present. At the end of our mihi we were encouraged to present a short waiata ("song") or musical item. I chose to play a slow air on my whistle called "Inisheer," by Thomas Walsh, as it seemed fitting to create a musical link with my Irish ancestry that I had just been talking about in my mihi. I chose this tune because although it is a simple tune, it has the capacity to be played sensitively and decorated with ornamentation. Expressive melodies can elicit emotional reactions, and later that evening several people commented that it was quite a moving piece of music.

Music and Movement

One reason melody seems to be so important in Irish traditional music, is that the music is used to accompany dancing. By the 1920s, musicians had begun playing in groups for dances. Prior to this, solo performances at small house gatherings were favoured. As dance venues increased in size, it became necessary to produce a louder sound. Céilí bands emerged, with melodies played on fiddles, uilleann pipes, flutes, and button accordions, and accompaniment provided by piano, bass and snare drum (Hast and Scott, 2004). The requirement for a larger ensemble and greater sound became particularly important with the passing of the Dance Halls Act in 1935, outlawing country dances in homes. Instead, people met together for licensed dances, overseen by church authorities (Vallely, 1999).

Pulse and rhythm are important for dancing, and although many tunes may be played instrumentally as musical items without the intention of accompanying dancing, they are traditionally dance tunes and the rhythm and pulse remain important. However, even in the absence of dancing, it is not uncommon to see musicians tapping their feet to keep time, and listeners joining in with tapping or moving to the beat of the music. Reels (in 4/4 time) and jigs (in 6/8, 12/8 or 9/8 time) comprise the most common dance tunes in Irish traditional music (Doherty, 1999, pp. 201-202).

Several months ago I attended the annual celebration of Celtic culture at the local Irish Society. There were performances all through the night by both musicians and dancers and at one part of the evening I found myself sitting with some friends on the edge of the room watching a small group playing some tunes. Because there had been dancers performing, the centre of the room was kept clear, with tables and chairs positioned around the sides and at the back of the room, and the musicians on a stage at the front.

As the musicians played some lively jigs and reels, I observed a small boy, about 3 or 4 years old, with Downs Syndrome get out of his chair and walk into the otherwise-empty floor in the centre of the room. He started dancing to the music, oblivious of his audience and seemingly totally immersed in the sounds and rhythms of the music. This continued through several sets of tunes until the group started playing a slow air. Immediately the little boy stopped dancing around and lay down on the floor. It appeared to me that the music had a strong impact upon this young child, made evident through his movements. I wondered how many of us in the room shared a similar desire to be able to cast aside our inhibitions and physically respond to the music in the way this small boy did.

Irish traditional music could be well suited to movement activities in music therapy. Baaijens (1990) developed a sit dance to the Irish Washerwoman tune intended for use with older people to encourage mobility. It involves actions mimicking doing the washing, hanging it out on the line, ironing and folding it. Some of my fellow music therapy students at the New Zealand School of Music performed it in a concert at the University, with a high level of audience participation and a lot of laughter. Sit dances, simple step dances or wheelchair dances could be choreographed to other jigs and reels for therapeutic use. Because of the strong lilting rhythms of Irish traditional music, it is possible to slow the melody down to match the clients abilities, without losing its innate character.

Parting Thoughts

As I continue my journey with Irish traditional music, I am sure it will influence my music therapy practice in many ways some of which I have identified here. Music is a central part of who I am, as is my Irish heritage. Fortunately for me, the two go hand in hand. Music is firmly a part of Irish culture Irish comedian PJ Gallagher quipped that he would like to meet "anyone in Ireland... thats NOT in a band." (http://www.myspace.com/pjgallaghercomedy).

As conveyed by Seamus Tansey, the music flows from the very heart of the land. One hundred years ago, Irish author and poet James Joyce (1907) captured this sentiment in "Strings in the Earth and Air." Irish music is organic and meaningful- something which I aspire to reflect in my own music and practice.

Strings in the earth and air
Make music sweet;
Strings by the river where
The willows meet.
Theres music along the river
For Love wanders there,
Pale flowers on his mantle,
Dark leaves on his hair.
All softly playing,
With head to music bent,
And fingers straying
Upon an instrument.

References

Baaijens, M. (1990). International Sit-Dancing I & II.Unpublished manuscript, Wellington, New Zealand.

Darnley-Smith, R. (2002). Music therapy with elderly adults. In A. Davies & E. Richards (Eds.), Music therapy and group work: Sound company (pp.77-89). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Doherty, L. (1999). Jig. In F. Vallely (Ed.), The Companion to Irish traditional music (pp. 201-202). New York: New York University Press.

Farrington, K. (1998). The music, songs, & instruments of Ireland. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press.

Forrest, L. C. (2002). Addressing issues of ethnicity and identity in palliative care through music therapy practice. In C. Kenny & B. Stige (Eds.), Contemporary voices in music therapy: Communication, culture, and community (pp. 67-82). Oslo, Norway: Unipub forlag.

Hast, D. E. & Scott, S. (2004). Music in Ireland: Experiencing music, expressing culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Henigan, J. (1999). Sean-nós: Variation. In F. Vallely (Ed.), The Companion to Irish traditional music (p. 339). New York: New York University Press.

Irwin, C. (2003). In search of the craic: One mans pub crawl through Irish music. London: André Deutsch.

Joyce, J. (1907). Strings in the Earth and Air. Retrieved October 23, 2007, from the Words Web site: http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/J/JoyceJames/verse/chambermusic/chambermusic01.html

Vallely, F. (Ed.)(1999). The Companion to Irish traditional music. New York: New York University Press.