Gaelic folk music or Gaelic traditional music is the folk music of Goidelic-speaking communities in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, often including lyrics in those languages. Characteristic forms of Gaelic music include sean-nós and puirt à beul singing, piobaireachd, jigs, reels, and strathspeys.
Relation with Brythonic music The six Celtic nationalities are divided into two musical groups, Gaelic and Brythonic,Skinner Sawyers, J. (2001). Celtic Music: A Complete Guide, Da Capo Press, which according to Alan Stivell differentiate "mostly by the extended range (sometimes more than two octaves) of Irish and Scottish melodies and the closed range of Breton and Welsh melodies (often reduced to a half-octave), and by the frequent use of the pure pentatonic scale in Gaelic music".translation by Steve Winick
Gaelic music in the Americas The emigration of Scottish Gaels to Cape Breton has also resulted in a unique strain of Gaelic music evolving there.National Geographic: Cape Breton Traditional Music, Boston Irish Reporter: Remembering Gaelic Roots, http://www.bostonirish.com/arts/bcmfest-remembering-gaelic-roots A number of fiddle tunes of Irish and Scottish Gaelic origin have entered the American bluegrass and country repertoires.
Performance The session is a common setting for Gaelic music, where musicians from a given locality gather to play music in a public setting. Gaelic music is also commonly heard at folk festivals, by pipe bands and at competitions such as mods and the Fleadh Cheoil.
Keys and modes In Traditional Gaelic music, the Ionian, Dorian, Mixolydian and Aeolian modes dominate,Intermix: Modes and Scales, Scales and Modes in Scottish Traditional Music, http://www.campin.me.uk/Music/Modes/Modes-hepta.abc with the keys of D Ionian, G Ionian, A Dorian and E Dorian among those popular with session musicians.Flatpicking Irish and Scottish Music on Guitar, http://www.danmozell.com/guitart.htm
Harmonization Unlike Classical and Jazz music, modal harmonisation avoids diminished chords, as seen below for the seventh scale degree of the major scale."Chord Scales" and accompanying Irish dance music, http://www.xs4all.nl/~hspeek/dadgad/theory.html Seventh chords are generally limited to the II and the V positions of the chord scale.
Roman numeral I ii iii IV V vi V6(first inversion)Scale degree tonic supertonic mediant subdominant dominant submediant subtonic
References