Celtic Canons Craft and Craftsmen İn

Cinzia Yates British Forum for Ethnomusicology Conference 2008 Celtic Canons: Craft and craftsmen in Manx traditional music This paper will explore the relevance of craft as a canon forming force in the traditional music of the Isle of Man. In particular, it will invoke William Weber’s conception of canon in the western art tradition (2001), a conception that places craft as one of the central elements in canon formation and that relates craft to the craftsmanship of highly accomplished but usually professional composers. However, in Manx traditional music ‐ where authorship is usually unknown ‐ it would appear that Weber’s connection of craft to composer is not directly applicable. However, this paper will explore diachronically the relationship between craft and craftsmanship in the collection rather than in the composition of a relevant canon. In this respect, it will document the principal collectors and it will discuss the main arrangers of Manx traditional music. It will also look at the final stage of canon formation by focusing upon the folk revival where craftsmen were involved in the re‐ dissemination of earlier collected work. Further, the paper will consider the significance of craft and craftsmen for the modern Manx canon, paying especial attention to the role of connoisseurs in this matter. In sum, the paper will, once again, place craft at the centre of canon formation. In contrast to Weber, however, it will highlight the perception of craft and evaluate its meaning for a canonizing body. Canon Any discussion of canon is wrought with difficulties as a single definition of canon has not yet been agreed upon. Although canons appear within a number of disciplines, each discipline brings its own set of distinct values to the discussion. However, a canon in its most basic form can be seen to be a nebulous grouping of discrete works, artefacts or ideas that represent a community. It is always very tempting to refer to ‘the’ canon as we tend to immediately think of the canon that relates most to our own discipline, and it is this tendency that causes much of the tension in canon debates. A canon can be seen as a moral ruling force; the implications of ‘canonisation’ are endless. The term canon is also regularly used in relation to the set of literary works seen to epitomise the achievements of writers throughout history, and firmly places © Cinzia Yates 2008 Shakespeare at the centre of this selection. Canon can also be used to describe the set of pieces at the centre of what is received as Western Art Music, with Beethoven as the central figure. Due to the ruling or dominant connotations of the term, canon is often defined by the values of these three major canons of sacred texts, literature and music and all smaller or nascent canons are measured against these values. In musicology and ethnomusicology other canons are recognised, such as that of rock music by Carys Wyn Jones (2006), pieces used by the b‐boy or break dancing community in America as exposed by Schloss (2006), and in all forms of modern folk music by Bohlman (1988). Now we have becoming more comfortable with the concept of multiple canons it does not necessarily mean we should disregard what can still be learnt from the writings on the three major canons. In this way I will combine the ideas of Weber with regard to canon formation in Western Art Music, with Bohlman’s small group model of canon formation in folk music. Craft in Canon Craft is the use of skill to create an object of both aesthetic value and also utilitarian purpose. The craft object has a primary function, while the aesthetic attributes are an addition which increases the worth of the object within the context of cultural and social values. Craft is the work of a craftsman, and a craftsman can only come by his or her skills through years of apprenticeship and then practice. Although craftsmen are often accomplished amateurs, the work of a craftsman exceeds the necessary level of the merely professional. The craftsman becomes a master of the tools of his trade, yet may not be skilled in all aspects of his field. Craftsmen often carry a hereditary element to their craft, learning from their fathers who in turn learnt from their forefathers. This can be seen in the use of terms as surnames in English speaking countries as crafts were honed and passed down through the family, eventually coming to identify that family within a community. Although there is an element of art to craft, it is more the artifice and role of the artisan than an abstract ideology that ‘high’ art often evokes. In many cases the term craft is used to delineate between abstract objet d’art and useful objects made beautiful. Craft, however, does have other connotations. In some cases craft is interpreted as arcane knowledge, given to a person from outside the known realm. In this way craft can be seen to be related to talent, but it is also no coincidence that both free masonry and wicca are referred to as ‘the craft’. It is the ability to personally bend and control © Cinzia Yates 2008 seemingly immutable elements to your own whim that unifies these ideas of craft. This otherworldliness continues with the idea of craftiness; an undesirable trait by which it is your own will being crafted by a gifted individual. However craft is defined, be it physical, arcane or interpersonal, someone gifted in a craft, a craftsman, is almost always placed in high esteem by his surrounding community, his works are given high value, be that monetary, cultural or otherwise, and the works of a craftsman often set the standards for other craftsmen to emulate or develop. So what is the relevance of craft to canon? In his article, Weber revisits the perception of the classical music canon recognising that the centrality of the canon to the study of musicology poses problems for an objective attitude to the discipline: Musicologists have been slow to recognise the problem of canon because it is so embedded in their assumptions about music. (Weber: 2001, p.337) Weber recognises three phases of canon formation, scholarly, pedagogical and performance. The scholarly canon, first to form, contained pieces most regularly studied and discussed and is perceived as an academic canon. The pedagogical canon then formed with the advent of sacred polyphony and is most linked to teaching and composition, often characterised by students emulating a generation before. Finally developed the performing canon, the canon with which we are most acquainted. This, as the name suggests, grew out of organised repertories of older works performed in a public context. Using this tripartite framework Weber further identifies four aspects vital to the formation of these canons; Repertory, Criticism, Ideology and Craft. Repertory would seem the most obvious, but remains the least studied. Pieces can only enter the performing canon if they are performed, but to study the relationship between repertories and canon through programmes, collections, anthologies and other records of performances is not the usual path of musicology. Criticism is seen as a major aspect of canon formation in literature as well as music, but not necessarily in the same way. For a musical piece to enter the canon there must be some discourse surrounding the piece. From its place as repertoire this does not mean only reviews of performances, but also critiques, histories, oral and written opinions. The surrounding culture, both academic and popular, must give the piece authority through criticism. Ideology is the most outward looking principle of canon, and the canon both contains and reflects the © Cinzia Yates 2008 ideology of the surrounding culture and time. The canon can act as an ideological force within culture, whilst also being dependent on the culture’s ideology for a work to obtain an authoritative position. Craft then is central to the formation of canon. Whether scholarly, pedagogical or performing, the pieces chosen for study, emulation or performance have to be deemed good enough to bother with and as we saw earlier, craft is the ability to create something deemed to be of worth or value. Craft links the canon of creators with the canon of works in an intricate, almost symbiotic, relationship. The canon is as much dependent on the reputation of canonical composer as craftsmen as their role of craftsmen relies on the level of craftsmanship evident in their work. Manx Music and Arts and Crafts Although not the composers of the music, or even necessarily musicians, the role of Dr. John Clague, W.H. Gill and his brother J.F. Gill as craftsmen and specialists within the collection and dissemination of Manx traditional music can not be underestimated. During what Maddrell (2006) describes as the first wave of cultural revival on the Isle of Man from 1880 to 1920, the brother’s Gill and Dr John Clague embarked on a mission to rescue the fast disappearing folk music and song of the Isle of Man. At the same time antiquarian and polymath A.W. Moore embarked on a similar mission with the help of T.E. Brown, Manx national poet and champion of the newly coded Anglo Manx dialect. It is not surprising that these missions were begun in the climate of an overall arts and crafts movement, similar to that in England and America. The folk crafts of the simpler 18th and 19th century, pre industrial revolution, were being usurped by the urban and modern, and in particular on the Isle of Man, the English, and so it was the responsibility of the social elite to preserve and promote these crafts.

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