Irish Music (instrumental version)

VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

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TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

Wellington songwriter and sound engineer Tony Clark has written this folk song from a contemporary New Zealand perspective, capitalising on the resurgence of interest in tracing our ancestry, and in Irish music.

The children might like to investigate any Irish or Celtic connections they may have in their family backgrounds. They can discuss the Blarney Stone, and the convention of kissing it. (This is supposed to give people "the gift of the gab" – in other words, to make them more articulate.)

The chorus encourages children to use their voices as instruments – "di di diddle i diddle i di". This is a device used in many Irish songs, for example, the traditional Irish lullaby "Toora Loora Loora". Classes may like to sing other songs which have voices imitating an instrument, using nonsense syllables. Try "I Love the Mountains" or "Everybody Follow" (both in Helen Willberg's Sing Together).

The instruments mentioned in the lyrics (bodhran drum, fiddle, and whistle) are musical elements in the backing of the song. Also included in the backing are mandolin, guitar, bass, and "the bones".

"The bones" are a traditional Irish instrument, made from different types of animal bones. Bones about fourteen centimetres long are smoothed and polished, then banged together to make the distinctive sound heard in this song. They can be heard from the second verse. The children might like to experiment with the percussive qualities of different types of bones. (They could, perhaps, approach a friendly local butcher for different kinds of bones, which would need to be boiled up, cleaned, and dried before being used as musical instruments.)

"lrish Music" is performed on the cassette by members of the Wellington Irish band, Phelim Brady.

For more teaching suggestions go to
artsonline.tki.org.nz/Teaching-and-Learning/Secondary-teaching-resources/Music-Sound-Arts/Units-and-sequences/Into-Music-1-Classroom-Music-in-Years-1-3

For support with teaching ukulele go to
nzukulele.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/NZUT-Teacher-Handbook-copy.pdf

For further resources and support go to
- menza.co.nz/
- onza.nz/
- nzukulele.org.nz/

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