Band Practice: Class, Taste and Identity in Ulster Loyalist Flute Bands
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Ethnomusicology Ireland 1 (2011) 1 BAND PRACTICE: CLASS, TASTE AND IDENTITY IN ULSTER LOYALIST FLUTE BANDS By Gordon Ramsey Introduction Parading to fife and drum has been part of working-class culture in Ulster since the 1780s, when the practice was popularised by part-time military forces such as the Volunteers and Yeomanry. 1 The marching flute-band became the dominant musical ensemble in parades by the turn of the 20th century, when many bands were sponsored by the mass political movements, nationalist and loyalist, mobilised by successive Home Rule crises. Many loyalist bands at this time were supported by lodges of the Protestant fraternity, the Orange Order, and found most of their performance opportunities at Orange parades. Today, the situation is radically different, with the vast majority of loyalist bands being independent of the Order, and Orange parades forming a very small proportion of their activities. In 2010, loyalist marching bands are more numerous, more active, and more central to the lives of their members than they have ever been. The level of participation is extraordinary, with over 700 bands active within the six counties of Northern Ireland,2 and bands also flourishing in the border counties of the Irish Republic, and in western Scotland. Over half of the bands within Northern Ireland are flute bands, with accordion, pipe, and brass or silver bands making up the remainder (Witherow 2008:47-8). Every weekend (and 1 Illustrations in various media to accompany this essay are accessible at the online version of this journal www.ictm.ie. An earlier version of the paper was first presented orally at the 5th ICTM Ireland Annual Conference, ‘Ensemble/Playing Together’, Limerick, 26-28 Feb. 2010. 2 Exact numbers are difficult to determine as the band scene is decentralised, with no overarching organisational body, and is fluid, with new bands forming as older ones fold. Witherow (2006:47-8) identified 633 bands defined as ‘unionist’. This is widely regarded as an underestimate by band members, and Witherow concedes that some bands may have been missed (pers. com). BBC Radio Ulster reported over 800 bands on parade in Northern Ireland on July 12th 2008 and July 12th 2009. These totals included visiting bands from Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, England and Canada. Ethnomusicology Ireland 1 (2011) 2 some Wednesdays too) these bands participate in band parades, organised by and for bands, in towns and villages across Northern Ireland, in a marching season that now lasts from April to October. In addition, they take part in the traditional celebrations of the Loyal Orders,3 and perform in a variety of indoor contests and concerts throughout the year. Following the outbreak of communal conflict in the late 1960s, marching bands became an increasingly visible and assertive manifestation of loyalist identity. Many were actively involved in political demonstrations, such as the 1980s campaign against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and disputes surrounding Orange parades at Drumcree and elsewhere during the 1990s. This sometimes led them into confrontation with nationalists and with state security forces, and the Orange Order, amongst others, frequently blamed bands for trouble at such events. Almost entirely from working-class backgrounds, flute-bands vary widely in their instrumentation, performance practices, and their repertoires, which can range from Mozart to Abba, from traditional jigs and hornpipes to the ‘Orange’ tunes with which they are most frequently associated. Within the flute-band world, there are three distinct genres –‘part-music’, ‘melody’, and ‘blood & thunder’– each with its own history, aesthetics, practices, events and hierarchies. The first part of this paper will document the history which brought each of these genres into being, whilst the second part will use ethnographic experience within bands from each of the three genres to explore the different ways that class, ethnicity and aesthetics interact to produce the specific tastes, practices and embodied identities which define and sustain these bands. Roots: The Ulster Fife And Drum TrAdition The fife and drum was popularised in Ireland towards the end of the 18th century by part-time military forces such as the Volunteers and Yeomanry, in which each company was led by a single fifer and drummer. The fife and drum 3 ‘The Loyal Orders’ is an umbrella term covering all the Protestant parading fraternities, the most significant of which are the Orange Order (OO), the Royal Black Preceptory (RBP) and the Apprentice Boys of Derry (ABOD). The main Loyal Order celebrations take place on Easter Monday (ABOD), the Twelfth of July (OO), Derry Day (closest Saturday to August 12th - ABOD) and the ‘Last Saturday’ in August (RBP), traditionally the last day of the ‘marching season’, although band parades now extend to much later in the year. Ethnomusicology Ireland 1 (2011) 3 ensemble took firmest root in Ulster where these predominantly Protestant forces were strongest. In the early 19th century, the practice of parading to fife and drum was adopted by two rival lower-class fraternities, the Protestant ‘Orange Order’ and the Catholic ‘Ribbonmen’, later the ‘Ancient Order of Hibernians’. From the mid-19th century onward, the fife and drum tradition in Ulster diverged from military practice, as the massive and locally developed ‘Lambeg drum’, played with malacca canes, replaced the earlier military drums, and distinctive rhythms developed quite different to those used by the military. The fifing tunes that accompanied the Lambeg drums were closely related to the popular dance music of the time, in fact often the same tunes were used for dancing and drumming. Whatever rhythm the tunes were played in for dancing, however, whether jig, reel or hornpipe, when played by fifers they were ‘dropped down’ into the distinctive slow duple metre of ‘fifing time’ (see Appendix A). Fifing time fitted with the slow pace at which the drums could move, and allowed time for elaborate ornamentation by the drummers. The tunes followed the usual format of contemporary dance music, consisting of two eight-bar sections, each of which was repeated. The tunes were generally keyed in pentatonic or heptatonic modes easily played on the fife, usually notated in the major keys of G or D. Usually, the first part of the tune was drummed in a sparse, syncopated style referred to as ‘single time’, whilst the second was drummed with a rapid rolling of alternate drumheads referred to as ‘double time’. Sometimes drummers would build up gradually from single to double time during the course of the tune.4 Drumming Parties, as these fife and drum ensembles were known, usually consisted of one or two Lambeg drums, sometimes accompanied by a side drum, and one or two fifers. They wore no uniforms and made no attempt to march in step. The flute bands that would largely replace them were radically different in both sound and appearance. 4 The terminology has survived in today’s flute-bands although the meaning has changed. In the Lambeg tradition, the shift from single to double time was a means of building up excitement by introducing a more intense rhythm: a literal doubling in the number of strokes. Flute-bands achieve a similar effect in a different way. The first section of a tune is played only by the lead-drummer or ‘tip’. This is referred to as ‘single-time’. The section is then repeated, with all the drummers playing the same rhythm in unison. This is referred to as double-time. In fact, it is not the timing that changes but the dynamics. The same pattern is repeated for each section of the tune. Although such dynamic techniques are common in military bands worldwide, it is only in Northern Ireland that the terminology of single and double-time is used to describe them: a legacy of the Lambeg heritage. Ethnomusicology Ireland 1 (2011) 4 Emergence of the Flute Band In 1887 the British Army replaced the fife with the marching-band flute, and this influenced parading practices in Ireland. The technological change from fife to flute was enmeshed with processes of industrialisation and globalisation. The fife was a straight-bored instrument that could be produced readily by part-time craftsmen from locally available woods (Hastings 2003:45). In contrast, the flute had a conical bore, and was of two or three-piece construction including a metal tuning-slide, requiring sophisticated precision production techniques. It was usually made of African blackwood and imported from English manufacturers. In a period of urbanisation and industrialisation, the slow ‘dander’ of the drumming parties was seen as rustic and outdated. Drumming parties were derided, both within and outside the parading fraternities, for being unmusical and undisciplined, and gradually found themselves marginalised by the quick- march of the flute-band. The Lambeg drum survived, but primarily in the competitive context of the drumming contest, where it was separated from the fife. Since the 1990s, however, the Ulster-Scots cultural revival has led to a renewal of enthusiasm for the ‘drumming party’ in some rural parades. Like the fifers before them, the repertoire of the early flute-bands was closely related to popular dance traditions, but ‘fifing time’ was abandoned. Jigs, hornpipes and strathspeys were the rhythms most frequently adapted to the newly popular ‘quick-march’ pace,5 whilst drumming styles were again modelled on military ‘rudiments’.6 Increasing prosperity enabled political associations and fraternal lodges to 5 The normal pace of British army units during the 18th and 19th centuries was the ‘Common Step’, of 60-75 paces a minute. This was a pace at which a heavily laden soldier could move consistently cross-country or on dirt roads. The ‘Quickstep’ or ‘Quick March’ of 100-120 paces a minute was only used for short periods of battlefield maneuvering.