Arranging ITM for Orchestra

Trad Irish Music
1

As part of a school orchestra and an ITM session, I thought it would be nice to arrange an ITM tune my senior year for the orchestra to play. I was contemplating Turlough O’Carolan pieces (such as O’Carolan’s Draught) ,which I’ve heard are influenced by Antonio Vivaldi, and Niel Gow tunes (such as Drunk at Night and Dry in the Morning) since both Gow and O’Carolan sound like they would be easy for classical musicians to understand. They’re very similar to Baroque, but my main obstacles would be arranging it in such a way that is distinctly Irish (or Scottish) and trying to emulate the styles of O’Carolan or Gow when writing the other parts.

Do any of you have suggestions on how to do this or know of other influences that these men had? I would be arranging for 2 violin sections, viola, cello, and bass, so if I can find out some definite influences, I can just base it on an their voicing.

I hope that this doesn’t upset any of you, as it is my intention to preserve the style of ITM and expose it to new audiences. Many of the so-called Irish tunes that I have played with the orchestra in the past have bore little resemblance to what I’m used to as a session musician and have even upset me a little with their disregard for the style. I also think it would be nice to give O’Carolan and Gow some attention and show these new audiences what ITM can be. Most of them only listen to it once a year, and have never even heard of Turlough O’Carolan or Niel Gow. They have only been exposed to Celtic Woman, Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, and others like them.

Also, would this even be considered ITM? I have seen Niel Gow called Scottish Baroque, but am hesitant to attach the term Baroque to something that’s not written by a traditionally Baroque composer. I would probably have to alter the titles as well, as I highly doubt they would let me use alcohol references in a public school. In a pinch, I could just have the piper from Session translate the titles into Irish or Scottish Gaelic, which the audience wouldn’t know anyway.

2

Niel Gow is definitely STM, not ITM.

As for instrumentation, Gow’s a good choice, because its known that he often played with cello and a second violin, which is halfway to your ensemble already.

http://www.niel-gow.co.uk/

Niel Gow frequently performed solo or with Donald, his brother, on 'cello. When occasion demanded, the band would also have included perhaps one or more of his sons, together with Samson Duncan of Kinclaven on fiddle. The line-up may have been further augmented by piano, but this would have depended very much on where the band was playing.

3

O’Carolan 's Concerto…?

4

I thought of this but I have never heard it played in such a way that it sounds anything but Baroque. I’m not sure it has enough ITM flavor to make it Irishy.

5

Fair enough, but it is , infact, a classic Irish tune.
A Slow air?

6

Or maybe a classical Irish tune. The music of these things is Irish, too, but probably not what we think of as ITM either. :laughing:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~bronzeagehorns/originalinstruments.html

Carolan is fine, and you can take a hint from the Chieftains or Dordán.

7

get a copy of this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'Stravaganza_-_Vivaldi_in_Ireland
deadly album and perhaps it will give you few ideas

8

id just have a session,
then buikld the orchestra arround the session mostley for unusual harmony duty. attmepting to spread the melody across the whole field would be a mess i think…

ohh thats a lovley idea

9

you might be interested to know how these two set things up. both were composers driven by Irish and British traditional musics respectively and both had a great impact on the revival of respect and appreciation for the traditions.

Sean O Riada

and

Ralph Vaughan Williams