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Fingal's Cave

An important model can be found in a hallmark of Scottish music, a style referred to by the names duotonic, double tonic or sometimes generally as dual tonality. Duotonality employs two essential tones (a and g) in the accompanying bass hand part.

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Cynthia Cathcart
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480 views2 pages

Fingal's Cave

An important model can be found in a hallmark of Scottish music, a style referred to by the names duotonic, double tonic or sometimes generally as dual tonality. Duotonality employs two essential tones (a and g) in the accompanying bass hand part.

Uploaded by

Cynthia Cathcart
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fingals Cave

Traditional arr. 2000 Cynthia Cathcart

Alternate ending:

(c) copyright 2004 Cynthia Cathcart


Originally published in the Kilt & Harp, the journalof the Scottish Harp Society of America (Autumn 2004; Vol 21 No. 2)

Arranging Fingals Cave for Performance


Harpers often look for fresh ways to arrange music. Sometimes it is someone searching for authentic ideas to use with an historic instrument, but just as often it is someone who is just looking for something different. An important model can be found in a hallmark of Scottish music, a style referred to by the names duotonic, double tonic or sometimes generally as dual tonality.

by Cynthia Cathcart tension of away. And we want tension. This is why stories have protagonists like dragons that need killing, without whom the dragonslayer stays home and watches television, and who would want to read that story? With these two equally important tones, we may allow them both to be called tonic.

Fingals Cave is here arranged in duo-tonic style, with open 5ths on only two key (important) tones (A and G) in the accompanying bass hand part. Mention these terms in the company of two other However, when I play this piece I like to raise the musicians, and an argument might well ensue. One tension at the climax of the tune, in measure nummusician will declare that there is no such thing. How ber 21, fourth from the end. The alternate ending can there be more than one tonic? The other musician shown at the bottom of the page includes tonalities may be more generous, referring to its possible genesis in that are not limited to the two tonics. I have broken the scale of the bagpipe, its usage by the composer Niel Gow, and may suggest that, while the term has no basis the rule here, but in a very calculated way. One might ask, if breaking the rule works so of authority...it is a convenient one for the purpose. 1 well in measures 21 through 23, then why not use a Duotonality employs two essential tones. There is an at more common approach for the whole tune? Why rest tone, called by some musicians the home of the not use chords, why stay stuck with just two 2 tune. This initial tonality underlies a musical theme. The tones? tonality then changes, moving one tone (or whole-step) away. This creates tension, an away aspect against which the musical theme is repeated, also a tone away. Taking the chordal approach, we might do this:
Fingals Cave (example 2)

Consider The Drunken Sailor (example 1). The theme is stated, and then the same theme is repeated down one tone. The first appearance of the theme is home and the second is away. A duo-tonic arrangement characteristically uses an open fifth, much as a drone, underpinning and emphasizing this double tonality:

The Drunken Sailor (example 1)

The two tonics of this example are D and C. As we study the melody, we see that the 3rd above the first tonic is a minor 3rd (D to F), while the 3rd above the second tonic is a major 3rd (C to E). Here is an interesting thing to consider: the minor sonority in this tune is the comfortable place, the home. The major sound is the unsettling one, the away. Try playing the example on your harp and stopping at the penultimate measure. Dont go back home. You may find that you simply cannot leave it there, and must play the home tonic! In a double-tonic piece, not one but two tones are vitally important. The debate is really one of semantics. In common practice theory, the tonic is the one. We think of the one chord and the image of a Roman Numeral I comes to mind. We have been taught that the tonic is the most important one of many.The home may look like our I chord, but it is weak without the

But heres the problem: the first C in the melody of Fingals Cave doesnt occur until nearly the end of the tune. Using chords, we not only have Cs from the first measure, we have C Major chords! Even if we were to merely fill in the A minor chord of our duo-tonic arrangement, we still introduce early in the tune a note that the melody has held in reserve for the climax. In a chordal approach, our ears familiarity with the C reduces its impact at the climax, just when its most important. Try this experiment: first learn the arrangement on page 11. Use either ending. After you know it well, play it with the chords as in example 2. You will find that it is a remarkable contrast. My preference is to stay true to the melody, and using dual-tonality achieves that goal. 0
1 Collinson, Francis The Traditional and National Music of Scotland (London, 1966) p. 26 2

For example, professional harper William Taylor uses this term.

(c) copyright 2004 Cynthia Cathcart


Originally published in the Kilt & Harp, the journalof the Scottish Harp Society of America (Autumn 2004, Vol 21 No. 2)

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