Irish music is interesting because the traditional Irish music is still popular today. For centuries, Irish music and songs were not written down but passed down from generation to generation by one person teaching the song to another (Wikipedia), so the same song may be performed in several different ways. An interesting fact about Irish music is that traditional music does not include harmony. If a singer sang a song, any instruments also played the melody (Wikipedia). Also, often the melodies follow a specific pattern. A line is played or sung, and then repeated. Then a second line is played or sung, and then that one is repeated. Traditional Irish music doesn't typically change how loud or soft it is because it was hard for the many of the traditional instruments to vary how loudly they were played (Wikipedia).
Common instruments include the bag pipe and tin whistle, which are aerophones, the bodhrain or drum, a membranophone, and the fiddle (violin) and Irish harp, which are chordophones (OME).
Irish music has had a strong influence on American music. When Irish people immigrated to the United States, they brought their music with them. Many of these people moved to the South. Because of this, traditional southern music has a lot in common with Irish music (Wikipedia). The Irish also developed "set dancing" to their music, which is a lot like American square dancing (Wikipedia). Both are done to the music of fiddling, a traditional Irish way of playing the violin.
Traditional Irish music is still performed today in pubs and concert halls, and many modern Irish musicians, including rock musicians, include things they have learned from traditional Irish music in their hit songs. Irish music became much more popular in the United States after the Broadway show "Riverdance" opened. This show combines traditional Irish music and dancing in a modern setting (Wikipedia).
SOURCES
'Classification of Musical Instruments," in Online Music Encyclopedia (OME). Accessed via the Internet 9/16/05.
"Music of Ireland," in Wikipedia. Accessed via the Internet 9/16/05.
