Help with some irish and other ethnic reels

[jsrobinson]

Hello all,

I'm working on some trance music, and am only a beginner when it comes to music theory. I've covered a lot of the technical aspects behind theory... but have a lot of experience and execution to gain.

I'm interested in the light, irish reel type sound found in this song:



Around minute 5:10 there is a very basic sounding "irish" reel for several bars.

I'm looking for how to get started hitting a similar sound. What scales or modes might be best to look at?

I've diassected a few "classical" irish midis but that isn't giving much underlying knowledge on where to start coming up with original reels.

Thanks for any help with this somewhat random question. I guess this relates to music theory though so I think I'm in the right place.

[qa2pir]

How nice to find a hallucinogen track all of a sudden. I've been loving that album for quite some time.

For me, what characterizes Posford's adaption of the (I would say) celtic reel, as evidenced in this track and several more on the album "Hicksville" with Celtic Cross, is a type of melodic pattern that's essentially an equal and balanced crossover between basic harmonic cues and ornamental trills. It gives a very powerful, direct sound.

Looking at the tonality, we can see that the melody uses a generic minor scale with no sixth degree. We could also call it a pentatonic scale with an added second. I like to picture this as giving a rather breathy, dreamy, undecided yet clear sentimantality.

Play around with quickly alternating ascending/descending patterns, rigidly centered around the fundamental. If you want to get more intricate but keep it folky, I suggest sparing dashes of a major sixth, which would make the mode dorian. This could open up for a major subdominant chord but I wouldn't rely too heavily on that if the goal was emblematic simplicity. You can also use the minor sixth, depending on whether it's the ethereal quality or the majestic sadness you want to emphasize - well atleast in my opinion the dorian mode is more fleetingly, mystically ethereal and the aeolian mode sadder and more urgent; pregnant. Either way, I recommend being light on the sixth scale degree. Make it count if you use it.

Crafting such melodies I imagine you'd initially focus a lot on maintaining a feeling of implied flow between the minor i and the minor v or major VII. I reckon it's a lot about paying respect to that simple but powerful harmonic turn and building nuanced phrases on it.

Oh and one last thing, perhaps obvious: the triplets are important.

I hope I'm not babbling too much and that you got some ideas out of this post