The Wonderful Fusion Of Rock Music and Celtic Music

Along with Pop, R&B, and Punk Rock, there's one music genre that often flies under the popular music radar, this is called Celtic Rock. The initiative to make the Celtic Rock genre came from the minds of Celtic artists and singers who were successful in bringing out the mixing of Celtic music and rock songs that we hear these days. The success achieved by Celtic musicians is largely due to the immense success of Celtic Rock as a genre. The recognition of this genre may have been caused largely by the rock elements found in this music, as Rock music has a habit of being ear-catching and memorable to most people's ear.¨

The Celtic Rock genre is hard to identify due to its distinctive nature, so here's a good example that might sound familiar. There was a scene in the film "Titanic" where passengers in the third class or "steerage" section were gladly dancing to a bit of music with Leonardo DiCaprio leading them and when Kate Winslet saw this happening, she immediately joined the gathering, getting down on the dance floor and jigging along with the intensely infections beat. The background music played throughout the dance was in fact produced by an Irish band named Gaelic Storm, noted in Celtic music circles for creating influential Celtic Rock throughout their career.

So, exactly how does this blend of Celtic and Rock music go together so successfully? There can be three ways that you can create a successful fusion: one, by using rock music instruments in playing conventional Celtic music; two, performing rock music with the use of Celtic instruments, for example bagpipe, fiddle, Uilleann pipes, and harp; and three, integrating Celtic lyrics or rhythms into an already established and popular piece of rock music. Many royalty free music producers use the third kind as it has an infectious rhythm which works great in a marketing exercise, for example on TV advertisements.

Celtic rock derived out of the 'electric folk' music scene in the beginning of the seventies. A Scottish singer known as Donovan produced an album known as "Open Road" where he titled one of his musical compositions as "Celtic Rock", and this was the first ever recorded use of this term that became popular throughout the years.

The evolution of Celtic Rock then has become evident with numerous songs being created by Celtic bands and musicians, particularly in the Celtic areas of Brittany, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Celtic rock is not limited to Celtic regions, since there are also countries with large Irish and Scottish roots which are partial to this sort of music, and which often forms the cohesive elements in the pub culture of such places. To be able to pay tribute to their roots, artists usually produce Celtic Rock through playing popular rock and punk music with elements of Celtic songs in it.

When used in production music ventures such as Royalty-Free music libraries, the success noted is very high, hence why many large companies and particularly breweries such as Guinness or Caffrey's use this type of music to set the scene in their TV advertising.

Many fusion or co-operative music genres have appeared in the music industry in the past 20-30 years, but some of them were short-lived unlike Celtic Rock which continued to be well-known and influential, supplying the fuel for local groups to make it big on a worldwide scale. The best such name is perhaps U2, who shifted to a more mainstream genre, but not without the initial recognition made available from the music of Irish Rock.

There are actually musical sub-genres that are created thanks to this fusion of Celtic Rock. With Ireland giving birth to several punk bands in the 1970's, the Pogues created Celtic Punk, by blending elements of Celtic Rock, but presented punk-style. Likewise, many metal bands of later years utilized classic Celtic music in their metal, making Celtic Metal music and proving that the fusion of different musical entities is likely to continue well into the future, and that can only be a good thing.

Why Music Education Is Changing

I believe that music education as we know it is changing profoundly. The change has already begun, and it is already causing bewilderment and frustration for a great many music teachers. But it is also creating tremendous new opportunities for thousands of music teachers and students who are enjoying their work more than ever. In this article I will try to explain what I think is happening, and give you some ideas about how to position yourself to enjoy these changes rather than become a victim of them.

You might wonder if I am talking about changes related to the Internet, computers or music software. But this change has nothing to do with technology. It has to do with the needs and desires of today's music student, which are almost entirely different from the needs that our music education system was designed to satisfy. To understand what I mean by this, we need to go all the way back to the European origins of our most basic ideas about what it means to "teach music."

For centuries the primary goal of classical music education was to produce orchestra performers capable of reading a piece of sheet music and correctly playing the composer's ideas. This is no small task. It requires both a formidable control over one's instrument and also a very high level of skill at reading complicated musical phrases on a written page. It also requires great sensitivity and expressive power, since without these the music would sound dull and lifeless.

This curious breed of musician unites several personality traits that are highly contradictory. He must have the precision control of a world-class athlete in order to execute the very fine motor skills involved in playing his instrument. But he must also have the extreme mental agility required to read and instantly decipher impossibly complex rhythms coded into symbols on a page. He must be sensitive enough to feel and express the beauty in every line that he plays, but he must be detached enough to play whatever music is handed to him without complaining.

This is the context in which our music education system evolved. The goal was to produce a kind of super-performing robot-person that could play any piece of music on demand and make it sound heavenly. The "customer" of this process was what we might generalize as the "wealthy audience" who wanted to be entertained. Music conservatories prepared young music students to entertain and delight wealthy audiences with their skills, so that they might earn a professional salary.

This "old paradigm" of music study is defined by a very clear set of attitudes. Musicians play for others. A musician's purpose is to delight audiences and impress other musicians. His success can be measured by the number of gigs he gets, the salary he earns and also the respect and fame he enjoys among other musicians. And every one of these attitudes is so thoroughly ingrained in our culture that we continue to teach music this way today even though it no longer makes any sense whatsoever.

The new paradigm: musician as person

Our entire world has changed. For the vast majority of young music students, earning a salary is the farthest thing from their minds. Today's music student is not a humble employee hoping to sell his services to wealthy audiences for money. People study music today because they want to fill a void in their lives. They are drawn to music by its beauty and by its promise of self-discovery through creative expression.

In other words, the "wealthy audience" is no longer the customer of our music education system. There is a new customer in town, and that customer is the student himself (and, wonderfully, more and more often it is the student herself.) Today's music students are thinking, feeling human beings who want to grow, to create and to experience life for themselves. To put it simply, we are moving away from the old paradigm of "musician as performer" toward a new paradigm of "musician as person."

In the old paradigm of musician as performer, the dominant theme was competition. People made a great deal of fuss over which children seemed to show "musical talent" and which ones didn't. If music didn't come especially easy to a child, then there was no point in making the investment in music lessons. And if a child did show potential, he would immediately begin a military-style course of study to develop this ability into something that society would value. Musical ability, in this paradigm, is essentially a commodity to be sold on the open market. If there were no audience, there would be no reason to study music at all.

And to be sure, there are still people today living in the old paradigm. They live in a world of perfectionism, competition and hostility. When they play music, they are incapable of noticing anything but their own technical defects. When they listen to the music of others, they are busy evaluating the technical performance instead of receiving the beauty. They are generally angry people. Angry that there are not enough gigs, not enough students, not enough love and respect for all their hard work.

But there is a new generation of young people who are discovering the thrill of playing music for themselves. They are discovering that there is a paradise to which music can transport them. They don't particularly care whether they play well or badly, because they have found something more interesting than their ego. They have found the bliss of being lost in a moment, meditating on a sound, a note, a musical phrase, a gesture of the hands. It is this experience that has captivated them, and what they want from music education is to deepen this experience. These are the students of the new paradigm.

But that is a question that we will have to leave for another article, because I think there are many interesting things that we could say about it. For now, just let me assure you that this new paradigm has nothing to do with laziness or lack of seriousness on the part of the student. When young people discover the magic of music, they can easily practice so many hours that they run the risk of injury. What we need to understand and embrace is what motivates today's music student.

How you can thrive in the new paradigm

Right now, millions of young people are genuinely excited about learning music as an opportunity for enjoyment and personal growth. They see music as a way to "develop their creative side" and to connect with a part of themselves that they can only access through the arts. They expect their music teachers to empower them to write their own songs, to improvise freely and to express their musical imagination.

For many music teachers, this itself can be a cause for worry because many times we haven't the slightest idea how to help our students achieve these goals. For most of us, our own musical training was rooted in the old paradigm of reading sheet music, mastering our instrument and occasionally memorizing some abstract rules about music theory. So how are we supposed to help our students achieve a creative freedom that we ourselves have never tasted?

But don't worry. There's no reason to panic. Your students don't expect you to be perfect or to know everything. It's perfectly fine for both teacher and student to have a question about something, and to seek the answer together. Most students just want to feel that their teacher listens to them, respects them and sincerely wants to help them achieve their goals. You have many, many gifts that are tremendously valuable to your students. You just need to think about how to reframe your wisdom in terms that relate to the student's enrichment as a person, rather than trying to simply teach musical ability for its own sake, detached from any spiritual relevance.

I personally believe that we are witnessing all around us the birth of a new musical culture that is here to stay, perhaps for centuries. Musical ability for its own sake is losing its power to attract and motivate students. More and more, we will see music students interested primarily in their own liberation as human beings. In my opinion this is a beautiful evolution, and it is a very exciting time to be a music teacher.

How to Write a Music Review

Five Tips for a Successful Music Review"

1. Who Should Write a Review?

Writing an informative and captivating music review can be a challenging task. It is helpful if the reviewer is a musician and understands music theory, musical styles, and the type of music to be reviewed. It is essential for the reviewer to be aware of the target audience for which the music review is intended. My reviews are targeted to music teachers who have in in-depth understanding and appreciation of music.

2. What Does the Reader Want to Know?

The reader of my column is educated, has an in-depth understanding of music, including music theory, conducting,, and music pedagogy, and a level of musical understanding in all genres of music. Typical readers want to know about the product. They are looking for new ideas for presenting music in concerts and on the football field. They want music that will add diversity to their concert programming. Readers want to know certain things about each piece of music; specifically the level of difficulty, and any unusual demands placed on the different instruments and the appropriateness of the music for performance.

Here is an example taken from one of my recent music reviews:

Here we have ten minutes of Spanish flavored music that has many dynamic types of shading, and is sprinkled with sustained lines, weaving counter lines, and thick, resonant chords. The contrasts in mood are very well handled. It is a rousing number that exudes rhythmic intensity, and Spanish bravado. This exciting musical composition brings out a sense of adventure, and student will enjoy the brisk tempo and fiery Spanish rhythms.

Another review contains a subtle warning to the reader:

This is a challenging piece in that the flutes must be proficient at rapid tonguing and the high tessitura of the trumpets and horns can be demanding. The snare drum solos are effective and provide smooth linkages between sections. However, the dynamics must be carefully observed to make these transitions effective. A proficient xylophone player is necessary in this piece.

The title of the piece, the composer/arranger, an name of the music publisher should be at the top of the review.

3. What About the Style of Writing?

It is best to avoid using terms such as: "you" "your" and "I" in the review. It is assumed that whatever is written is the expressed opinion of the reviewer and if not, than that statement should be quotations. It is also helpful if the reviewer avoids the use of clichés, and generic, non-specific terms such as "interesting," and accumulates a list of colorful adjectives that can be used to describe the music. The words "appealing" "fascinating" and "exciting" are more suitable that is the word, "interesting."The following are a few helpful descriptive terms for use in music reviews:

freshness of sound, absence of musical clichés, colorful work, use of sonorous pedal-points, the crisp and intense combination of....., splashes of percussive color, a deep woody bassoon solo..., leads to a warm, mellow four-part horn chorale, a tender, expressive melody by the oboe.

Here is another example from one of my recent music reviews:

This piece is a tender expression and an excellent composition for teaching dynamics, balance of tone, and phrasing. The contrast in scoring makes this piece a first-rate choice for programming.

4. How to Approach Writing a Music Review

It is essential that the reviewer consider the type of review that is expected by the publisher. For example does the publisher want an in-depth analysis of one or two compositions or does he/she expect an overview of seven or eight selections?

The reviewer should listen to each selection many times to in order to grasp and absorb the many layers of sound and to acquire a deeper understanding of the music. Taking detailed notes about what stands out in the music can be very helpful. Writing a music review is a creative process that is based on the individual opinion and personal tastes of the reviewer. The reviewer must be able to recommend appropriate and usable musical compositions to the reader.

The music reviewer is not a specialist in all styles and genres of music. For example, a band director may not feel comfortable or confident reviewing music for chamber groups or orchestra. In this case it may be wise to ask an expert in a particular field (strings) to write the review for a particular column. Perhaps the reviewer can offer one review and the guest reviewer can review six or seven other pieces. This assists the reviewer and provides positive visibility and exposure for the guest reviewer, and guarantees that the reader will gain maximum benefit from the reviews.

It is of vital importance to stress the positive aspects of the music that is being reviewed. It is a wise policy to select for review only pieces that the reviewer can recommend to the readers. Often what is said in the review can be a very subtle warning to the reader such as:

A total of seven percussion players are required and the sound emanating from the percussion section must be carefully balanced so they do not overpower the winds

If a teacher has only two percussionists in his ensemble, I doubt that he/she would consider playing this piece.

If a review states that the tessitura (range) of the trumpets is high throughout the piece, this will alert the music teacher to select this piece only if he has a very strong trumpet section.

Stating that the bassoon has a lengthy solo, without stating which instrument it is cued for is of little help to the reader. It should be stated that the bassoon solo is cued for the tenor sax or the baritone horn. Most bands have one or no bassoons and another instrument must cover that instrument in its absence.

Here is another example taken from a recent review:

Sharp, precise tonguing is needed to make this march sparkle, and close attention must be paid to the dynamic contrasts between mf and ff, and ff to pp. The woodwinds must be capable of playing diatonic and chromatic scales at a bright all- breve tempo.

Music is a very personal experience and the writer's subjective judgment can be very helpful for the reader. But each opinion rendered needs a framework of support. The writer must bring meaning through explanations regarding his/her opinions. Written comments should be backed up with musical facts and a sense of musical understanding.

5. Where Do I Find Music to Review?

Begin by compiling a list of the major music publishers who publish the type of music that you will be reviewing. Contact with them by phone or by e-mail and ask for sample scores and CDs. Today most of the printed music is available to listeners online--just type the name of the composition and its composer/arranger and locate it at the publisher, at a musical outlet or on YouTube. Some of the music publishers will send scores via Pdf files for review. It is to be emphasized that there are many small music publishing companies that are producing some very high-quality material for schools and will leap at the chance to have their music reviewed.