Scottish Music

Question 1

Drone

Answer 1

One note held on (or repeated in) the bass. Often called a drone bass. Sometimes there is more than one note.
The low-pitched pipes of a bagpipe which accompany a melody

Question 2

Snare Drum

Answer 2

This instrument belongs to the percussion family and is played with sticks or brushes. It can act as two different instruments – a side drum and a snare drum.

Question 3

Jig

Answer 3

A fast dance in compound time. Usually 2 beats in a bar, with each beat dividing into 3 quavers.

Question 4

Mouth Music

Answer 4

Unaccompanied songs with Gaelic or nonsense words, normally sung for ceilidh dances

Question 5

Pentatonic

Answer 5

Any five-note scale. In practice, the most common one is that on which much folk music is based, particularly Scottish and Celtic. The five notes could be C D E G A.

Question 6

Scotch Snap

Answer 6

A very short accented note before a longer note. A feature of Strathspeys.

Question 7

Scots Ballad

Answer 7

A Scottish song which tells a story. It is in strophic form, which means that the same music is repeated for each verse.

Question 8

Strathspey

Answer 8

A Scottish dance with four beats in a bar, with dotted rhythms, and usually featuring the Scotch snap.

Question 9

Vamp

Answer 9

A rhythmic accompaniment with a bass note played on the beat and a chord off the beat. Usually played on piano or guitar.

Question 10

Bodhran

Answer 10

Bodhran, image by Hinnerk Ruemenapf

An Irish wooden drum, held in one hand and played with a wooden beater. Often used in folk music.

Question 11

Clarsach

Answer 11

A small Scottish harp, used in folk music. Clarsach is Gaelic for harp.

Question 12

Bothy Ballad

Answer 12

A folk song, usually with many verses, from north-east Scotland. It tells a story of rural or farming life. Usually unaccompanied, sung solo and in a dialect by a man, and sometimes a group of men will join in the chorus.

Question 13

Celtic Rock

Answer 13

A style of music that mixes Celtic folk music and rock together.

Question 14

Gaelic Psalms

Answer 14

Psalms (hymns) which were sung in Gaelic, unaccompanied. The minister in the church leads the congregation in the singing. Heard mostly in the Western Isles of Scotland.

Question 15

Pibroch

Answer 15

Music for solo bagpipe, in theme and variation form, and with grace notes.

Question 16

Waulking Song

Answer 16

Image shows an 18th century engraving of waulking
A Scottish song sung in Gaelic by women while they waulked (worked) woollen cloth to soften and shrink it. Sometimes the singing is led by a soloist with a response from the rest of the women (question and answer). The cloth was banged on a table as they worked and this created a beat for them to sing along with.

Question 17

Accordion

Answer 17

An instrument with a keyboard played with the right hand and buttons (which play chords) pressed by the left hand. The player pushes and pulls the two sides to operate the bellows. It is also known as a squeeze box.

Question 18

Acoustic Guitar

Answer 18

The acoustic guitar is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking or strumming the strings with fingers, or using a plectrum. It has six strings and the hollow body amplifies the sound of the vibrating strings. An acoustic guitar does not need electricity to produce the sound.

Question 19

Bagpipes

Answer 19

A musical instrument having a flexible bag inflated either by a tube with valves or by bellows, a double-reed melody pipe, and from one to four drone pipes.

Question 20

Fiddle

Answer 20

Another name for the violin, used in Scottish folk music.

Question 21

March

Answer 21

Music with a strong steady pulse, with two or four beats in a bar, and at a speed that is suitable to march to.

Question 22

Reel

Answer 22

A Scottish dance written in simple time with two or four beats in a bar. It is usually in a major key and is played at a fairly fast tempo. Each beat can be heard dividing equally into groups of two or four.

Question 23

Waltz

Answer 23

A dance with three beats in a bar in simple time.

Question 24

Folk Groups

Answer 24

A group of singers and instrumentalists who perform traditional music from a particular country, eg Scotland and Ireland. Scottish folk music instruments might include fiddle, whistle, guitar, accordion and pipes.

Question 25

Scottish Dance Bands

Answer 25

A band which plays Scottish music for people to dance to. The instruments may include fiddle, accordion, piano and drums.