HARP MODES
Aristides Quintilianus (probably third century AD) had a threefold division of Greek song into
diastaltic, systaltic and hesychastic moods not unlike the Gaelic geantraighe, goltraighe and
suantraighe. Greek music theory was related closely both to the voice and to the lyre and
included various systems of diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic scales. Letters were used to
designate musical pitches for both voice and musical instrument (probably for the Greek auloi,
slim oboe-like pipes played in pairs) but the strings of the lyre were also given their own special
names in the tetrachords of the scale system. These tetrachords and string names imply a four
finger playing technique. The Greeks were known to practise magadising (which involved
performing a melody at parallel pitches) and heterophony (which involved playing notes on the
lyre additional to the sung melody): the poet Anakreon, as quoted by the Egyptian Athenaeus of
Naukratis, indicates that they may have had an ancient twenty string harp called the μάγαδις:
"I hold my magadis, and sing,
Striking loud the twentieth string.."
The early surviving reference to an eight mode system is the οκτώηχος (oktoechos) mentioned
in a Syrian document of the early sixth century. Byzantine and Latin Christianity may have
remodelled their own musical systems around the same time and that kind of modal thinking
may have influenced Gaelic harp music to some degree. Indeed, the harp or lyre may have
been used in a Gaelic ecclesiastical context in early times, as the harp was latterly. A
substantial portion of the traditional Gaelic song repertoire displays the characteristics of a
system of 'authentic', 'plagal' and other modal positions.
The issue of what a mode is arises when dealing with the tunings, keys and scales of Gaelic
harp music. One possible definition of mode is 'a kind of tune'. A 'kind of tune' could be
identified from comparison of general melodic contour, range and scale but also from metre and
from the stylistic characteristics of different tunes. In Gaelic music, tune types are not formally
categorised, unlike poetic metres whose names and structures still exist, but Edward Bunting
does give testimony that the old harpers played the same settings of tunes in the same keys as
each other. Modal categories have been developed for the repertoire of the 'pìob mhór
Ghaidhealach' or Highland pipes and here I will embark on a similar attempt for the 'clàirseach
Ghaidhealach' (Gaelic harp) by drawing on the fruits of Bunting's observations.
Musicians who play Gaelic music do tend in conversation to identify songs as being similar to
each other or even as versions of each other in respect to melodic features and keys etc. I
often hear phrases like 'that kind of tune' used but have not seen much study of how musicians
who perform Gaelic music relate tunes to each other musically. Musicians who concern
themselves with modal theory tend to come up with general theoretical solutions for the whole
repertoire which, although sensible, have not been so far closely related to the historical and
practical reality of the Gaelic harp. Knowledge of the Gaelic harp is a key element to a genuine
understanding of the diatonic Gaelic harp modes which have been so influential, particularly in
Gaelic song.
Another possible definition of mode is 'a kind of scale' and this is important in relation to the
question of tuning. Tune types could be grouped under a wider category based on the scale
they have, so that they could be described as being in a D natural scale or G natural scale, for
example.
The idea of a mode referring only to a series of pitches would mean having to disregard the
harmonic sense of a significant group of tunes. An A minor song with an octave range of A to A
and finishing on A can sound completely different to a D minor song in the in the same range
and ending on the same note. Technically this is the same scale, ie the same series of notes,
but the sense of key and mode is different. Some melodies can be in a major mode all the way
through, for example C, but finish on the key note of a minor mode, eg A or D.
Defining Gaelic modes solely by scales such as 'A minor' is not practical for tunes which do not
have a straightforward sense of finishing by arriving 'home' which could be used to supply a
tonic or key note for such a scale. Furthermore, there are some tunes which use a certain
scale while containing the melodic motifs normally associated with another scale. Would it be
correct to assign the tune concerned to some category according to its scale or to its melodic
characteristics? This question is particularly pertinent if another version of the tune exists using
the more appropriate scale.
Since plenty of individual tunes exist in a multiplicity of melodic forms, ranges, scales, metres
and styles, it would be undesirable to assign them all to an overly simple system of
categorisation. A system for categorising tunes by type today would, in my view, have to take all
factors into account and group tune types by detailing their varying characteristics. To develop
such a comprehensive and flexibly descriptive system for the entire spectrum of Gaelic tunes is
a major task.
One could question the usefulness of such a project. However, we do not ask such a question
about the desirability of poetic metres when using that terminology to describe Gaelic poetry.
The Gaelic modes might seem misty and nebulous but broad, general categories of tunes at
least can be made by using key and/or final note. Placing Gaelic tunes into an appropriate
position on the Gaelic harp will allow us to understand how different modes, scales and
individual tunes relate to one other.