Saturday, March 12, 2016
MUH 6515 - In What Ways Are Classification Systems Useful?
To be topical with the upcoming holiday this week I selected a piece containing an Irish (or Scottish) flute. This traditional piece originates from Ireland and contains the flute as well as a fiddle. The two performers appear to be promoting their album which contains several other Irish songs with the same instrumentation.
The use of instrument classification systems are important to the creation of new instruments as well as the development of already existing instruments. For example, the Irish flute used in the above video is simple system flute that was later replaced by the Theobald Boehm modal in the mid-nineteenth century. At that time the Irish flute became primarily used in Irish, Scottish and Cuban traditional folk music. I feel that viewing the instruments as categories increases the likelihood for expansion in the form or new and redesigned instruments.
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Hi Stefanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this beautiful Irish music. I am interested in your comment about the classification being useful for the development of future instruments...or, rather, the "likely hood of expansion in the form [of] new...instruments". I had not really considered how classification might affect the future of instrument making and design. With the explosion of digital instruments, we may need to consider adding new classifications or creating a separate list for those unique instruments.
It would be interesting to look for instances where, due to development, an instrument would shift categories... off the top of my head, I cannot think of any aside from those that became electrified. Can you?
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any that make a full switch, other than the electric instruments you mentioned, but it is neat to see how some have morphed and how changes have lead to the survival or end of some instruments. For example, how the concertina was later replaced by the accordion in overall popularity because it was mass produced poorly.
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