European Traditional Music
Regions
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British Isles
Northern
Western
Southern
Eastern
England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland
Instruments
• Common Instruments
▫ Bagpipes
▫ Accordion
▫ Bodhran (Scotland and
Ireland)
▫ Fiddle
▫ Tin Whistle
▫ Harp
▫ Guitar
▫ Bones (Spoons)
Examples of Music
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Irish – Down by the Salley Gardens
Scottish - Puirt à Beul
English – Sailor’s Hornpipe
Welsh - Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night)
• Research Links
▫ Scottish Music
▫ Irish Songs
• Smithsonian Folkways Videos
▫ A Nautical Irish Evening
▫ A Song from Wales
▫ Welsh Folk Songs
Ireland
• Irish traditional music includes
many kinds of songs, including
drinking songs,
ballads and laments, sung
unaccompanied or with
accompaniment by a variety of
instruments.
• Traditional dance
music includes reels (4/4), horn
pipes and jigs (the common
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double jig is in 6/8 time).
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Examples
• Reel – Cooney’s Reel and Drowsy Maggie
– Duple Meter
• Jig – Irish Washerwoman – Triple Meter
• Irish Dancing
GCSE Bitesize – Irish Dance Music
Nordic Countries:
Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark
Instruments
• Dulcimer
• Fiddle
• Hardanger Fiddle
▫ – Fiddle with sympathetic strings.
• Harmonica
• Accordion
• Hurdy Gurdy
Characteristics and Examples
• Dulcimer and fiddle are the most prominent
instruments.
• Dance music – Mazurka, Valz, Polka, etc. – very
popular.
• Music that tells a story.
• Research Links
▫ Generic Info
Examples of Music from each Country.
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Eivør – Trøllabundin
Morsiamen Itketys
Klinga mina klockor
Trædballehus Polka
3 Finnish Folk Inst.
Violin and Zither
Swedish dance to Soldier’s Joy
(English folk song)
• Danish traditional dance
• Traditional Fighting Dance
The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Austria,
Switzerland
Germany - Bavaria
• Southern Part of Germany –
Alps
• Instruments
▫ Accordion
▫ Brass Instruments
 Trumpet
 Trombone
 Tuba/Sousaphone
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Hammer Dulcimer
Guitar
Harp
Alphorn
• Brass Bands
• Yodeling
Examples of German Music (Maybe
some Austrian)
• Zsammg'spuit
• Goldried Quintett
• X'seis Trio
• Der Jäger aus Kurpfalz
• Im Wald Und Auf Der Heide
Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece
Spain
• Instruments
▫ Classical Guitar
▫ Castanets – The national instrument of
Spain.
▫ Accordion
▫ Palmas – palms, body percussion
▫ Gaita – Bagpipe
• Focus on smaller ensembles.
• Dance music from different regions.
• Influences from Celtic, African, Arabic,
Gypsy, Jewish, and Christian cultures.
• Northern Spain – bagpipe (gaita)
culture
• Southern Spain – flamenco culture
▫ Why?
Examples of Spanish Music
• En el Café de Chinitas
• Malagueña – Originated in
Andalucia – became a
flamenco style.
• Fandango – Dance
• Jota – Dance
• Gaitas Asturianas
• Moraito Chico – Bulerias
• Al Toque Flamenco
• Bolero and Tanguillo
• Por El Hablar He La Gente
Links to resources on Spanish Music.
• Spanish Dances – Descriptions
• The Rough Guide to Flamenco Dance
• A little History.
Greece
• Instruments
▫ 3 Main Groups
 Chordophones
 Aerophones
 Membraphones
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Violin (Violi)
Bouzouki
Clarinet (Klarino)
Lyra (Rebec)
Tambourine
Toubeleki (Ceramic hourglass
drum) – similar to doubek.
Greek Music Examples
▫ Παπαναστάσης Ήλιε Ηλιάκη
▫ Kristi Stassinopoulou: Sto
Patithraki
▫ Μά'ισσα Σεληνη-Νικος
Παπαζογλου
▫ Popova kerka - Greek folk music
(Almopia, Macedonia, Greece)
Examples of Italian Music
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Totore Chessa: Costera
Domo Emigrantes
Tarantella rosi e sciuri
Polka dzalaye
Examples of Portuguese Music
• Fado Portugues
• Marcha dos manjericos
• Santa Marta de Portuzelo
Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Czeck Republic, Slovenia, Hungary,
Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Abania, Western Russia… etc.
Gypsy/Romani
• Largely popular in Central and
Eastern Europe. Highest
populations in Romania,
Hungary, and former
Yugoslavia.
• Romani – Originated in
Northern India. Were
Nomadic people who travelled
in Europe and are mostly
settled.
• What instruments can you
hear in these Romani
examples?
• Ion Petre Stoican - Hora Lui
Mihalea
• Oppadirida - Cimbali Band
• Oleg Ponomarev's Koshka
Klezmer - Jewish
• Klezmer music is intended to
replicate the human voice,
including sounds of crying,
wailing and laughing. It is
generally the violin's job to do
this imitation. Often, a
klezmer band will include a
fiddle, a bass or cello, a
clarinet and a drum.
Secondary instruments
include hammered dulcimers
and accordion.
• Made for dancing.
• May contain influences from
many other cultures/genres.
• Chava Alberstein - A Good
Memory
• Amsterdam Klezmer Band:
Takaj Zhizn
• In Your Garden Twenty
Fecund Fruit Trees - Frank
London's Klezmer Brass
Allstars
• Brave Old World
Extras
• Balalaika – Triangular Russian
Lute – 3 strings, 2 the same
pitch, 1 a different pitch.
• Mandolin – Tuned the same as
a violin (5ths, E A D G).
Double strings.
• Jaw Harp
• Cimbalom – Type of
hammered dulcimer.
• Bulgarian Choir
• Medley of Ukrainian Folk
Songs
• Polka – meaning “Polish
Woman”. Very popular dance
music played throughout
Europe.
• French Accordion