Outline The Differences Between Irish And American Culture

Based on the readings, film excerpts and the class presentations over the last three weeks, outline what you think are the main similarities and differences between Welsh, Scottish and Breton music and music making. What effect do you think Irish music has had on each of the other musical cultures?
Celtic music tends to be defined as encompassing the traditional music of Celtic countries, namely Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany, as well as Galicia and other areas. Since each country has gone through its unique history, there are differences in between one culture to another, but similarities are also present. Elements include instrumentation, rhythm, repertoire, playing style, context, and much more.
In Scottish music, its main instruments include the fiddle, highland pipes, piano accordion, and harp, which slightly differs from the Irish music tradition, which uses Uilleann pipes and the button accordion. The instruments were imported from Ireland, which explains the similarities. Like in Irish music, the harp is the main instrument. The bodhran and flute were never in Scotland and were imported much later in history. There is also a recent development in Scottish fiddles, namely the 5-string fiddle, as played by Athena Tergis. The bowing style is also more like classical music when compared to Irish music, …show more content…
There also is an interesting difference in the social context of Scottish music, which is the fact that rich people liked to imitate dances by the poor population. Like the Irish, the Scottish nobility tended to be the harpers/songwriters in the Medieval era, and were eventually displaced by the working class. Another contextual similarity comes in the lowland traditions, where due to geographical closeness to England, colonization highly influences the