Music tradition

Unexpectedly, since we moved into our present house, the one on which we have spent so much time and energy transforming it to conform to our tastes, I have been lucky enough to find an outlet for my musical abilities, such as they are. The group of like minded players I have teamed up with are of a broadly similar age and seem to enjoy playing the sort of tunes I feel comfortable with. The music we play is known here in Scotland as 'Traditional' music (although elsewhere it might be called 'Folk' music) and it generally consists of simple tunes, many of which are old, originating in previous centuries, and perhaps having been passed down orally through generations before being recorded as modern day written music.

These are not orchestral symphonies; instead they generally consist of two separate eight bar 'movements' or 'sections' which are referred to amongst musicians as 'A' and 'B'. Typically each of these sections is played twice through, one after the other, an established pattern that encourages participation by other musicians who will always know when the changes occur. This pattern is common to traditional music played throughout the British Isles and Ireland and almost certainly further afield as well. Some variations can arise if there are more sections in the tune, known as 'C' or 'D', but again these will be repeated in sequence following the A and B music. It is the awareness and acceptance of these 'rules' by players that has given rise to the creation of vast libraries of tunes written out in the modern day music language, the lines and dots we are most familiar with. Such tunes can now be accessed through the Internet by anyone interested and performed anywhere, ownership through copyright rarely coming into play.

Also from the world of traditional music is another form of music notation, one that emerged around fifty years ago and in the last ten years has become standardised to make it more accessible and understandable. 'ABC Notation' is a text based system which means that it is far more suitable for use on the smaller computing devices we have come to accept in today's world. And needless to say there are now phone apps available which can transpose music written in ABC, something that can easily be written and amended, into the more conventional form of music, the lines and dots that those of us who grew up with sheets of paper on music stands. For illustration here is an example:

X:1

T:Speed the Plough

M:4/4

C:Trad.

K:G

|:GABc dedB|dedB dedB|c2ec B2dB|c2A2 A2BA|

  GABc dedB|dedB dedB|c2ec B2dB|A2F2 G4:|

|:g2gf gdBd|g2f2 e2d2|c2ec B2dB|c2A2 A2df|

  g2gf g2Bd|g2f2 e2d2|c2ec B2dB|A2F2 G4:|

This is a very simple example but the same code can be used to create far more complex pieces with multiple parts, chords and rhythms, indeed whole orchestral scores can be written in ABC by those clever enough and familiar with the code. For this is what it is, in effect, a computer code which has a set of rules, all of which are managed by letters and symbols found on a standard computer keyboard.

I don't know of anyone who plays directly from ABC notated music (personally I would find this very difficult) but given the world we live in it does not come as a surprise to see the traditional music stand being replaced by a selfie stick supporting a phone or tablet. (I have long ceased to marvel at the abilities of these devices.) However reading music in any form is not important for many performers of traditional music. The tunes themselves often predate written music - they have survived through the ages by being heard and committed to memory then passed on to others - and thankfully for me such tunes do not require great skill to learn and play.