Capercaillie Skye Waulking Song: melody, harmony, texture

Page 1

Capercaillie are a Scottish

band who combine the traditional Galic folk music with elements of rock music.

Their music is described as 'Celtic Rock'.

Melody- Skye Waulking song is pentatonic.

This means that the piece consists of a total of 5 notes.

The vocals tend to hold the main melody and

although it has a wide range in pitch and goes into low alto notes, it moves in

steps. The piece is mainly syllabic meaning each note is per syllable

sung however the vocables are melismatic; there are many notes to

a syllable.

The instruments (uillean pipes and accordion)

then take over the melody and completely differ from vocals: it takes wider

steps between notes and uses the F sharp of the G major key which the vocal melody

avoids.

Articulation-

Tremolo effect on the violin. Ornamentation on some of

the bouzouki line.

Dynamics- Starts

quietly but changes between loud and quiet throughout the piece, especially

between different sections. It’s louder when the entire band is playing.

Texture- It

has a polyrhythmic texture - lots of different rhythms are being played at the

same time.

Structure- Intro,

8 short verses, instrumental section, outro to fade.

Harmony- Harmony in this style of music

is less important than melody and rhythm. The harmony is very simple throughout

the song (there are only four chords in the whole song), but the changes in

chord sequence, while infrequent, are very noticeable when they happen,

highlighting a change of section and mood.

Instrumentation- When

playing or writing music, musicians have to decide what instruments will play

what parts. They also have to decide what instruments will play in combination

with other instruments. That's what instrumentation is, deciding who plays what

and with who.

Rhythm- Dotted rhythms throughout give a melodic feel (reflects

the process of waulking). In the instrumental,

emphasis put on 2nd and 5th notes of a bar to keep rhythmic interest.

Tonality- After

full band enters, the whole song mainly uses major chords giving a more

uplifting feeling. Tonality is only fully established at the end of the intro,

just before singer enters. Chord sequence= Em - G until the full band enter and changes to C - G - Em

- G. Gives the song a melancholy tone until full band enters.

Extra points- As

well as MAD T-SHIRT you need to also include information about the Galic lyrics

and aspects of Celtic fusion.

Need to complete a Section B (10 mark) question about Skye

Waulking song over the Christmas holidays. More information will be on Show My

Homework.

The lyrics- Hi ri huraihhi o ho, Chuir m’athair mise

dha’n taigh charraideach, O hi a hho ro hu o ho, Hi ro ho, Chuir

m’athair mise dha’n taigh charraideach, Hi ri huraihhi o ho, ‘N oidhche

sin a rinn e bhanais dhomh, O hi a hho ro hu o ho, ‘N

oidhche sin a rinn e bhanais dhomh