I created this performance with the intention of it being viewed as the process of incorporating the cello into, what I believe to be, the centrality of the Irish music tradition.
Creating this performance was a process itself, which was not highly documented as I believe its relevance was only benefitting my creative process and not the larger goal of the
performance. Nelson (2013) addresses this saying,
“To record an entire rehearsal or compositional process on video, for example, would not only make excessive logistical demands, it might interfere with the
process itself” (Nelson 2013, p. 87).
Although I recognise that examining my creative processes and how I create work as a valuable skillset, I believe that examining it at-length would have taken away from my focus of relocating Thebrowncello.
There is, however, a need for an analysis of the documentation of this performance or process. Chang (2008) states that,
“Until you give a meaningful structure to collected data, they may appear to be a
“messy” pile of fragmented bits. Data analysis and interpretation are the processes through which the data become a cogent account of observed
phenomena” (Chang 2008, p. 126).
It is my assumption that the performance, if viewed solely as a work of performance art, would not be seen as a “messy” pile. Chang also quotes Walcott (1994) stating that,
“He describes data analysis as an activity directed to ‘the identification of essential features and the systematic description of interrelationships among them
– in short, how things work. In terms of stated objectives, analysis also may be
118
employed evaluatively to address questions of why a system is not working or how it might be made to work ‘better’” (Wolcott 1994, cited in Chang 2008, p. 127).
Therefore, to understand the significance of this performance as a process, I believe that the following evaluative work is necessary.
Was the technique work effective?
I believe that the technique work in this performance was effective as a starting point for integrating Thebrowncello into the Irish music tradition. In my opinion, the bowing and ornamentation were effective in helping to create a traditional sound in this performance. For example, when listening to “Munster Buttermilk” (59:41) and “Fraher’s” (1:00:49), I feel that the ornamentation and bowing are giving the tunes a lift and providing the swing that I would hear in the playing of other musicians in traditional music. As I listen to the track I do not think that it sounds like a classical musician attempting to play traditional music, which might sound very rigid and stiff, a point that I mentioned in the previous chapter when referring to Yo-Yo Ma’s performing of non-classical music. Obviously, nerves had a part to play in the performance which made “Fraher’s” sound very rushed which affected the bowing, but I still believe that it sounds within the idiom of Irish traditional music.
The accompaniment techniques are more difficult for me to assess in terms of the aesthetic of traditional music. As these techniques are new and contemporary, there is not a standard with which to compare them to within Irish traditional music. However, I believe that they worked in accurately displaying the capabilities of Thebrowncello and,
consequently, the cello within the idiom of Irish traditional music. The chopping technique allowed for a rhythmic accompaniment that I believe did not interfere with the music throughout the performance, nor did it take anything away from the traditional sound of the music coming from the other performers. It also afforded the opportunity for Thebrowncello to demonstrate a contemporary approach to accompanying with the cello in Irish traditional music which was unique and not seen within this style of music before, which made for a very special artistic experience. Therefore, I believe that the accompaniment techniques used
119
in this performance are contributing to the creation of a new style of cello playing which is included within the idiom of Irish traditional music.
The Performance as a Whole
I do believe that this performance was successful as whole. As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, one of the main goals of the performance was to display how different musical styles and techniques have come together to help me formulate an Irish traditional style of cello playing. I feel that, throughout this performance, I accurately demonstrated these different styles of music and what I have learned and borrowed from them, in order to create an accessible style of cello playing that would fit within the Irish music tradition and also provide an artistic performative output.
There were, however, several moments throughout the performance where things did not go as I intended. During “A Tune for the Girls” in the first set of tunes, there was meant to be a quick stop in the “A” part of the tune which I forgot about, but Seán and Conal
performed it as planned. This did not affect the overall sound of the performance and was not so major that it would have been noticed as a blatant mistake, but it was something that I noticed as soon as I missed it. I indicated this at 6:44 in the recording of the performance when I turned to Seán and smiled, indicating that I forgot that we were putting a stop in the music.
Two sets in this performance where things fell apart more noticeably were the two American-themed sets: “Skippin’ in the Mississippi Dew” (20:15) and “Foggy Mountain Special” (50:30). “Skippin’ in the Mississippi Dew” was a very shaky song from the start, which I attribute to nerves. This was my first time singing solo material in front of an audience and it was also a style of music that I do not normally sing. This caused my right hand to be shaky and caused my bow hand to not be in sync with my left hand which made for several unintentional slurs which reversed the direction of the bow in passages that I would have bowed a specific way. Perhaps the most noticeable mistake in this song was
120
forgetting the third verse of the song and reverting back to the second verse at 23:00. As I had listened to this song hundreds of times for the past few years, I can say with all certainty that nerves caught the better of me for this song.
In the other American set, “Foggy Mountain Special” I was, again, in unfamiliar territory, however this time it was due to my lack of experience improvising solos within bluegrass music. Throughout this set, Paddy Kiernan and myself traded solos between each other and every instance where I had to take my solo, I would lose the rhythmic swing of the melody and often revert to a descending pattern within my improvised portion. My inability to solo comfortably affected the entire set throughout in the form of issues with improper intonation and rhythmic discrepancies. In total, I feel that this set was one of the most disastrous of the performance and did not demonstrate anything productive within the terms of the overall result of the performance, however, reviewing this set has allowed me to earmark soloing as a skill that needs improvement for the next performance.
One thing that this performance has shown to me as I reviewed it was that I was very comfortable playing an accompaniment throughout the performance, more than melody playing. I noticed that throughout the performance the melody playing had more rhythmic and intonation issues than places where I was backing melody players. I noticed this
specifically in the fifth set of the performance, “The High Caul Cap/The Chaffpool Post/The Mortgage Burn” at 30:34. At 33:04 I began to play the second tune of the set and I notice that my bow arm is nervously putting in a lot of work trying to keep the rhythm of the
melody consistent and my left hand is causing intonation problems. However, when I switch to backing the tune at 33:48 the issues I just mentioned are not present. The opposite happens when I switched from backing “The Mortgage Burn” to playing the melody at 35:44. The first time through the tune is more steady than the second because I am backing the tune with Conal until 35:44 and then my melody playing becomes very rushed and out of tune.
Throughout the rest of the performance that I have not specifically highlighted in this section there were a few intonation issues as well as rhythmic issues, however, I do not feel that these issues took away from the goals of the performance. I still believe that, despite
121
these discrepancies, the performance displayed the process I was undergoing of creating a style of cello playing unique to Irish traditional music as well as demonstrating mastery over the cello by way of the creation of new techniques that were incorporated into the
performance.
Although much of what I have spoken about thus far has focused on techniques throughout the performance, it cannot be forgotten that this performance was a piece of art and should also be viewed as such. Artistically, I believe that the sets of tunes I arranged for this performance accurately demonstrated what Thebrowncello was capable of at the time.
The sets also provided a lot of variation in the sense that there were points of high-energy fast tunes such as “A Tune for the Girls” (Comp. by Liz Carrol) which would be followed by a slower set of tunes like “The Lonesome Jig” (trad.). While it is not my intention to discuss Kant’s Critique of Judgement (1790) or Marxist or pragmatist views surrounding the autonomy of art38, I do believe that this performance provided “a distinctive capacity, as an object of value, to do something not done, or not done the same way, by other kinds of objects” (Haskins 1989, p. 43). The style of cello playing that I brought into the Irish music tradition by way of this performance has not been done before, as I have mentioned
previously.
Taking a step back from the technical aspect of the performance and viewing it as a piece of performance art, I think the performance had a good feel to it, overall. The order of the set list had an even distribution of lively sets, such as the set with the tune “Gr for Gaorsach” and slower, groove-based tunes like "Rolling in the Barrel.” I feel that ordering the set list in this way allowed the audience to reset so they were not constantly listening to upbeat, energetic tunes, nor were they listening to a set full of solemn melodies. As I addressed earlier in this chapter, there were several mistakes that were made throughout the performance. I do not feel, however, that they largely took away from the overall flow of the performance itself. Therefore, I feel that this performance offered a great window into the process of how the cello is moving from the perceived periphery of Irish traditional music to the centrality by exposing it to the public through performance.
38 See Marcuse’s The Aesthetic Dimension, Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory and Dewey’s Art as Experience.
122