By: Nanyamka Taylor

Celtic Music

Celtic music is a term untitled by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic peoples of Western Europe.

The meaning of Celtic music is pretty lose like: People calling themselves Celts instead of “Irish” or “French”. Celtic could also mean easily- listen to ‘mood’ music that is dreamy, non spasific

Irish/Scottish flavor marketed by ‘relaxing’.

Meaning of Celtic Music

The ancient Celts had a distinct culture, which is shown by their very sophisticated art work.

The Celts weren’t only war loving people they were also refined people as will with their love in art, poetry, and music.

Music will surely have been an integral part of the ancient cross-European culture, but there only a few exception its characteristics have been lost to us.

However, Celtic music culture was spread all over Europe: Britain, France, parts of Germany, eastward to Romania and beyond.

Information on Celtic Music

The carnyx belonged to the brass family, it was⌠-shaped made of beaten bronze and consisted of a tube between one or two meters in length, whereas the diameter is unknown.

Archaeological dates the carnyx back to the Bronze Age and the instrument itself is attested in contemporary sources between ca. 300 BC and 200 AD.

The carnyx was a widespread use in Britain, France, parts of Germany, eastward to Romania and beyond, even as far as India, where bands of Celtic mercenaries took it on their travel.

The carnyx’s most prominent feature is a bell, which was constructed as an animal head, either as a serpent, a bird, a wolf, a horse, a donkey, or a wild boar.

The sound of the carynx was described as lugubrious and harsh, probably caused by the loosened tongue of the bell, which shows that the carynx most have been a discrete enhancement of the Etruscan lituus, which the sound was described a s bright and piercing.

The carnyx today is seen as an instrument used during warfare like in the battle of Telemon, in 225 BC, where the Gaul's used the carnyx and other brass instruments to frighten away the Roman army this tacktics were later named psychological warfare.

The Carnyx

Other Kinds of Carnyx

The Celtic horn was a large, oval-curved horn with a thin tube and a large bell, it also had a crossbar as to support the instrument’s weight on the player’s shoulder.

Like the Roman cornu, Celtic horn held horizontally to ensure comfortable playing position.

Celtic Horn

The Celtic trumpet was similar to the Roman tuba and probably came in totally different lengths.

A Celtic musician would play the instrument on a late Greek vasa.

Celtic Trumpet

The harp has been in the Celtic countries for hundreds of years like: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany.

In Ireland the harp is closely tied to the old ‘high’ culture. Most of the Celtic harps are small and played on the knee. The triple (a kind of harp) has 3 rows of string tuned apart to give a chromatic

scale. Modern players use nylon or gut strings, but some have gone back to traditional

wire-strung harp, bell-like sound.

Harp

Other Harps

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthurkoek/3947785641/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/washingtoncenterville/2452272718/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/30086335@N02/4163606299/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinshore/478413331/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/13810639@N05/3603057041/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/gls1106/1295123333/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/warriormare/3136487355/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/9549670@N05/3695802733/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328175@N08/3318929633/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8668459@N05/551418274/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaffiroeacciaio/3650593013/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaffiroeacciaio/2870618595/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/46956155@N02/4307162342/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/3220513384/ http://en.citizendium.org/images/thumb/f/f0/AncientCelticTrumpet.jpg/110px-AncientCelticTrumpet.jpg http://en.citizendium.org/images/thumb/9/9a/AncientCelticHorn.jpg/110px-AncientCelticHorn.jpg http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ancient_Celtic_music http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_music

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