In having a long-lived love for the genre of traditional Celtic music, attending the Old Town School of Folk Music for some traditional Irish folk music felt just like home to me. Patrick Finnegan’s intro in class with his different versions of flute got me really pepped up to what we would hear later that night. Just hearing the gorgeous staccatos his fingers made as he blew through his wooden instrument gave me shivers, taking me back a year ago when I stood on the green, rocky, sheep-filled Aran Islands Patrick described as he gave us our talk. I closed my eyes as he played through his Jigs, Slip Jigs and Reels and reminisced on what life is actually like in the beautiful land of Ireland.
Listening to live, traditional Irish folk music with fiddles, tin flutes, Bodhran drums, wood flutes, mandolins, Ulian bag pipes and song on Saint Patrick’s Day was more special to me than I could have ever asked for. Not only was it an important event because of my love for Celtic music and that it was a traditional Irish holiday, but it was also very special to me because it helped to take me back to a place where I actually was exactly one year ago; I have always felt that music has quite the sneaky way of taking us to places – whether it be through memories, spiritually, mentally or emotionally – and this musical experience really helped to take me back to a place in memory (which evoked strong mental images and emotions) that I have needed to be since I left. I have missed the United Kingdom every day since I left, so this performance truly helped to at least take me back to my love in some sense.
The Old Town School of Folk Music was an extremely interesting place. The large building surprised me upon arrival; I did not realize how large it would be, especially how many floors it would have. It seemed as though hundreds of musicians of all age, stature, skill and instrument poured out of the building while we Chicago Semester students were trying to enter. That first impression was very impacting to me. It showed me several things. First, it taught me that anyone of any age can learn music. It does not matter how young or old you are when you pick up an instrument. All that matters is that you are doing it and loving every moment. Second, it showed me that what I was going to hear would be good. If that many people knew about the school who were just students, it meant that the talent there of experienced individuals had to be immense. And finally, it reminded me how all different types of people enjoy all different types of music. Sometimes it is hard to remember that not everyone follows the stereotypes set before them. It does not matter your race, age or appearance – if you are black, brown, purple, 75, 32, 5 – you can love creating music, and folk music at that, just as much as the next person.
The show itself was exhilaratingly wonderful. I felt that starting off with high school students really emphasized what Patrick had said about very young people picking up their instrument of choice and accomplishing a lot well before their peers with other genres of music; traditional Irish folk music really is something that runs in families and is picked up by children at a very young age. I enjoyed clapping along to the several jigs, slip jigs, reels and polkas this group performed. It was also very neat when all 45 of the people got up on stage and played together with all of their different types of instruments; seeing that tin flute and those bag pipes really got my heart racing.
My favorite instrument played was definitely the wooden flute. Fiddles and drums come in at a very close second, but for some reason the flute has always had my heart. I just love how it floats so effortlessly and quickly with sliding (possibly made up/not by-the-book) trills atop its fellow melodic fiddles with its higher range and warm, whistling tone. Because of this, my favorite portion of the performance was when the one high school boy played his set of songs with the one male drummer as accompaniment. But when it comes down to it, to really get the hoot-n-hollerin’, perfect traditional Irish sound, all of the instruments together is really necessary for the best, most realistic sound. I also very much enjoyed hearing the one woman sing her piece that was both in English and Gaelic. This was probably my second favorite portion of the performance. It is not often that you hear a soloist sing Gaelic a cappella music 30 feet in front of you. I think she did a beautiful job, even though she was very, very nervous. I found it very interesting that the singing she did reflected that of the flutes, and thus the bag pipes, in that she used lots of staccatos and sliding notes. It was very beautifully done, and I wished she could have sang more.
Now I need to be perfectly honest. I ended up leaving right at intermission so that I could attend The Tossers’ concert at Metro at 10:30 that same night. The Tossers is a Celtic rock band that is on Victory Records’ label, and it was highly encouraged by my supervisor that I attend, especially because it was just three other girls and me that really promoted our hearts out for the cause. I also felt that by attending that concert, I got a heightened sense of accomplishment because I was able to stand there amongst the 900 people there and say “I did this.” I was one of three other individuals who did all the work to attract 900 people to one single event. That is just amazing to me.
However, I did get to apply some of my newfound knowledge to this concert that I had previously only thought I would be able to apply to the traditional Irish music. Patrick taught us all about jigs, slip jigs, reels, tin flutes, fiddles and many other things. Well, not only did we get these at the Old Town School of Folk Music, we also got these exact SAME things at Metro, a famous rock and roll venue in the heart of Wrigleyville, Chicago.
I had never analyzed a rock and roll concert so closely until I went to this show. Acting as a human metronome, I listened very carefully for tempo and time, seeing to what type of song the majority of The Tossers’ songs were. The results concluded that about 90% of their songs were 4/4 reels, followed by a close second of slip jigs of 6/8 time with regular jigs bringing up the rear. I deduced that the reasoning behind having so many songs with the exact same time signature and style was that it is just honestly simpler to put words to music that is in 4/4 time and in the reel style.
Some other comparisons I saw were the type of instruments used. The main vocalist played the mandolin, which Patrick told us was a common accompaniment instrument. There were also two regular guitarists and one drummer on a drum set – which are not out of the ordinary of any other rock band. However, the two main instruments that stood out were the fiddle and the tin flute. Yes…all one musician played was two different tin flutes for the entire performance. However, something that bugged me throughout the entire performance was that he had his hands in the WRONG place! Or at least in the wrong place as to what Patrick told us was the right way. This musician had his right hand on top of his left rather than the other way around. I wondered if this was because he was never formally taught and is left handed so it just made sense at the time, or if he is just left handed and decided he wanted to be different. Regardless, he played his staccatos and trills just as beautifully as anyone we heard with the more traditional music. The female fiddler was probably my favorite piece in the band though because she just played so smoothly; I definitely felt that, much like Patrick, she had picked up the instrument at a very young age in some bar in a suburb of Chicago. Very good!
So what types of conclusions have I come to after all of this? Irish music is the same at the very heart of things. It all revolves around the same styles – jig, slip jig and reel – and it requires the same instruments, such as fiddle and flute, to sound what we think of as “Irish”. Even more so, they both evoke the same exact reactions from people. In both venues beer was widely accepted and encouraged (much like it is in the real country), and audience members reacted the same to each style, clapping along, yipping, cheering, shouting and dancing.
I feel very blessed that I had the opportunity to go to both shows and really learn for myself what Irish music means to people – both audience members and musicians alike – and delve even deeper into a culture I was already so enthusiastic about. I have so many more thoughts about these events that words truly cannot describe, so hopefully there will be time in class for me to enlighten the class a bit more about what I learned. All I know is that I love both of them through their differences and similarities, and it was definitely the best way I know possible that I could have spent my Saint Patrick’s Day.
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