First of all I do not play ITM. I have found that a lot of the music I play over laps though.
Went to a session last night and saw there were about five people and probably as many violins. Some had other instruments, a bodhran , a concertina, and a mandolin were there, and maybe some other instruments. One thing that I noticed was even though the violinists were playing well, they were playing the exact same notes. So I was wondering if people practice harmonies for common songs (more like a string quartet), or if that is not part of the style of ITM.
I would like to add that I have seen three whistlers show up to a session and not play a note because, they said, “no one wants to listen to just whistles.”
(I really should know the answer to this by now, but honestly this is the first time I thought about it)
The music is played in unison, not with harmony as you describe. When people ask about the characteristics of ITM, I usually point them here: http://www.itma.ie/home/leaf1a.htm It’s a good description and fairly comprehensive. Plus it saves a lot of typing.
It is the ITM style to play melody only, and all instruments play the melody line. This is because there was often only one instrument available, so it ended up playing solo. The idea of harmony is relatively new to ITM (200 years ago). Some fiddlers will add a drone note to copy bagpipes. Uilleann pipes are only a bit more than 200 years old. There were other pipes before then, so drones are not new, but uilleann pipes added regulators to play in simple harmony in union with the chanter. Still, not all instruments were of the same pitch standard, and musicians continued to largely play solo. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that céilí bands began to form. Still, most of the groups played the melody line together, with only simple one or two note harmonies occasionally. It wasn’t until fusion of ITM with the modern folk-rolk bands of the 1970s and later that guitars, bouzoukis, etc. were added and more complex harmonies. Today you can choose to play modern, but won’t get along with traditionalists, and vice versa.
You can play harmonies if you want. You may not be the best judge of what is good taste though. As someone pointed out you can hear harmonising on lots of modern band recordings (Planxty for example) and it sounds great to my ear. So does playing without harmonising. Some harmonising can be used to add spice, like variation and varied ornamentation. You wouldn’t want it all the way through a set. I think it’s all valid. Don’t let the ITM police put you off!
my “system” is hopeless. So thanks for the reminder.
Well, at least we know you had a good time ! 