Avatar

Being the highest grossing film of all time, it’s needless to say that Avatar has an amazing soundtrack to go with its beautiful storyline and special effects. After buying and listening to the soundtrack a few times, it’s not too difficult to distinguish the film score and the music of the Na’vi. The film score reminds me of a lot of works done by Han Zimmer, with the many harmonizing string instruments, complex melodies, and a feeling of deepness. The Na’vi, which I prefer, has a feeling of tribal music. The melodies are lighter with a big emphasis on drum beats. A good example of the differences between the two is the song in which Jake enters his avatar for the first time. In the beginning of the song, when he is being prepped and entering the avatar, the drums have a steady and simple rhythm while the orchestra performs a lot of chords in homophony. The beat is slow and steady. Once he enters his avatar body, the song transitions into a faster pace. A few instruments do the melody while a wide assortment of percussion instruments does a lot of complex rhythms. I think both types are beautiful, but I lean more towards the Na’vi because I love the percussion part.

Musical Ethnography of the Celtic Music-Culture in Dallas

Introduction

While the term “Celtic music” probably brings to mind a lone fiddler or the lyrics to a song mainly about drinking whiskey, it is actually a very loose term. Celtic music encompasses a wide range of styles originating from many different countries located in Western Europe. Because America can be described as a big “melting pot”, the music cultures in this country are as eclectic as the people that make up its population. The Dallas area is no different. As such, there is a large music culture in the area that has taken the original Celtic music culture and cultivated it into a new style.

Methodology

My main source of information was the North Texas Irish Festival, which was held in Fair Park from March 5^th through the 7^th. Being the largest Celtic festival in the southwest area of the US, there was much for me to take in and listen to. The festival was held in two large buildings with an outside area that connected the two. There were about half a dozen stages on which bands performed throughout the day. I was careful to research ahead of time and pick out the bands that originate from the Dallas area. Throughout this two day experience, I was able to walk around and experience a few different sides of the music culture. I listened to everything from folk/country music to rock music to the music that accompanied the performances of the dance groups. Some of my information also came from EJ Jones, a talented member of the band Clandestine, which I listened to at the festival. With his insight, I was able to get the inside scoop of playing in this music culture. The rest of the information I gathered was from a few internet resources that I have hyperlinked throughout the paper.

Aspects of Music Culture

Ideas about Music
The Celtic music of the Dallas region originated from the Celtic music played in Western Europe. As the Celtic people immigrated to the United States, so did their culture and music. The music played in Dallas sounds very similar to the original culture. One of the main ideas surrounding this music culture was made plain to me from the moment I started researching: get people together. A sense of community is very important to these people. EJ Jones said it quite well in my email interview with him. He said “One of the primary uses of Celtic music is that it brings people together to play simple tunes and songs that don't require amplification like a lot of modern music, or a wide range of instruments like formal Western "classical" music.” Keep it simple so that most people are able to follow along with the melody and even sing along.

Activities Involving Music
This music culture can be found mainly at festivals that celebrate Irish and Scottish heritage, local pubs, fairs, and at an informal jam session in someone’s living room. I was surprised to find two of the local bands I listened to, Needfire and Blaggards, on itunes with the big dogs. This music culture is intended for anyone who would care to listen to it. No grudges are held against gender, race, or age; all are welcome. The festivals are designed for people with Celtic heritage to be able to bring the knowledge of their culture to people who may not be as familiar with it. I, myself, have a large Irish portion of my family tree, but knew next to nothing before I set my sights on this music culture for my research topic. I noticed a good deal of songs that had a responsorial section, which required the participation of the audience. Also, many younger kids got up to dance to the more upbeat songs.

Repertoires of Music
The lyrics in these songs can range anywhere from a love ballad to a drinking song. Many of the songs I heard at the festival were songs that I had heard years and years ago, such as “What Shall We do with a Drunken Sailor”, “Rocky Road to Dublin”, and other relatively famous melodies that I have no name for. There are a lot of Irish songs that have been around for many generations and there are new ones being written all the time. Some of the things that distinguish Celtic songs are that the language is very transparent and the themes are universal human themes that don't typically reference the modern age. Therefore, the songs would have made sense to any English speaker over the last 200 years.
Dancing plays a hand-in-hand role with the music in this music-culture. Several local Irish dancing schools performed at the Irish festival. The women dancers wear a wig of curly hair, very colorful short dresses, shown in this picture. The men dancers tend to wear slacks and a nice shirt. The shoes they wear are either ballet slippers, which make little noise, or clogs. The clog shoes are made of hard leather and produce an audible percussion sound that accompanies the music as the dancers hit the stage floor with either a heel or toe.

Material Culture of Music
One of the first things that pop into my head when I think of Celtic music is a fiddle, followed closely by the bagpipes. The unique instruments that are used in these Dallas area Celtic bands help maintain the original Celtic sound while putting their own spin on things. A small list of lesser known instruments accompanies these two more famous ones. The cittern, which can be seen here, looks much like a mandolin or a guitar. It is made of wood and has steel strings. The bodhran is a shallow frame drum with one side open so that player may place his hand inside the drum head in order to change the pitch and timbre. The smallpipes, according to this website, are “a bellows-blown bagpipe with a softer and more mellow sound than the better known Highland Bagpipe.” The guitar and electric guitar complete the list of commonly used instruments. It should be noted that the electric guitar is a more recent addition and is used commonly in the bands that have a rock vibe to their music.
Instruments are not the only material objects important to this music culture. The festival I attended had shops the ranged anywhere from swords and kilts to delicate-looking crosses and beautiful dresses. And what better to accompany a good Irish song with some Irish stew in one hand and a Guinness in the other? Food stands were scattered about aplenty and a majority of them were selling beer. Some of them were even beer only, to better facilitate the process of handing out beer to the masses. The Celtic culture is full of ways to get people to congregate and enjoy one another’s company.

Conclusion

Dallas has definitely been able to put its own spin on this age old music genre. From the country twang to the hard sound of the electric guitar, the music culture is able to suit the tastes of a variety of listeners. It also has the ability to include everyone from the young to the old, the musically-inclined to the not-so-musically-inclined. There is a spot for everyone who wants to enjoy it.

Works Cited:
In addition to the links used up above, I used the following:

North Texas Irish Festival-2010. 2008-10 Southwest Celtic Music Association, Inc. Web. 1

Jones, EJ. Interview over email. 8 March 2010.

North Texas Irish Festival. Southwest Celtic Music Association, Inc. 5-7 March 2010.

Difficulties with my Ethnography

So far in my pursuit of knowledge about the Irish music-culture here in Dallas, I have not come across any severe problems. I attended the Irish Festival on both Friday and Sunday, despite the dreary and rainy weather. I was able to listen to three very interesting bands. I also watched a performance of some Irish clog dancing, which was accompanied by music, so I might throw that in my ethnography as well. The biggest problem I think I'm going to come across is trying to distinguish the differences between the local Irish music and the original culture. A lot of the groups performing at the festival were either from Canada or Ireland, so my ears got a taste of the local and the overseas pretty simultaneously. As for the interviews, I have sent out my emails and have not gotten any responses back yet. Hopefully they will come in soon, or I might be having a very long Wednesday night.

Celtic Music in the Dallas Area

I decided to do my musical ethnography on the Celtic music-culture here in the DFW area. Since Irish and Scottish blood is somewhere not too far up my family tree, I figured it would be an interesting thing to learn about, both as a music-culture in general and as a family history of sorts.

Texas' version of Celtic music varies a lot from band to band. From what I've gathered so far, it can vary anywhere from a mix of Celtic and bluegrass to a mix of Celtic and rock. Key aspects typically stay the same, such as using traditional Celtic melodies and instruments.

I will be attending the Irish Festival this weekend in order to listen to a few different local bands. There are a few that I am pretty excited about. The Blaggards are a "Stout Irish Rock" band that, from the itunes clips I've been previewing, sounds a lot like a mix between Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. There's also Shift, which has Celtic musical traditions of Ireland and Scotland as well as American Old-Time and Bluegrass.

This website gives a great deal of insight to the Celtic music-culture. A good list of instruments can be found here. The fiddle is the main instrument used, followed by the ever famous bagpipes. Guitars came along a lot later, in the sixties, but it sounds like a majority of the bands I will be listening to will use these, especially the rock-oriented ones. I'm still working on finding research on the actual Dallas Celtic music-culture.

All in all, I'm pretty excited about this weekend. I look forward to insight on a new music-culture.