| Home, Jeeves! |
Introduction:
The Internet and the Traditional Music Community
The study and practice of traditional music within and without the academy has undergone tremendous change in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Scholars and musicians became archivists and compilers out of personal motivation, but partly from the perception that there was a danger of the material becoming lost. Great collectors such as Francis Roche, [1] Francis OÕNeill, [2] and lately, Breand‡n Breathnach, [3] together with many other specialist collectors and publishers recorded what had previously been the stuff of oral tradition. With the advent of audio, then television and video recording, hundreds of artists and their offerings became available to the public. Parallel to these developments, ethnomusicologists and folklorists began moving the paradigms of their disciplines from a more librarian and archivist orientation to a transdisciplinary one with a performance-centered approach (Abrahams 1993, Niles 1999).
As the Irish
diaspora continued from the nineteenth through the twentieth centuries, large
communities of people in America and elsewhere sought to retain or regain their
ethnic Òroots.Ó Beginning in the nineteen fifties and continuing to this day, a
great revival of interest in Irish folk music, dance and song has occurred.
Many people not of Irish heritage also have been attracted to the music via
exposure to performers such as Tommy Peoples and Liz Carroll, groups such as Altan and The Bothy Band, and lately the dance extravaganzas Riverdance
and Lord of the Dance.
In the last three
decades, particularly within the last fifteen years, many in the worldwide
Irish traditional music community have embraced the use of computers and the
Internet. From simply keeping in touch with others spread out over a
multinational geographic and cultural area, activity among Irish music
practitioners and scholars on the Internet grew to include ÒpublicÓ
scholarship, discussion, publicity of persons, performing groups and festivals,
archiving, cross referencing, teaching and commerce. This author was introduced
to IRTRAD-L, an asynchronous computer mediated email list, in 1994 by way of a
conversation with an Irish music friend. I signed onto the list and began
receiving the unmoderated correspondence content. I have been a member of the
list – an ÒIRTRADderÓ – off and on for over ten years. Since
joining this list I became familiar with many other resources on the Internet,
first through the use of anonymous ftp with an Amiga 7MHz 500 computer.
[4]
The 2001 gift of an 867MHz Macintosh lured me onto the World Wide Web via a
cable modem; I quickly established a website of my own and settled into the
pleasures of access to content-rich websites having to do with many aspects of
traditional music. This paper attempts to trace the history, motivation, and
attributes of some of the more public Internet manifestations of Irish
traditional music activity and show how they relate to the Irish music
community at large. It is only a beginning.
Important Timelines for this
Paper
1992, December - IRTRAD-L a moderated asynchronous computer mediated listserv discussion group, via email, begins from University College, Cork, Ireland.
1993, May 5 - IRTRAD-L becomes unmoderated.
1993,
October – Ceolas (Manning 1993)
archive established as an anonymous ftp site. Becomes a Web site in 1995.
1994, June – Abc2mtex, the first program to typeset ABC notation as classical staff notation, introduced.
1994, June – PlayABC, the first program to play ABC files through personal computer speakers, introduced.
1996 – The FiddlerÕs Companion (Kuntz 1995) comes on line.
1998, September – JCÕs ABC Tune Finder (Chambers 1998) comes on line.
2000–2002 - Irishtune.info (Ng 2002), an interactive database listing tunes, artist, name variants, source discography, with cross references to JCÕs Tune Finder, comes on line. Many other content-rich websites, such as Henrik NorbeckÕs ABC Tunes (2002) and The Old Music Project (Brennan 2004) spring into being.
2001,
November 12 – Tiomp‡n Alley: David JamesÕ Music Website! comes on line.
Review
of the Literature
Manuel Castells (2001) described Òforms of sociability constructed around specific
interestsÓ (Castells 2001, 132).
Increasingly,
people are organized not just in social networks, but in computer communicated
social networks. So, it is not the Internet that creates a pattern of networked
individualism, but the development of the Internet provides an appropriate
material support for the diffusion of networked individualism as the dominant
form of sociability (Castells 2001, 130-131).
I read The Social Life of Information (Brown and Duguid 2002) for ideas about learning theory
and practice, and the notions of
Òknow thatÓ and Òknow how.Ó These authors enrich CastellsÕ social
networks idea with considerations of social practice, communities of practice
and networks of practice.
Kling (1996) also describes social relationships in this
kind of electronic forum, and discusses aspects of the permanence of electronic
ÒconversationsÓ and writings.
The archives of IRTRAD-L, 1992 until the present day,
contain every posting that reached subscribersÕ computers. The entire archive
is freely accessible to the members of the list (ÒcookieÓ authorized), as are,
it seems, archives of some of the other HEANET – the Irish universitiesÕ
Internet service provider – lists.
CyberSociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and
Community (Jones 1995) was re-done in 1998
as CyberSociety 2.0 (Jones 1998). From
these two works I have plumbed concepts of the difference in contextual cues in
computer communication, the temporal – asynchronistic – structure
of CMC, and elaborations on the subject of virtual ethnicity (Poster 1998).
Homo Narrans (Niles
1999) is a beautifully written lyrical book on the subject of Òoral
literature.Ó Niles cements himself firmly into the Òsocial praxisÓ view of
folklore, and re-enforces the definition of tradition as the live
tradition-bearer talking (singing, playing) to the live audience. He takes the
body of tradition from the hands of the archivist, who has recorded it as
perceived in one place and time – sometimes attempting to divorce the
content of tradition entirely from the locus of its birth – and returns
it to the land of the living, entrusting its future to the strong tradition bearer
and his or her audience.
Chambers (1998, 2002) was indispensable for background on
ABC notation. The only thing I would wish is that more of these types of Web
sites would document their own history.
Foy (1999) has written a humorous but valuable guide to the
Irish Òsession,Ó that gathering, usually in a pub, which has become the central
feature of the practicing Irish traditional music community. Worth noting here
is the following quotation.
[T]he seeming
offhandedness and impromptu grace of a good session are no accident, and that a
sense of how to conduct one - and how to conduct yourself at one - is not
something you're born with after all, Irish surname notwithstanding. The fact
is, these things must be learned, either by example or by outright instruction.
And this is no less true for whole towns than for individuals (Foy 1999, 9-10).
Foy, with little
or no justification perpetrates many of the prejudices peculiar to American
practitioners of Irish music – seldom found in Ireland – such as
his prejudice against hammered dulcimers even when properly played. Otherwise
his observations on the rules of session etiquette are humorous and well
informed, and provide a guide to the novice player or listener.
Excerpts
from the first Communications
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 92
12:05:00 GMT
Reply-To: Irish Traditional Music List
<IRTRAD-L@IRLEARN.BITNET>
Sender: Irish Traditional Music List
<IRTRAD-L@IRLEARN.BITNET>
From:
ARAR6013@IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE
Contents
NEWS About IR-TRAD
NEWS Current Research in Irish Traditional
Music at University College, Cork, Ireland.
NEWS Some Useful
Addresses
NEWS Irish
Traditional Music Sessions
NEWS New Recording of
O'Carolan's Music
NEWS Instrument
Makers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apologies to all IR-TRAD subscribers for the long delay in getting
this first issue out.
IR-TRAD is a moderated list. The
moderators are Paul McGettrick: PMCG@IRUCCVAX.BITNET or PMCG@IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE
and Hammy Hamilton: HH@IRUCCVAX.BITNET or HH@IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE
It is intended that there will be one issue per month.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have set up IR-TRAD primarily to provide:
A) An INFORMATION SERVICE
Announcements regarding
Summer Schools
Lectures
Workshops
Eigses/Festivals/Fleadhs/Concerts/Tionols/Weekends
Classes
New publications
New Recordings
Tours (Venues
and Schedules)
etc.
Listings e.g.
Names of
Instrument Makers
Where to hear
the music live
Names of Societies/Organisations/Clubs
etc. promoting Irish traditional music (see listing of proposed Archive files
below)
Details of current research in Irish
Traditional Music
Please send
abstracts.
Miscellaneous e.g. news items, grants
and awards etc. and
B) A FORUM for
DISCUSSION
Queries
Establishing links between people doing
similar research, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
We hope gradually to build up archive files containing information
on or details of where you can get information on:
1. Instrument Makers
2.
Organisations, Societies, Clubs and Information Centres
3. Where to hear the
music live
4. Where to buy the
music (audio/print)
5. Institutions where
Irish traditional music can be studied
6. Irish traditional
music theses
7. Abstracts of
research
8. Main libraries of
Irish traditional music
9. Yearly summer
schools, courses, events, concerts
10. Newsletters, Periodicals
11. Record Companies
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there are any glaring omissions please let us know. Also we would welcome suggestions as to
how the list could be improved.
We look forward to receiving
contributions to the list from subscribers.
Paul McGettrick
This first posting also contained a listing of then-current
postgraduate research in Irish traditional music at the University College,
Cork (UCC), Òsome useful addressesÓ for Irish music organizations, the
beginning of a session list (place and time), and the beginning of an
instrument makersÕ list.
The January 1993 ÒissueÓ contained a listing of new
recordings together with a brief review and a comprehensive listing of the
musicians and tracks on each album. This was followed by an introduction to the
Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin, which had been established by the
Irish Arts Council in 1987, and the Traditional Music Archive at UCC. Postings,
which had been selected for inclusion by the list moderators, included four
lengthy discussions of the attributes of tradition as applied to Irish music,
and a short humorous piece about flute players. The following editorial
appeared below the masthead:
EDITORIAL
We are rather stunned by the amount of
interest that the Irtrad-L list is attracting, and because of the numbers of
people who are subscribing we have decided to make it a moderated list, and
also the list listing has been moved from Mail serve to Listserve.
[5]
This has caused some confusion which is
hopefully sorted out now at this stage. We have had responses from all sorts of people, from amateur
enthusiasts to academics.
Although originally intended as a
service for those involved in academic research in Irish traditional music and
related topics, we do not want to discourage amateurs from subscribing and
hopefully there will be enough of the content to keep them interested. At the
moment though, could we ask subscribers not to send us potted biographies
unless you are actually involved in research in which case a brief outline of
the research topic is all that is required! But please do continue to send ideas and information, and we
will do our best to answer any questions that come up as well. We would
particularly ask subscribers outside Ireland to contribute such things as
notice of recordings and publications which might be of interest, and which
might not come to our notice here. We welcome recordings and publications for
review sent to:
Hammy Hamilton
c/o Music Dept.
U.C.C.
Co. Cork
Ireland.
By May, 1993 the
moderators were overwhelmed by the volume of mail by the over 300 subscribers,
and were forced to go Òunmoderated.Ó
This state of affairs continues to this day, with 439 subscribers. A
check of the archives for the month of March, 2005 reveals over 350 messages on
153 separate topics by 140 different persons. Parenthetically, what might be of
some surprise to the casual reader is that there were only eighteen messages
having to do with St. PatrickÕs Day!
Attendant to this
paper, and this authorÕs ongoing research in Irish music and its community, I
undertook to assemble a survey which acquired the title ÒStudy of Listserv
Group Irtrad_L and website JCÕs Tune FinderÓ (James 2005). Following
Institutional Review Board approval, a lengthy task, the survey was made
available only to IRTRAD members, confining notice of it and access to the URL
to those who read about it on IRTRAD. The complete text of the survey is in the
appendix to this paper, or see the on-line views
[6]
for the presentation aspects. The survey is deficient in many aspects, but
preliminary returns verify that for most list members the ability to Òkeep in
touchÓ with the wider world of traditional Irish musicians and scholars is of
paramount importance.
Many simply enjoy
the news, chat and insightful repartee available on the list every day. For
some the list substitutes as an on-line Òcommunity of practiceÓ (Brown and
Duguid 2002), which, while lacking many of the aspects of a local community,
still may be the only alternative to isolation. I have seen the results of sessions
remote from an Irish traditional community a number of times. Members of these
sessions have been shocked to find that ÒrealÓ traditional sessions do not
admit the presence of sheet music, do not Òtake turnsÓ democratically, tolerate
no ÒjammingÓ and might require some real wood shedding before the person
attends again. IRTRAD, and the kind of advice and insight available even by
just reading (Òlurking,Ó itÕs called) the posts and searching the archives
contains an immense amount of wisdom.
IRTRAD-L Archives: Some Data
ÒMassageÓ
March 2005 – Messages By Topic
|
ÒThreadÓ Title |
# Messages |
Type |
|
1.
"The Crooked Road" on Gael Linn |
1 |
give info. |
|
2.
5 string banjo |
1 |
give info |
|
3.
5-string banjo in Irish music ... ? |
3 |
give info/history |
|
4.
5string banjo in Irish music |
19 |
ask for history/ replies |
|
5.
<No subject> |
1 |
see #51: emotional discussion |
|
6.
Need tape or CD for Aly Bain Fiddle Tutor |
1 |
need materials |
|
7.
A Guide to Early Irish Law |
3 |
bodhr‡n humor (the worst kind of
ITM humor) |
|
8.
ABC REQ: Tim Henry's Favorite |
3 |
need tune |
|
9.
ABC request |
1 |
need tune |
|
10. Acadian or Cajun Music |
2 |
need info/ reply |
|
11. Add, NYAH County Cavan Arts Festival
2005 www.cavanmusic.co |
1 |
info |
|
12. Add an r |
1 |
finish joke # 7 |
|
13. Aly Bain Tutor tape |
1 |
need materials |
|
14. Amateurism and The Art of Motor
Cycle Maintenance. |
8 |
singing style discussion/
emotional |
|
15. Amhran na leabhar |
3 |
need translation |
|
16. Andy Davey, Fiddler RIP Funeral
Arrangements |
1 |
info on important tradition
bearer |
|
17. April calendar listings |
4 |
NY, NY event info |
|
18. Art and the bourgeoisie |
1 |
humor |
|
19. b+ |
2 |
instrument review |
|
20. Ballinamore Ceilidh Band LP |
11 |
ask for history/ replies |
|
21. Battle Of The Boyne |
5 |
tune history |
|
22. Behon law |
2 |
humor, see #7 |
|
23. Blatant Piracy |
9 |
netiquette/info/ emotional |
|
24. Bodhr‡n Shenanigans!! |
4 |
history |
|
25. Brock McGuire on tour |
1 |
info |
|
26. Brock McGuire website |
1 |
info |
|
27. Caoimh’n O'Raghallaigh |
1 |
info |
|
28. CD available |
5 |
info |
|
29. Celtic dross |
1 |
opinion/ emotional |
|
30. Celtic guitar accompaniment |
3 |
opinion |
|
31. Ceolt—ir’ Laigheann |
3 |
ask for history/ replies |
|
32. Chacun a son gout |
1 |
opinion |
|
33. Cherish the Ladies / was Pride of
Erin, Fermanagh |
7 |
history |
|
34. Chicago - IAHC - CHULRUA - Sat,
April 2, 2005 |
1 |
info |
|
35. Chicago this weekend Sessions or
good performances? |
2 |
info request/ reply |
|
36. Chris Grotewohl |
1 |
history |
|
37. Comhaltas Session Tunes |
1 |
info |
|
38. Conescu |
1 |
info request |
|
39. Cup of Tae Traditional Music
Festival |
1 |
info |
|
40. Danny E. & Sarah U. St.
Patrick's Day Weekend |
1 |
info |
|
41. David James - thanks ... |
1 |
reply to #42 |
|
42. David James contact info |
1 |
info request |
|
43. David Munnelly |
1 |
opinion |
|
44. David Power in concert: central New
Jersey, USA |
1 |
info |
|
45. David Power's new CD: My love's in
America |
3 |
info |
|
46. Dear Old Irish/German/Welsh Mothers
o' Ours |
4 |
humor |
|
47. Don't wave that scalpel around in
here |
16 |
history/opinion/ emotional |
|
48. Dusty Windowsills/Trip to the
Highlands |
3 |
history |
|
49. Dusty Windowsills |
1 |
history |
|
50. Email Address Paul O'Shaughnessy |
1 |
info request |
|
51. Experimentation / ostracization |
25 |
history/style/ emotional |
|
52. From 'The Irish Immigrant' regarding
Gear—id î hAllmhur‡in |
1 |
history info |
|
53. From the Forest to the Fiddler's
Hands |
1 |
info |
|
54. Fw: [CelticCafe] Danœ to quit
Touring |
2 |
info |
|
55. Gregor's abject apology |
2 |
info |
|
56. Harmonica advice |
1 |
history request |
|
57. Harper Research Request |
1 |
history |
|
58. He was a nice player and at some
point I'll remember his name. |
1 |
history |
|
59. Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels back in
print from Mel Bay |
2 |
info |
|
60. I'll bid you the top of the morning |
1 |
request tune |
|
61. Irish Community in Indiana |
16 |
request info/ replies |
|
62. Irish music in Birmingham |
3 |
request info/ replies |
|
63. Irish Trad Music books on eBay |
1 |
info |
|
64. irtrad jingoisticallnessness |
7 |
humor |
|
65. IRTRAD-L Digest - 2 Mar 2005 to 3
Mar 2005 (#2005-63) |
1 |
info, see #48, 49 |
|
66. IRTRAD-L Digest - 24 Mar 2005 to 25
Mar 2005 (#2005-85) |
1 |
opinion |
|
67. Joanie Madden/Mary Coogan tour of
Ireland May 24 to June 2, |
2 |
info |
|
68. John Carty - S.E. PA Interest |
1 |
info |
|
69. John Carty and Ged Foley in Pittsburgh |
1 |
info |
|
70. John Carty tunings |
3 |
info/ style |
|
71. John Flanagan |
1 |
info |
|
72. John Flanagan (Sean N—s in PA) |
1 |
info |
|
73. John Flanagan (Sean N—s Workshop and
Concert) |
2 |
info |
|
74. Johnny Harling |
1 |
info/ history |
|
75. Just a Thought |
2 |
St. PatrickÕs Day |
|
76. Kate on experimentation /
ostracization |
2 |
style/ opinion/ emotional, see
#51 |
|
77. LiveIreland Awards |
2 |
info |
|
78. Liz Doherty |
3 |
info |
|
79. Looking for sessions |
4 |
request info/ replies |
|
80. Looking up info on 19th c. Irish
music collectors and earlier |
5 |
history |
|
81. Lunasa on The Connection |
1 |
info |
|
82. Lyrics Request: 4 and 9 |
2 |
info request/ reply |
|
83. Mailing errors |
1 |
info request |
|
84. More Odds and Ends |
3 |
history/ humor |
|
85. More pure-droppings |
2 |
humor |
|
86. Music links on the Web (long) (was
RE: Ballinamore Ceilidhe Band LP |
2 |
info/ important |
|
87. New Book - Songs of the County Down |
3 |
info |
|
88. New Irish Music Releases March 2005 |
1 |
info |
|
89. New issue of JMI (The Journal of
Music in Ireland) |
1 |
info/important |
|
90. New London session |
5 |
info |
|
91. New open trad. session in Galway
city |
1 |
info |
|
92. New tunes study |
17 |
survey/discussion |
|
93. Nya |
2 |
discussion |
|
94. NY Times Strikes Again...on set
dancing |
2 |
history |
|
95. NYTimes.com: How Step Dancing Became
the Lord of Irish Feet |
1 |
history |
|
96. O'Neill's "Irish Folk Music..."
/ "Waifs & Strays..." on eBay |
1 |
info |
|
97. Odds and ends. |
3 |
history/ discussion |
|
98. Olde Inn reopens |
1 |
info |
|
99. PA. Irish Music Series Makes
"The Irish Echo" |
4 |
info |
|
100. Plectrum banjo |
2 |
history |
|
101. Pride of Erin, Fermanagh |
14 |
history |
|
102. Pure-drop |
8 |
history/info |
|
103. Query: jamming in Toronto? |
1 |
request info |
|
104. Re Sessions in Chicago: IRTRAD-L
Digest - 29 Mar 2005 to 30 |
1 |
info |
|
105. Reminder: John Carty/Ged Foley
Concert |
1 |
info |
|
106. RIP Fiddler Andrew Davey Gurteen,
Co. Sligo. |
1 |
history/info |
|
107. Saint Louis - April 8, 9, 10 |
1 |
info |
|
108. ScoilTrad --Have I missed something |
8 |
history/info |
|
109. Sean Maguire on RTE |
2 |
info/history |
|
110. Sean McGuire Fiddler |
3 |
info/history |
|
111. Sean McGuire Fiddler RIP Funeral
Arrangements |
1 |
info |
|
112. Seeking contact info - flute
players |
1 |
request info |
|
113. Session in Amsterdam |
2 |
info |
|
114. Sheila Coyle's |
6 |
history |
|
115. Slides, single jigs, hop jigs, and
slip |
8 |
history/ style |
|
116. Sligo Brosnan's orumah John's Creek |
1 |
tune discussion |
|
117. Some Johnny Harling tunes |
3 |
info/ tunes |
|
118. Some St. Patrick's Week Events: NY
Hudson Valley region |
1 |
info |
|
119. Song request |
1 |
request info |
|
120. Song Request |
1 |
request info |
|
121. Song request |
5 |
reply/ emotional |
|
122. Re: A Guide to Early Irish Law |
2 |
history |
|
123. Re: wire-harp / was traditional
Irish folk groups |
1 |
history |
|
124. Studio suggestions, Ireland &
UK? |
1 |
info |
|
125. Speaking of the harp - S.E. PA
& Vicinity Interest |
1 |
info |
|
126. Studio suggestions, Ireland &
UK? |
1 |
info |
|
127. Subject line tagging |
4 |
info |
|
128. Subject tags |
1 |
info |
|
129. The "nya" of a tune |
4 |
info/style/ history |
|
130. The Essence of a Session |
2 |
info/ history |
|
131. The Exiles Return |
2 |
info |
|
132. The hag with the money |
5 |
history |
|
133. Thursday night sessions in Clare |
5 |
info |
|
134. Titles of CDs |
4 |
info request |
|
135. To like and not to like |
2 |
opinion/ emotional |
|
136. Trad Music News |
5 |
info |
|
137. Trad music pud (sic) in Atlanta |
15 |
info request/reply humorous |
|
138. Traditional Irish folk groups |
6 |
info request/reply |
|
139. Traditional Irish folk groups |
4 |
reply |
|
140. Traditional Irish folk groups |
1 |
reply |
|
141. trippin |
3 |
history |
|
142. tune id |
2 |
info request/reply |
|
143. Tune Query |
1 |
info |
|
144. U2, Me2, Us2 |
1 |
humor |
|
145. Unsung heroines |
1 |
history/important |
|
146. WCSS |
11 |
discussion/ info |
|
147. Willie Clancy and Singing |
24 |
request history/ reply/
important/ emotional |
|
148. Wire-harp / was traditional Irish
folk groups |
5 |
info |
|
149. Wishing you all |
3 |
greetings |
|
150. Women in pre-modern ITM |
2 |
history/ important |
|
151. Woodstock, NY: John Carty/Ged Foley
Concert |
1 |
info |
|
152. Young musicwide award 2005, Music
network seeks Irish trad group. |
1 |
info |
|
153. [CelticCafe] Danœ to quit Touring |
1 |
info |
Information
postings make up the plurality of the mail for March, with 53. Postings
containing history elements are a close second at 42, and lengthier. There were
four intense discussions involving many list members in sometimes acrimonious
discussion. The most intense followed a query by a talented young musician
involving questions of merging Irish traditional music with Òworld musicÓ
contemporary styles. The second-most well-attended discussion involved the use
of the word ÒCeltic.Ó Using this word on the IRTRAD list is like waving a red
flag in front of a bull. The list prefers to use national terms like ÒIrishÓ or
ÒScots,Ó these being terms of national and ethnic identity, lacking the
ÒracialÓ overtones of
ÒCeltic.Ó Two intense
discussions focused on traditional singing style, involving questions of voice
quality, song delivery, and the age of the singers. One exchange examined the
demise of an on-line teaching website that attempted to attract paying
customers who would record their practice into the computer as a sound file,
send it to the teacher at the website for comment and critical feedback.
Consensus was that this practice was cumbersome when carried out in an
asynchronous way over the Web. This may be a good example of a failed attempt
to merge a community of knowledge (the website in question) with the actual
physical practice of musicianship, but minus the social component of actual
physical contact (Brown and Duguid 2002, 136-137).
Members of the list have exhibited the behavior described
by Kling (1996, 428) attendant on the lack of face-to-face visual and verbal
cues. Members have reacted like rockets to perceived slights, which may have
been much more moderated in person. Some members from non-native-English
speaking countries seemed to have used translation programs that garbled
colloquialisms and amplified the meaning of innocuous words. My own translator program, on the
Macintosh, translated ÒsillyÓ into German as Òdumm,Ó but translated it back to
English as Òstupidly.Ó It is easy to see that someone relying on such a program
might be the subject of gross misunderstanding.
IRTRAD-L Archives – March
2005 – Messages By Different Individuals
140 total persons %
total persons Total
messages (of 566)
50 different persons, 36%, sent
1 message each, 50
messages
24 different persons 17%
sent
2 messages each, 48
messages
13 different persons 09.3% sent 3 messages
each, 39
messages
14 different persons 10% sent
4 messages each, 56
messages
8 different persons 06% sent
5 messages each, 40
messages
6 different persons 04.2% sent 6
messages each, 36
messages
2 different persons 01.4% sent 8
messages each, 16
messages
9 different persons 06.4% sent 9
messages each, 81
messages
2 different persons 01.4% sent 10
messages each, 20 messages
2 different persons 01.4% sent 11
messages each, 22 messages
3 different persons 02.1% sent 13
messages each, 39 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
14 messages each, 14 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
15 messages each, 15 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
16 messages each, 16 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
17 messages each, 17 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
18 messages each, 18 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
19 messages each, 19 messages
1 different person 0.7% sent
20 messages each, 20 messages
The top ten contributors
sent 27% of the messages. These people are usually long term members of the
list, of academic or traditional background. They were usually replying to
postings by others. The top twenty-five contributors sent 52% of the messages.
Contributions: Number by Date:
|
40 on Wed., 23 36 on Fri., 4
34 on Tue., 22 30 on Wed., 30 27 on Thu., 10 24 on Tue., 1 24 on Fri., 11 22 on Sat., 26 20 on Tue., 29 19 on Wed., 2 19 on Thu., 24 18 on Fri., 25 17 on Thu., 17 16 on Tue., 15 15 on Wed., 9 |
15 on Wed., 16 14 on Mon., 14 13 on Mon., 7 12 on Sun., 27 11 on Mon., 21 10 on Sun., 6 09 on Thu., 31 09 on Thu., 3 07 on Sun., 20 07 on Sat., 5 06 on Tue., 8 06 on Fri., 18 05 on Sat., 12 04 on Sun., 13 04 on Sat., 19 |
On the 22nd
and 23rd were engaging discussions about likes and dislikes in
traditional singing, the history of the 5-string banjo in Irish music, that
attracted most of the postings. On Saturday the 19th discussion on
singing at the Willie Clancy Summer School was just beginning to warm up. Note
that only one of the four Saturdays of the month had any serious traffic. this
could be because it is a common performing and listening night; social rather
than on-line.
IRTRAD-L and Real Life: A Comparison
|
Irish Music
ÒSessionÓ ÒKnow howÓ/learning
to be Participants
are at an actual site. Tunes and songs
played Òlive.Ó Musical
connecting face-to-face, style in a social or cultural context. Held in a
particular place, limited to a particular time. Conversation
face-to-face, sequential in time, ephemeral unless recorded, heard only by
those present, on or off topic of music (social), other activities –
i.e. drinking, eating. Social in entirety. Identity
obvious or expressed. ÒPeer reviewÓ
limited to those present. Moderated at
best by local tradition-bearers Mediated by
understanding, gesture, spoken and unspoken cues. Remembered
(memory). |
IRTRAD-L
On-Line ÒKnow thatÓ/learning
about (Brown and Duguid 2002) Participants
are at a virtual site, and may or may not be a member of a Òcommunity of
practiceÓ (Brown and Duguid 2002) Tunes and songs
referenced. No musical
connecting. Discussions of style and content prevalent. In
Òcyberspace,Ó accessible any time. Computer-mediated
conversation, usually held to a topic, asynchronous, storable hence more
permanent, readable and can be copied and spread by anyone who accesses
archives (Kling 1996). ÒRefer to
identity the individual has already determined in non-electronic social
spaceÓ (Poster 1998, 203). Possibility of deception. A personÕs
postings can be the subject of intense controversy among many or all of the
list members. Moderated in a
much more free-for-all manner. Mediated by
writing skills, written or unwritten codes less obviously accessible because
stored in an archive Òplace.Ó Invent own social ÒcuesÓ (Baym 1995). Remembered,
cataloged, archived. |
The first
consideration rests on the distinction between the explicit and tacit
(implicit) dimensions of knowledge: that Òno amount of explicit knowledge
provides you with the implicit... Ô[K]now thatÕ doesnÕt produce Ôknow howÕ and
BrunerÕs
[7]
learning about doesnÕt, on its own,
allow you to learn to beÓ (Brown
and Duguid 2002). We learn how at
the same time as weÕre learning to be, by practice. The practitioner will be greatly aided by the explicit
knowledge available on IRTRAD-L and the various databases but it ultimately
boils down to the hard work of practice.
To make matters
Òworse,Ó a person becomes proficient as an Irish traditional musician not just
by knowing, say, a thousand Irish tunes on the fiddle, but by acquiring the
social dimensions necessary for this identity. These include the background
– the history of Irish music, regional styles, the knowledge of past and
present Ògreat players,Ó and the ways and reasons the ÒlocalsÓ join multiple
tunes together to create a Òset.Ó They include the rules of etiquette –
how to behave in a session, deference to strong tradition bearers, attribution
of sources, and may also include when to stop playing and join in some chat or
buy a round of drinks for the session. Brown and Duguid (2002) define this
combination of skills as defining a Òcommunity of practice,Ó which begins in a
local, physical place, but might be built with the assistance of Internet
resources into a Ònetwork of practice.Ó This is where IRTRAD and the knowledge
bases, irishtune.info, JCÕs Tune Finder, Ceolas, etc. come into their own.
Research, for example on the version and provenance of a tune, has never been
easier.
IRTRAD discussion
is replete with the tension between the need to safeguard the tradition and the
pressures to innovate and think out of the box. It is the opinion of this
writer, shared by many on the list, that the traditional community of practice,
in order to be successful, must rely on a person or persons called by John D. Niles
Òstrong tradition bearersÓ (Niles 1999). Briefly,
these are people who, by virtue of their lifelong immersion in the music, song
and lore of a particular geographic area, or a long history of commitment to
the particular tradition, either assume or are appointed by their community as,
in a sense, the ÒguardiansÓ or arbiters of the tradition. Essential for the
understanding of this concept is the notion of praxis, that is, the performance of the corpus of that personÕs
tradition ÒliveÓ in front of a knowing audience, perpetually renewing the value
of this body of knowledge and belief to the community and exercising the right
of the strong tradition bearer to add his or her ÒbitÓ to the tradition as it
gets passed along (Niles 1999, 173-193).
This is the sine qua non of the whole Irish traditional music ecology. Without the
strong tradition bearer and the vitality of interaction between this person and
the audience, one has nothing but a disembodied mass of tunes and songs with no
context, perhaps archived, but learned and studied as if in a museum. Without
this person there is no one to arbitrate the inclusion or exclusion of
innovative elements such as new styles, tunes, instruments, technical
variations. For many people in areas of the world where their access to strong
tradition bearers is limited or impossible on a regular basis, IRTRAD-L can be
a substitute. One respondent to the Study
(James 2005), who described his local Irish music scene as Òdismal,Ó stated, ÒThe
list was my gateway into ITM. I felt
completely isolated and IRTRAD-L gave me access to tunes, recordings, live
musicians, festivals and tionols
[8]
. It
enabled me to become a better musician... IÕd rather have personal
conversations but the advantage of the net is that provides a means of discourse
when personal conversations are impossible.Ó
Baym, (1995, 146) Òproposes the most articulated perspective on tasks, arguing
that task types have prior structures...
they require that the group generate ideas or plans, choose among
answers or solutions, negotiate conflicting views or conflicting interests, or
execute performances in competition with opponents or external standards. These
four task types differ in whether or not each requires the transmission of
information among members of the group, or also requires the transmission of
values, interests, personal commitments and the likeÓ (Baym 1995, 146). The
extent to which IRTRAD-L is task oriented as versus recreational, is, I
suppose, dependent on the outlook of the individual participant. That even the
information and humor postings on IRTRAD contain value components is important
to consider. Nor is it quite right to say that online CMCs are completely
without social cues. Many have been developed, among them the :) smiley face,
ALL CAPS for shouting, IMHO (in my humble opinion) and other normative
conventions and abbreviations. ÒPeer review,Ó both at the live session and on
IRTRAD, can be a brutal thing. In the live session it is usually mediated by
the good-humored sociability of the thing, but sometimes a one who ignores Òthe
rulesÓ can find him or herself unexplainably shunned or excluded, On line it is
even worse. The ÒrulesÓ may not be obvious; the beginner who is also unfamiliar
with the Òreal worldÓ of Irish music may find the presence of a real minefield.
There is the further consideration that postings may stay on someone elseÕs
computer for a period of time, to come back and haunt the sender and become a
part of a permanent archive.
Introduction:
Historical Aspects of Music and Notation
Western music today is rooted in the use of twelve tones. These are represented on the piano by the seven white and five black keys within the span from one note to its corresponding octave. An explanation of the origin of this twelve-tone scale is rooted in mathematics and history. Stir together Pythagoras the Greek who, about 600 B.C. found the mathematical 3/2 relationship of the musical fifth interval, with two medieval monks. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480-524), a sixth century Italian monk, used the alphabet to designate a two-octave span of notes (Read 1979: 4,5). Another Italian, Guido dÕArezzo (995-1050), identified the intervals of six tones of the scale from C to A (Read 1979). The development of twelve tones can be basically understood by taking a note, finding the Òperfect fifth,Ó then the fifth of that note, then the fifth of that one and so on. This is called the circle of fifths. YouÕll end up with roughly twelve different notes between do and octave do. Or if you take dÕArezzoÕs six interval tones and, instead of starting at do, start them one note up, you see that there is a note missing. If you keep doing this one note higher each time, you end up with twelve tones. Suffice to say that it was finally Bach (1685-1750) who handed us the tuning scheme we use today in which some intervals are ÒfudgedÓ to make music euphonious in every key.
The modern system of music notation familiar to everyone did not come into consistent use until the middle of the seventeenth century (Read 1979: 23). Before and since then there have been many other systems of notation. Two of these, the ancient Greek systems and the tablature letter and number systems, are most germane to this paper.
The Greeks devised a simple, comprehensible, system of musical notation before the time of Christ. Letters of the alphabet represented certain pitches. Letters could be turned backwards or upside down to represent the note as sharped or flatted. The duration of the notes could be represented by a series of lines like so: ____ = 2 beats, |___ = 3 beats, |___| = 4 beats, |__|__| = 5 beats, placed beneath the letters. Having devised this simple and elegant form, they proceeded to pile on the complications, adding over 1600 different signs and symbols by the fourth century A.D. in addition to employing the Ionic alphabet for vocal, and the Phoenician alphabet for instrumental music.
The second system of notation is easily understandable. For example, take an instrument with its pitches established, for example, a six-hole keyless flute in the key of D. Designate the number 6 to represent all six of the holes covered, the number 5 to represent all but the bottom-most hole covered, etc., to 0 for Òall holes uncovered,Ó the note ti, C#. One could write out a jig on the six-hole flute as follows. This is the first line of the jig, Killaloe Boat:
| 522 522 | 121 3-2 | 15Ý5Ý 5Ý6Ý1 | 6Ý12 356 |
To play the tune from this notation one would have to know a few things. A jig is in 6/8 time, but the dance rhythm is really two pieces of three. Say Òdiddly-diddlyÓ or Òapples and orangesÓ to get the notion. Each number/note is one beat long. The Ò3-Ò in the example above means you hold this note for two beats. The arrow after a number means you blow a little harder to make the flute jump an octave. This is a much simpler way of writing out:
with no staff, clef, key signature, notes, or bar lines. The principal
advantage of this kind of system is that it shows exactly where on the
instrument to play the tune. In
this particular case the system is most easily used for only one line of music.
Not so for location-based music for stringed instruments. This notation evolved
for the lute in the 16th century (Read 1979: 21) and has since
become common for many fretted string instruments. Here is the Killaloe Boat
in modern tablature for standard-tuning
guitar.
Polyphony is as easy with this kind of system as it is with regular staff notation.
One could also write the above without the string lines as follows, with a letter name to refer to the string that only needs to be restated when thereÕs a string change - and a number for the fret, with some kind of divider, like a period, to differentiate the numbers 1 and 2 from 12. Once again, it would be difficult to write out a polyphonic part.
| E0.5.5. 0.5.5. | 7.5.7. 3.-5. | 7.12.12. 12.10.7. | 10.7.5. 3.0.B3 |
The principle advantage with tablature systems arises because there is more than one place on the guitar to play each note, and, if the instrument is in tune the player need not Òknow his or her notes,Ó so to speak. The obvious problem arises if the musician is not a guitar player.
Many musicians throughout history have transcribed tunes using note names. In one scheme, capital letters are used for middle C, one octave to B, then small letters for the second octave. Now the tune looks like this, using the same conventions as above:
Key:
G (1 #)
| EAA EAA | BAB G2A | Bee Bee | dBA
GED |
The advantage of this system is that it is transportable to
any instrument. The disadvantages arise when an instrumentalist needs to know
where on the instrument an E, or e (an octave higher), is played, or if the part is
polyphonic. In none of the examples above have I indicated expression –
ties, slurs, breathing, etc. - or bowing marks, although most users of
non-standard notation have sets of markings to denote expression. Often this
results in a hybrid system where the arranger will, for example, put a number 4
above the note A to indicate that it is
to be played with the pinkie finger on the D string rather that on the open A string on the fiddle. For a folk musician playing European
folk dance music, however, the ABC notation fits like a glove. On the
simple-system flute, the fiddle – played predominantly in the first position
– the accordeon and the various pipes, it is easily readable and
portable. It waited for further refinement by musician-computer innovators to
reach its present state of usefulness.
The
Development of Modern ABC Notation
The twin skills of music-making and computer programming
have given rise to most of the interrelationships between Irish music and the
Internet. For example, Dr. Chris Walshaw is a Senior Lecturer at the University
of Greenwich School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences. He is also a
multi-instrumentalist and performer in several traditional music groups. He
relates that he first began to use ABC notation as an aid to memory, but turned
his computer expertise to the problems of storage and communication of folk
tunes over the Internet (Walshaw 2005). Here is his message to the IRTRAD list
announcing his development of a sub-program to convert ABC notated tunes to
high-quality sheet music.
Abc2mtex:
the first computer-aided ABC transcriber
Below is a facsimile of the relevant portion of the
announcement on the IRTRAD group of the abc2mtex program (Walshaw 1994).
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994
11:48:48 +0000
Reply-To: Irish Traditional Music List
<IRTRAD-L@IRLEARN.BITNET>
Sender: Irish Traditional Music List
<IRTRAD-L@IRLEARN.BITNET>
From: (Chris Walshaw)
Subject: Announcing abc2mtex v1.1
*****************************************************************
********** Announcing version 1.1
of abc2mtex
**********
*****************************************************************
This is a package designed to notate tunes stored in an ascii
format (henceforth abc notation).
It was designed primarily for folk and traditional tunes of Western European
origin (such as Irish, English and
Scottish) which can be written on one stave in standard classical notation.
However, it should be extendible to many other types of music.
As an example the tune Paddy O'Rafferty would be written out
as...(example omitted)
The tune is then read in by the program and MusicTeX output
generated (in a matter of seconds). TeX can then be run on this out-put to
"typeset beautiful music".
The package is small (about 70 KByte), easy to use and features,
amongst other things, the
ability to transpose both music and abc notation. It will also create an index
of all the tunes you have transcribed.
The ability to write tunes in abc notation means that they can be
easily and portably stored or transported electronically. This package allows
you to typeset them easily too.
The package has been written on top of MusicTeX, Daniel Taupin's
music typesetting package, itself written on top of TeX, Donald Knuth's
typesetting package.
[9] To run it you
will need TeX (widely available on Unix machines and also available for PCs),
MusicTeX (available by ftp from a number of sources such as ftp.wustl.edu in
packages/TeX/macros/musictex) and a C compiler.
You can get a copy of the package by anonymous ftp from
ftp.maths.tcd.ie in /pub/TeX/abc2mtex or celtic.stanford.edu in
/pub/tunes/abc2mtex or by sending an email request to me (C.Walshaw@gre.ac.uk).
Chris Walshaw (1994a)
The programs TeX and MusicTex to which he refers both
originated in the 1970s and are still in use today. They are open source and
freely downloadable. Laasco (2005) claims the combined output is still superior
to that of expensive programs like Microsoft Word. Setting up oneÕs computer to use these two programs was a
daunting task in those days at which this author tried and failed.
PlayABC,
a program to play ABC files on a computer
Two months later Walshaw introduced a program
which would play an ABC file tune on a variety of machines (Walshaw 1994b).
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994
11:26:17 +0000
Reply-To: C.Walshaw@greenwich.ac.uk
Sender: Irish Traditional Music List
<IRTRAD-L@IRLEARN.BITNET>
From:
wc0zxr <C.Walshaw@GREENWICH.AC.UK>
Subject: A program to play tunes in abc
format.
Don Ward has asked me to publicise his program playabc which he
describes below.
He is currently working both in Britain & Germany and you can
contact him at don@careful.co.uk or in Germany at ca104@fim.uni-erlangen.de,
but he cannot fix anything until he gets back to the UK.
Chris Walshaw
<C.Walshaw@gre.ac.uk>
================================================================================
Subject: A program to play tunes in abc format.
I have been working on a program to play tunes (which are written
in the abc format defined by Chris Walshaw's abc2tex package) on the built in
speaker of a Sparc workstation.
[10]
The program is available by ftp from
celtic.stanford.edu in the file /pub/tunes/playabc-1.0.tar.Z
In case of difficulty, Chris Walshaw <C.Walshaw@gre.ac.uk>
has kindly agreed to email the program to people.
An extract from the userguide is appended
below.
Don Ward
...
PlayABC does not need ABC2MTeX to play tunes written in abc format
but, to get the full benefit of seeing the dots on the stave as well as hearing
them, you will need it as well as MusicTeX (which itself requires TeX).
The package consists of two programs playabc and tune. Playabc
analyses the abc notation and issues a sequence of sound commands to tune,
which converts the commands into the sound file format required by the audio
device. To play a tune (or series
of tunes) in file mytunes, issue the command playabc < mytunes | tune |
play...
The playabc program is not dependent on the audio device and
should be portable to a variety of machines.
All of the facilities described in ABC2MTeX version 1.1 are
implemented with two exceptions described in the user guide. This means that grace notes, rolls,
staccato notes, accidentals, triplets, repeats, first and second time bars are
all possible. Extensions to the
abc notation give control of tempo and allow the playing of several parts in
harmony.
The program is intended to be used in a `proofhearing' mode,
enabling errors in the tune to be quickly corrected. The sound is adequate for this purpose, but falls short of
the standard required for it to be mistaken for a musical instrument.
This was the first to facilitate translation directly from
ABC to audible music. Many other more computer-savvy users praised the
programs. Here is a July Õ94 posting to IRTRAD-L from a student at University
of Wisconsin at Madison (IRTRAD-L 1994):
Speaking as one of the guilty parties who prolonged the MusicTex
and abc2mtex thread 2 months ago . . .
I'm still holding out hope that more of us IRTRADders will
discover the abovementioned packages.
Why? I see the whole point
of these electronic versions of tunes as a way of sharing that is otherwise
impossible. Many of us in the U.S.
and Canada are relatively isolated Irish musicians, and the Internet offers a
cheap, instant, reliable way of tune-sharing. Sure, it's not like hearing a
live musician play the tune, regardless of the musician's caliber, but even the
big recording artists often cite O'Neill's as a source, for example. Learning a tune I picked up as abc
notation and printed out with MusicTeX is surely just as, if not more, time-efficient
than finding tunes in books.
The bottom line is that I have saved time and
learned more tunes thanks to my computer and IRTRAD than I would have just
learning tunes at our sessions here.
[11]
Walshaw, in order to give the two programs described above
the parameters necessary to typeset, in the one case, and play in the other,
developed first a standard way of writing out an ABC tune. At this point it
might be handy to see an example of a tune as a complete ABC file. Here is the
complete ABC ASCII file for the tune Killaloe Boat. Its size is less than 4 kilobytes. Explanations of the
fields are paraphrased generally from Mansfield (2004).
X: 111681
T: Killaloe Boat
T: (Line for alternative title)
S: ÒRoche Collection of Traditional Irish MusicÓ [I/44/101]
L: 1/8
M: 6/8
R: jig
F: http://www.qmcorp.net/zouki/webabc/k/111681.abc 2005-04-22
18:53:57 UT
K: G
D | EAA EAA | BAB G2A | Bee Bee | dBA GED |
EAA EAA | BAB G2A | Bee dBA | BGG G2 :|
|: A/B/ | def gfg | dBA G2A | Bee Bee | dBA GED |
EAA EAA | BAB G2A | Bee dBA | BGG G2 :|
X: is the file number field. This is a required field,
although the compiler can assign any number. Because the Tune finder ÒshopsÓ
specified Web sites for ABC files this number usually corresponds to the
particular archivistÕs particular filing system. Printing programs usually
interpret X as Òthe beginning of the file.Ó
T: is the title field. If I put another T: and a title on
the next line it would be printed in smaller text below the main title.
S: is the source field. Some dedicated compilers have
transcribed whole tune collections into ABC. This will not print out on the
sheet music.
L: is the length of the default note, in this case an
eighth note. So G2 will print out as a quarter note on the G line of the staff
as seen on the first and second lines below. A/B/ prints out as barred
sixteenth notes.
M: is the meter field, in this case 6/8 Irish jig time.
Notice above that notes are grouped in threes. The programs typeset these
groups with joined beams. If each note were separated by a space, they would
appear as individually flagged eighth notes.
R: is a non-printing field, used in sorting tunes by type.
F: is the URL
of the site on which the ABC file lives.
K: is the key of the tune, which also indicates the sharps
and flats.
Right below the K: field the ABCs for the tune are set out.
Notice how the vertical lines | separate the measures, and the |: and :| are
used to indicate and generate repeat boundaries. Line breaks also translate to
line breaks in the score. Users at this point pasted this file into abc2mtex
or, in subsequent years, many other platform-specific programs. Below is the
result of pasting the file above into the Macintosh program BarFly, written by Scotsman Phil Taylor. BarFly was first issued as shareware in 1997. Taylor is a
traditional musician. Typical of the attitude of others described in this
paper, he charged a minimal price for his software, and over three years
contributed several updates which were free.
Many other elements have been incorporated into the ABC
scheme, things such as bowing marks, slurs, accents, and tuplets. A person
named Steve Allen, highly regarded in the ABC community, has succeeded in
setting BeethovenÕs Symphony #7, Movement 2, in ABC
[12]
.
The respondents to the survey Study (James 2005) have universally expressed the following uses for the Tune Finder: to research new tunes; find a tune they only have a name for, and possibly a fragment of; find a tune they heard someone play and recalled or wrote down the name of; and as an aid to memory or to check a version of a tune against those belonging to well known players.
Respondents to the survey state that they use other sites in addition to JCÕs site for research. Alan Ng (2002) has done a remarkable combination of scholarship and cataloging on irishtune.info. Among the many operations you can accomplish on his site he lists: Òlocate commercial recordings of a tune, given any one of its titles, locate transcriptions of a tune in a book, given any one of its titles, discover whether the tune you are listening to or looking at is known under other titles, find out whether multiple tunes recorded or printed under a given title are actually the same tune or not, identify unnamed tunes on a recording (Ng 2002). In addition to Ng, both Andrew Kunz (1995) and Gerard Manning (1993) have created ÒmetaÓ sites with reams of information, gold mines for researcher/scholars.
Conclusions:
These is a strong desire among Irish traditional players to know the Òwho, what, where and whyÓ of a tune they like. The older strong tradition bearers brought from their home localities bodies of tradition that are irreplaceable and often inaccessible except by direct personal contact. Dedicated musician/computer specialists are racing to preserve as much lore, music, song, as many recordings, transcriptions, references, photographs and ÔNet-reproducible artifacts as they can, to make them available to all who care. This is a great democratizing movement, and while the preponderance of knowledge exists on the explicit side of the equation, the information in the hands of the practitioner can be used to enhance the playerÕs traditional performance skills. These kinds of sites, directing the player/researcher to recordings of favored tunes, aid even in the Òhow toÓ aspects of the practice. With many recordings available, some even downloadable to programs such as iTunes, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player, the avid student or the isolated practitioner has many real resources with which to learn.
CyberJew, CyberIrish?
Martin Poster
(1998) said of Jews that they were Òthe displaced people par excellence. Unlike nomads, whose relation to space is one of movement
and change, Jews, until the establishment of Israel, precisely had no space.
When Nora
[13]
wrote that Jews must remember to be Jews, as we saw above,
he dissociated ethnicity from place in a manner that opened the possibility
that remembering might occur through non-spatial mediations, such as the
Internet... [T]he Internet, far from dissolving ethnicity, enables all Jews,
wherever they are on the planet, to connect with one another. The Internet here
is a neutral instrument of community, connecting preestablished ethnic
identities. Numerous home pages established by Jews... and by other ethnic and
religious groups, as well as the Roman Catholic Pope, testify to the powerful
expectation that cyberspace provides a neutral arena of community solidarity, a
place of stabilizing individual commitments to groups, of congealing ethnic
identity in a gossamer, electronic medium (Poster 1998, 206, 207).Ó And
further, Òwe would gradually invent techniques,
systems of signs, social forms of organization and of regulation permitting us
to think together, to concentrate our intellectual and mental power, to
multiply our imaginations and our experiences, to work out practical solutions
for the complex problems affronting us in real time and on all levels (Poser
1998, 207-208).Ó I could not have said this better myself. What works for
ÒCyberJewsÓ seems to be working for ÒCyberIrishÓ as well.
Acknowledgements
Thanks Dr. Mark Jones, Visiting
Professor of Sociology at Indiana University South Bend, for a great semester
of discussion. Thanks for the hours and inspiration to Ken Baierl, Tim Bock,
Christian Lehman, Janis Martin, Laura Pimienta. Thanks Dr. Mike Keen for the
support. Thanks Bill Reeder, Hammy Hamilton, Paul McGettrick, John Chambers,
Chris Walshaw, Alan Ng, Bill Black, Henrik Norbeck, Gerard Manning, Chris
Smith, Tom Munnelly, for keeping the tradition alive. Thanks John D. Niles for
passages of beauty and lucidity. Thanks especially Kim Hoffmann and Ethan
James.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliography
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World Wide Web
Resources
Brennan, Vincent. 2004. The Old Music Project. http://www.oldmusicproject.com/. (accessed April
28, 2005)
Chambers, John. 1998. JCÕs ABC tune finder. http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/FindTune.html.
(accessed April 17, 2005)
----. 2002. An ABC primer. http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/doc/ABCprimer.html
(Orig. pub. 1999) (accessed April 17, 2005)
IRTRAD-L Archives. 1992.
https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind9407&L=irtrad-l. (accessed
April 20, 2005).
James, David. 2001. Tiomp‡n Alley: David JamesÕ Music Website! http://www.tiompanalley.com.
----. 2005. (Ongoing) Study of Listserv Group
Irtrad_L and website JCÕs Tune Finder.
http://www.tiompanalley.com/index_files/survey.htm (see Appendix)
Kunz, Andrew. 1995. The FiddlerÕs Companion. http://ibiblio.org/fiddlers/index.html (accessed April
25, 2005).
Laakso. Robin. 2005. TeX UsersÕ Group. Portland,
Oregon. http://www.tug.org/ (accessed April 22, 2005).
Manning, Gerard.
1993. Ceolas: the home of Celtic music on the Internet. http://www.ceolas.org/ceolas.html (accessed April 17,
2005).
Mansfield, Steve.
2004. How to interpret abc music notation. http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm (accessed
May 1, 2005)
Ng, Alan. 2002. irishtune.info: Irish Traditional Music Tune Index. http://www.irishtune.info
Norbeck, Henrik.
2002. Henrik NorbeckÕs ABC Tunes. http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/. (accessed April 22, 2005)
Walshaw, Chris. 1994a. Announcing abc2mtex v1.1. In Archives
of IRTRAD-L@LISTSERV.HEANET.IE:Irish Traditional Music List https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind9403&L=irtrad-l
(accessed April 18, 2005).
----. 1994b. A program to play tunes in abc format. In Archives
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Appendix
David JamesÕ IRTRAD_L AND JC's ABC TUNE FINDER SURVEY
First a few questions about YOU.
1. Your age:
Female Male
2. Instrument(s) and skill level (self-described)
3. Where do you live?
4. Any Irish music where you live? Yes No
5. What's the Irish music "scene" like where you live? (Do you live in Ireland, or a town with a well-established Irish music community? Do you consider where you live an Irish music "wilderness?" Tell all! )
6. Where are your Irish traditional music people? Who do you learn from (or teach)? Are they near you? Far from you? Live presence? On line?
7. How often do you play (or study) Irish traditional music? Practice? Session? Perform? On line?
8. Do you use JC's ABC Tune Finder? Yes No
9. If so, how do you use JC's? (check any or all) a. Find new tunes b. Find a tune I only have a name for, and possibly a fragment c. Find a tune I heard someone play d. Aid to memory/check my version of a tune
10. If not, why not? Do you use any other tune sources?
11. If so, how did you find out about it? How long have you been using it? How often do you use it?
12. If so, how do you download tunes (as abc, txt, gif, png, midi, etc.) Do you have some "translator" program on your computer, like Barfly or abc2win? While we're at it, what do you think about pdf?
13. What do you think about the content of JC's Tune Finder?
14. Why do you participate in Irish traditional music?
15. How long have you been at it?
16. Why do you participate in IRTRAD_L?
17. How long have you been at it?
18. Do people on IRTRAD_L agree on things? What are their debates about? What happens when a debate or thread goes on?
19. How do YOU use IRTRAD_L? (Learn tunes? Learn about tunes and players? History of Ireland and ITM? Learn about festivals, hook up with others? Find sessions and other players? Learn about old recordings, new CDs? Just for the craic?
20. What have YOU learned from IRTRAD_L?
21. Would you rather have conversations in person? Are there any advantages on the 'Net?
22. Are you interested in the history of Irish traditional music, players, etc? Why?
23. What sources do you use? In person? Who? Do you use IRTRAD_L for historical questions?
24. Has your involvement with Irish traditional music changed over time? How? Why?
25. Has your involvement with IRTRAD_L changed over time? How? Why?
Thank-you so very much for taking the time to fill out this survey. Results in the form of a paper will be posted to the list as soon as its done! Please mail to survey-djames@tiompanalley.com