GAELIC

Gaelic Psalms

Gaelic worshippers have their own way of singing psalm tunes which is still used today by Gaelic speaking congregations in Presbyterian Churches. The melodies themselves were imported from Lowland Scotland, but some non-Gaels came to call them ‘long tunes’ because they were sung slowly and ornamentally by Gaelic congregations.

At the time the psalms were introduced few people could read music and there would be few copies of the texts available. There was a precentor at services, who sang or chanted each line of the psalm before everyone sang it together without instrumental accompaniment. This was called ‘reading the line’. The original reasons for ‘reading the line’ were scarcity of printed or handwritten copies and illiteracy: these no longer apply, but Gaelic psalm-singing is still an important part of Gaelic Protestant praise today.

To sing a Gaelic psalm in the traditional manner a metrical Gaelic version of the psalm text is needed, and a psalm tune suitable to the metre. The minister or head of the household (psalms are also sung at home) will read the text, or a portion of it, say how many verses are to be sung (usually two to four), and read the first two lines of the first verse. The precentor will sing those to a chosen tune, which is not usually announced, and the congregation will gradually join in when they recognise the tune. All then complete the singing of the first two lines. For the third and subsequent lines of the psalm, the precentor intones the words to be sung, before the congregation joins in singing the melody proper.

Puirt A Beul (‘Mouth Music’)

When no instruments were available people sang tunes for dancing. In Gaelic society today however this music, called ‘puirt a beul’ – mouth music – is usually heard only as listening music.

Example: Fosgail an Dorus Dh’an Tailleir Fhidhleir. 

Waulking

A characteristic of folk music around the world is the use of strong rhythms to help harness regular effort. There are few such songs in Northern Europe, but the Gaelic song reparatory is an outstandingly rich source for work songs. In Gaelic there are work songs for solitary tasks such as milking, spinning and weaving, and also for communal tasks like rowing, reaping and the ‘waulking’ or shrinking of the tweed.

The waulking of the cloth was done by soaking it, then beating it with feet or hands until it would shrink, making the tweed much stronger and more waterproof. The work normally took place on a waulking board (often a ship’s hatch or other flotsam) at which a number of women were seated. The length of cloth was pounded on the board. Most of the waulking songs were composed by women. The lyrics often concern husbands, sweethearts or heroes, and flit in a kaleidoscopic fashion from one image to another. The verse (a single line, or couplet) is sung by a soloist, and the refrain (often including vocables such as ‘hi ri oro, ho ro hu o’), by the chorus.

The survival of waulking after the disappearance of other communal activities has led to other songs being linked with this work, and today òrain luaidh (waulking songs) are the best known of the Gaelic work songs.  As all this work was gradually taken over by machines, the songs have become only ‘listening’ music, performed at ceilidhs in Highland homes and community halls.

Although this method of shrinking cloth passed out of use in the Hebrides around the time of the Second World War, the School of Scottish Studies organised simulated waulkings on the Island of Lewis in 1955 and on South Uist in 1970.

Waulking song examples: Tha Mulad (There is sadness)

Regional Tags: The Highlands; The Outer Hebrides