CONCLUSION
Review of harmonic features
This notation of Banks of Claudy contains the following features identified in the Joly collection
book fragment version of the Fairy Queen (FQ), in the Straloch Port Priest (PP), in Bunting's
earliest notations of Scott's Lamentation (CBLM29) and the version of it published in the
Introduction to his 1840 volume of The Ancient Music of Ireland (CBL1840), in the Féachain
Gléis (FG), in the notation of the Féileacán in Bunting MS12 f33r (F) and in the notations of
Táim i mo Chodladh in Bunting MS20 f8v-9r (TIMC20) & MS 33 book III f28v-29r (TIMC33):-
• tendency of the 3rd to appear between the main bass and treble notes when the
melody note is the third note of a hypothetical triad
FQ, PP, CBLM29/1840, FG, F, TIMC20/33
• occasional swapping of melody notes between bass and treble
PP, CBLM29/1840, FG, F, TIMC20/33
• staggered octaves in the bass
FQ, CBLM29/1840, FG, TIMC20/33 & perhaps PP
• appearance of the 5th between main bass and treble notes
FQ, CBLM29 p158, FG & TIMC20/33
chords in one hand:
• octave in the bass (glas?: +,3 and/or ladhar?: 1,3)
FQ, CBLM1840, FG, TIMC20/33 & perhaps in PP
• 4th & 5th in the bass
FG, TIMC33 & perhaps PP
• 3rd in the bass (ladhar láir?: 1,2)
CBLM1840
• triad in the bass (+,1,2?)
TIMC20/33
The notation does not show:-
• predominance of magadising in providing bass harmony
FQ, PP, CBLM29/1840 & TIMC20/33
• octaves staggered between bass and treble (note usually first struck in the treble)
CBLM29/1840, TIMC20/33 & perhaps PP
or the following chords in one hand:-
• 5th in the bass
CBLM1840, F, TIMC20/33 & perhaps PP
• 3rd in the treble (boilsgean?: 1,2)
CBLM29/1840, TIMC20 & perhaps PP
• occasional 4th in the treble (glas?: 1,3)
CBLM29/1840, FQ book & perhaps PP
• triad in the treble
CBLM1840 & TIMC20
• bass arpeggio chords at the end of phrases or sections
including that of the 3rd, 4th & 5th in the bass (lán chrobh: +,1,2,3 arpeggio)
CBLM29/1840 & FG
• occasional 4th in the bass
CBLM1840, F & perhaps FG
• melody note in the bass being repeated as the top note of a chord in the treble
CBLM29
Banks of Claudy
Conclusion