The Ivory Tower and the Commons: Exploring the Institutionalisation of Irish Traditional Music in Irish Higher Education (Discourse, Pedagogy and Practice)
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The Ivory Tower and the Commons: Exploring the Institutionalisation of Irish Traditional Music in Irish Higher Education (Discourse, Pedagogy and Practice) Jack Talty Submitted to the University of Limerick in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2019 Supervisor: Dr. Aileen Dillane Copyright © Jack Talty All Rights Reserved ii Table of Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................................ iv Dissertation Abstract ............................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... x List of Appendices ................................................................................................................................. x Section I: Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Institutionalising Music in Higher Education: The Literature ......................... 12 Chapter 3: Negotiating the Field: Methodological Considerations for this Research ..... 59 Section II: Chapter 4: Irish Traditional Music in Irish Higher Education: A Historical and Contemporary Overview .................................................................................. 81 Chapter 5: Locating Community Perspectives in Extra-Academic Irish Traditional Music Discourse ................................................................................................................................. 135 Section III: Chapter 6: Encountering Canonicity in Third-Level Irish Traditional Music Education ................................................................................................................................................................. 224 Chapter 7: Idiomatic Pedagogies or Lingua Franca? Negotiating Western Art Music Pedagogy in Third-level Irish Traditional Music Studies in Irish Higher Education: Comparative Studies ........................................................................................................................ 267 Chapter 8: Negotiating Tradition and Innovation in Third-level Irish Traditional Music Pedagogy ................................................................................................................................. 310 Chapter 9: Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 358 Section IV: Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 384 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................... 411 iii Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by me, that it is my own work and that it has not been submitted by me for any other degree or professional qualification. _________________________________ Jack Talty ________________ Date iv Dissertation Abstract This dissertation explores the institutionalisation of Irish traditional music pedagogy in Irish higher education. In particular, this research examines how Irish traditional music is located in academic institutions, and how this relates to the practices and processes of the wider Irish traditional music community. Informed by elements of social-science-inflected ethnographic practices (particularly interviews), this study, for the first time offers a diverse and extensive range of community commentary on third- level Irish traditional music pedagogy to the academic record. This dissertation also examines public discourse that has facilitated intra-communal debate on the institutionalisation of Irish traditional music in Irish higher education. Throughout the dissertation, I use the term ‘discourse’ to describe “ways of speaking about the world of social experience” that “is a means of both producing and organising meaning within a social context” (Edgar and Sedgwick 2008, p.96). In addition, this research provides an overview of the historical development of Irish traditional music studies in Irish higher education, as well as presenting a contemporary overview of the Irish traditional music studies offered in nine higher education institutes in the Republic of Ireland. Also, this thesis examines the existence of discourse and research in extra-academic contexts such as Irish traditional music events, with a view to assessing the extent to which practitioners and other stakeholders in the Irish traditional music community engage with discourse, intellectualisation, and analysis of Irish traditional music. Three chapters of this dissertation deal specifically with three prominent themes that have emerged from a combination of international scholarship on the v educational institutionalisation of Western classical music, jazz, and folk and traditional music, and the large-scale fieldwork interviews conducted specifically for this research.1 First, I explore the concept of canonicity in music education, and explore how the selection and prioritisation of elements of a musical culture such as repertoire, style, and aesthetics, for example, impacts the diversity of third-level Irish traditional music pedagogy in Ireland. Second, I examine the ways in which folk and traditional music pedagogues draw on, adapt, or depart from Western art music educational models, to better understand how third-level Irish traditional music pedagogues negotiate the historical predominance of the Western classical tradition when designing pedagogies for Irish traditional music. For example, to what extent do pedagogues design music theory systems based on idiomatic musical characteristics of Irish traditional music? Third, I investigate how higher education institutes offering studies in Irish traditional music negotiate community expectations and needs in relation to balancing what are perceived as authentic and traditional interpretations of Irish traditional music, with artistic exploration and experimentation. Notwithstanding the cultural and geographical specificity of this work, my research findings are expected to contribute to wider, international conversations that are 1 Throughout this dissertation, the terms ‘folk’ and ‘traditional’ appear frequently in reference to genres of music such as Irish traditional music, and Finnish folk music. When making general references to many folk and traditional musics, I use the term folk and/or traditional to denote multiple genres that include Irish traditional music, Scottish traditional music, English folk music, Swedish folk music, and Finnish folk music, for example. I have selected these terms, that incorporate both ‘traditional’ and ‘folk’ because they are the ones adopted by practitioners of these respective genres. At no point do I use the terms interchangeably, or suggest which terminology is most appropriate. Usage is contested however in the Irish context. Breandán Breathnach published his “Folk Music and Dances of Ireland” (Breathnach 1971), while as Vallely asserts, “the term ‘traditional’ is used in place of ‘folk’” (Vallely 2011, p.142). However, in my experience as a practitioner and researcher, the term Irish traditional music is used more frequently than Irish folk music to describe the genre of music at the centre of this research dissertation. vi happening on how best to locate folk and traditional musics in higher education environments. This dissertation does not provide a critical ethnography of all or any of the institutions engaged in the research. What it does do is provide an overview of histories, activities, practices and discourses in order to provide context for the institutionalisation of Irish traditional music within and beyond Ireland. vii Acknowledgements First, I’d like to thank all of those interviewees referenced throughout this dissertation who so generously and graciously contributed their valuable time and expertise to this research. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the many scholars who have informed and enriched my approach to this research dissertation. I would like to sincerely thank my ever-patient research supervisor, Dr. Aileen Dillane of the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick, for her relentless support, patience, encouragement, expertise, and rigour in guiding me through this doctoral journey. I also owe a great deal of gratitude to the many representatives of higher education institutes in Ireland, and abroad, who facilitated my enquiries, and research visits, and who displayed courtesy and professionalism at all times. In particular, thanks to the late Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (Professor Emeritus, the Irish World Academy, at the University of Limerick), Johnny McCarthy (The Cork School of Music, Cork Institute of Technology), Clíona Doris (Dublin Institute of Technology), Daithí Kearney (Dundalk Institute of Technology), Jimmy O’Brien-Moran (Waterford Institute of Technology), Adrian Scahill (Maynooth University), Méabh Ní Fhuartháin, Verena Commins, and Mary McPartlan (National University of Ireland Galway), Mary Mitchell-Ingoldsby