Lilting

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

Whats that all about then :roll:
And who doe's it?

[lixnaw]

lilting or mouth music was done a lot in hard times, when there was no money for instruments.
i know miko russel did it some times. it sounds like "dadly daly didly..." all the way like a jig or a reel.
there might not have been that many old tunes without lilting.

[Darwin]

Back in about 1960 or so, an Irish musician showed up at a Houston Folklore Society jam session in Hermann Park, and performed what he called "mouth music". He said that it originated with the banning of the pipes by the British.

I can almost remember what he looked like, but not what he sounded like.

[illuminatus99]

Back in about 1960 or so, an Irish musician showed up at a Houston Folklore Society jam session in Hermann Park, and performed what he called "mouth music". He said that it originated with the banning of the pipes by the British.

I can almost remember what he looked like, but not what he sounded like.

so how did they decide who got to drone and who got to lilt?

[emmline]

Whats that all about then :roll:
And who doe's it?

I second the question. Is that like...humming?

[Tony]

Whats that all about then :roll:
And who doe's it?

I trust you used the search function to see previous discussion... yes?
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/search.php?mo ... c8d3396905

[Redwolf]

Whats that all about then :roll:
And who doe's it?

I second the question. Is that like...humming?

It's more like the "da row dee da diddly da diddly da dum" bits you run into in some pub songs. It's got the rhythm and cadence of speech (well, song, rather), but the "words" are basically nonsense...syllables chosen for their rhythmic value rather than sense. One of the new Irish Rovers (I forget his name) is quite adept at it...he lilts a verse or two of "Kitty of Kilrae" on their "Boys of Belfast" CD.

Redwolf

[mcfeeley]

Whats that all about then :roll:
And who doe's it?

I second the question. Is that like...humming?

Lilting, or mouth music, can be like humming, in the sense of walking along the road, got a tune in your head, and just humming along with it. IRTrad musicians will sometimes do that, just lilt a tune to help get it better in their head.

Lilting is also a serious art form, maybe starting at gatherings when there wasn't a musician available. That's how Jean Redpath described it on a live recording of one of her concerts.

In "Field Guide to the Irish Music Session" Barry Foy describes lilting as:

"Dum-diddly-diddly-dum, di-de-leedl-di, deedl-leedl-
deedl-dum, di-de-leedl dum" -- which is harder than
it looks."

There's some good examples of lilting on the Chieftains 3 & 4 albums, done by Pat Kilduff.

[glauber]

3 words for you: Celtic Mouth Music

I think it's out of print, but it sometimes turns up in places like half.com.

g

[MarkB]

Try this site, it will give a definition of Scottish Mouth Music (what some call lilting) but a completely different approach.

http://www.kammenandswan.com/mouth_music.htm

It is called "Pruit a beul."

The Irish have several styles (which can be found farther down the above link)

Sean Nos - old style
Caoine (Keen-a) lament style

Hopes this helps

MarkB

[peeplj]

If you have or can get the Matt Molloy "Shadows on Stone" album, it's got some good lilting on it.

--James

[mcfeeley]

3 words for you: Celtic Mouth Music

I think it's out of print, but it sometimes turns up in places like half.com.

g

It's still around -- I found it on Grey Larsen's site, and there's a lot of other places that have it.

http://www.greylarsen.com/store/catalog ... ucts_id=13

[fancypiper]

Lilting is Irish "scat" singing, similar to some jazz scat.

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

Try this site, it will give a definition of Scottish Mouth Music (what some call lilting) but a completely different approach.

http://www.kammenandswan.com/mouth_music.htm

It is called "Pruit a beul."

Hopes this helps

MarkB

Thanks Mark.
Realy good,this bit applies to whistle just as much as singing.

One of the great challenges for a singer is finding breathing space in a purt. The cardinal rule for this type of mouth music is that the rhythm must never be compromised. Breathing a purt calls for the ability to put the emphasis on the strong dance beats, while still saving space for catching your breath between sounds or having a breath take the place of a weaker beat while you maintain the momentum of the tune.

[PhilO]

In jazz, think Ella Fitzgerald "scatting."

PhilO