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10 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define it. |
Sean-nós (Irish for "old style") is a highly ornamented style of unaccompanied traditional Irish singing. |
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Tell me a tiny bit about it there |
It varies very much from one part of the country to another. Sean-nós songs can be relatively simple, though many are long, extremely stylised and melodically complex. A good performance classically involves substantial ornament and rhythmic variations from verse to verse. |
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Tell me bout the ornamentation. |
Ó Canainn identifies most ornamentation as melismatic ornamentation. This is when a note is replaced or emphasised by a group of adjoining notes, unlike intervallic ornamentation, in which additional notes are used to fill up an interval between two notes. |
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List me an explain decorative elements. |
Highly ornamented where the voice is placed near the top of the range A second form of nasalisation, used in the south, produces an "m", "n" or "ng" sound at the end of a phrase One syllable in a word can be sung to several notes Brief pauses initiated by glottal stops, "slides" or glissandi (predominantly when sung by women) Very long extended phrases A tendency to draw breath after a conjunction or linking words rather than at the end of a phrase Varying the melody in each verse |
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Why ornament? |
Connects the text to the interpretation of the melody Enhances a sense of continuity such as by filling the gap between phrases with a nasalised drone |
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Social features? |
Cajoling the singer (can be considered a part of it) The singer may occasionally adopt a position facing the corner of the room and away from the audience, a position that has acoustic benefits The audience is not expected to be silent throughout, and may participate in the performance through words of encouragement and commentary. |
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Define the styles? |
Donegal - Relatively unadorned, and nasally. Sometimes very unornamented. As a result can sound seperate. Conemra - A more decorates style. West Munster - Highly decorates. The notes to be ornamented can be adjacent to each other like in Connemara, but at other times the gap between them can be wide. East Munster |
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Language? |
The term "sean-nós" is popularly applied to songs in English and Irish. A number of sean-nós songs are macaronic, combining two or more languages. Normally they combine Irish and English but occasionally Irish and French or other European languages, including Latin.Many would agree that it is more the style of singing that is distinctive, and not the lyrics or the language. In spite of this some traditionalist insist that songs exclusively in the English language cannot be regarded as belonging to the tradition. |
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History? |
The tradition of sean-nós song was exclusively oral, and remains customarily so. However a few songs were known to have been conveyed to script as early as the 16th century. A songbook for Elizabeth I contained English interpretations of sean-nós songs. Songs started to be more extensively written down in the eighteenth century and distributed in print from then on. |
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