IR23 Celebration of Gaelic Culture (Irish Language Taster- Music)

Workshops were held throughout the day to explore different aspects of Irish culture. 

In the morning, the students were able to discover the Gaelic language with the help of their correspondents, in the form of a search for expressions in the 3 languages: French, Gaelic English. They had game of dialogues together and had the privilege to sing all together.

Irish language, also called Erse or Gaelic, Irish Gaeilge, a member of the Goidelic group of Celtic languages, spoken in Ireland. As one of the national languages of the Republic of Ireland, Irish is taught in the public schools and is required for certain civil-service posts.
Grammatically, Irish still has a case system, like Latin or German, with four cases to show differing functions of nouns and pronouns in a sentence. In phonology it exhibits initial sandhi, in which the first consonant of a word is modified according to the prehistoric final sound of the previous word in the phrase. Then, through a dance workshop, the students were able to familiarizethemselves with Celtic dances. Indeed, the students were given a dance class. Finally, some Irish students, accompanied by theirmusic teacher, performed a concert of traditional music. Celtic music is a broad term that includes many traditions and genres thatoriginate from western Europe. The connecting thread of Celtic music is that it evolved from the traditional folk music of that area including Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany. As with any genre of music, especially a genre thisbroad, Celtic music has a large variety of instruments that are used to play it. Instruments commonly played include the fiddle(violin), bagpipes, accordion, flute, whistle, mandolin, and banjo. In Irish music, the rhythm is accented with a frame drum calleda bodhran. Songs called “airs” are sung unaccompanied or backed by a harp.

Fiddle is basically a violin. The body is the same, but a fiddle is often stringed with steel strings, while a violin uses nylon or gutstrings.

The playing style of a fiddle is slightly different as well. A Celtic fiddler uses more quick fingerwork and short bursts of sound as they play. 

Celtic Harp: Four feet high and strung with 34 strings of gut or wire the Celtic harp has been used for thousands of years, not only for music but also to accompany storytellers and create quite an immersive experience for the listeners. 

When playing the Celtic harp, the musician is usually seated with the harp leaning against them and a hand on either side of the strings.

Tin Whistle lies within the same family as the flute and is a staple to Celtic music. It is rather small and easy to carry, whichperhaps led to its ability to remain so relevant. Like the flute, the tin whistle is a tube of metal. It has six tone holes in which the musician can place their fingers to create differently pitched notes.

Concertina is another type of accordion but a rather distinct one. This accordion has a hexagonal shape and is rather small. The difference between a concertina and a full accordion is that the accordion has a full keyboard on one side that allows the musicianto create full chords with the movement of the bellows.

Students enjoyed a lot to discover this culture. The games of langage, songs and especially the dances were highlights moments.