Native Music and Dance Traditions of Ireland

Rationale and Purpose of the Module: To introduce the students to the history and structures (musical and in a wider cultural sense) of traditional Irish music and dance.

Syllabus: The syllabus is a development of the existing Introduction to Irish Traditional Music and Dance Studies 1 and 2, offered as part of the first year of the BA Irish Music and Dance programme. Issues addressed in this module will be dance tune types and structure; English language song tradition; instrumentation; traditional music and dance in America in the first half of the twentieth century; the harp tradition to 1800; modern step dancing; ceili dancing; instrumental and dance style; Irish language song tradition; nineteenth-century collections of Irish traditional music; contemporary issues; sean-n¿s and set dancing. An important part of this module will be the weekly tutorials in Irish traditional music, giving the students a practical engagement with the tradition.