Molly Ban by Chieftains and Alison Krauss
Today my listening assignment ties in with my research. I couldn’t get away from Alison Krauss so I chose an entirely different song of hers to display this time. In Molly Ban, Alison Krauss and the Chieftains have attempted a Scottish or Celtic twist with the incorporation of bagpipes, and a flute or some other type of whistle into their bluegrass music. There is also a harp, hand drum, cymbal, vocals (melody and harmony), violin, and a string base, sometimes played with a bow to make longer sounds to match the bagpipes. The bow on the base always gives me goose bumps. There is an instrument that I assume is a banjo but it sounds like it could possibly be a related instrument instead.
Anyway, I feel 3/4 time in this piece. I have no idea what the form is because this song is put together in a very random way when considering just the form. But it sounds so perfect to me that it seems like there could be no other way to piece this song together. There is a constant emphasis on the first beat of every measure. At first the song sounds very simple and pure. But as I listen closer, it is not simple at all. There is still a pure sound for the melody, but the background builds up and dies down according to the lyrics with many different instruments. I’m not just talking crescendos and decrescendos; I also mean the number of instruments being played at the same time and also the complexity of the notes. Some of the instruments chosen are unusual for her to include in her own songs-thus we get Alison Krauss WITH the Chieftains. The instruments that use vibrato in their playing during the song are the bagpipes and the flute. This gives the song character without overdoing it and still keeping a separate duty and sound for each instrument. The song is VERY arranged, there definitely isn’t any improvisation or solos going on, but it’s still not rigid in following the rhythm– it still flows past the edges of each beat and therefore has an element of swing style to it. Like flowing down a river, there is no holding it to a specific rhythm. The rhythm is provided by the strumming of the banjo or banjo-like instrument and a drum plus a wood block on many of the 3rd beats of the measures. I think there is even a maraca or else the drum is played with the whisk-like sticks instead of normal drum sticks. When comparing another usual characteristic of the songs we hear in class, there is also stop time in this song. Instruments and harmony stop altogether many times to let just the voice sing the melody with little backup. It is also heterophonic; though most instruments play the melody, they all have their own version going on.
Here are my notes on the form of the song. I had to replay it a few times just to figure this part out:
Intro 12 measures| a 16| interlude 4| a 17| interlude 5| a 17 | a 16 |interlude 4| a 16| pipes 4 (tempo has slowed down)
The intro consists of just one low note at a time on the bagpipes along with the drum and base for 4 measures and then 8 measures introducing the melody as the violin brings in the harmony. In the first A, Alison sings the melody and the bagpipes back down to low notes only again. I think the fiddle dies down here. In second half of it, I think a harp comes in and then an instrument that sounds similar to a banjo starts strumming but I’m not sure if it is really a banjo or not as I am used to the picking rather than strumming when it comes to the banjo. Either way, it provides a strange sort of echo that quietly compliments the song in a large way. At this point the violin and a flute joins for the 4 measure transition to the next chorus. The flute and banjo/non-banjo stick around after that, the banjo instrument sounding in my opinion almost like it is playing oriental music. The flute/whistle mostly sticks to the melody but adds a few licks here and there to fill in the gaps. The chorus that follows has a one measure extension in the middle of it with the flute to echo the thoughts of the first lyrics. The 2nd half here is where the harmony vocals come in to emphasize the climax of the song. Then another transition after it has strong bagpipes and violin plus a high-reaching flute to intensify the effect of the lyrics. The immediately following A sounds very much like beginning – simple with no harmony to illustrate the boy’s single worry on his mind while he is running to see what happened. But in the second half it has a haunting violin and harmonic vocals again to point out the anxiety happening in the story of the lyrics after the boy realizes he has actually shot “Molly Ban”. There is another transition between choruses and the haunting vocals and violin stick around now for another 8 bars of a chorus while he runs home and tells his father what he has done and another single measure is inserted for a moment to pause and let the thought sink in to the boy’s father before he explains. Then the harmony goes away for the second half of the A section while a Alison’s voice repeats how it happened. Finally there is an interlude with the pipes to help provide closure in our feelings so the music does not carry us too far away. Another A comes along, sad and lonely in the beginning then our feelings start to rise as the last half has a harp plucking like the dancing of a swan on the water to turn the mood into bittersweet. The song closes with a few bars of the slow, lonely wail of bagpipes.
In this song, I could almost get the whole story without ever listening to a word as the instruments and vocals do a very well job of portraying the feeling throughout. I find it funny that during the song I had a hard time telling if there was a banjo or not and I enjoyed the harp weaving in and out of the background. This is a very unique collaboration.
Video from:
Excellent job of listening! This is a strophic tune of 5 choruses (16 bars each--aa). Such tunes are like church hymns in that there is one chunk of music that is repeated over and over with different lyrics. It has a 12-measure introduction, which leads into the first vocal. Or you could call it a 4-bar intro, leading into the first statement of the tune by the uilleann pipes. This instrument is an Irish bagpipe and derives its name from the Irish word for elbow. It is pumped by the arm, thus the name. There are transitions that occur between choruses 1/2 (4 bars--it seems that there is a hammered dulcimer present, but that may not be correct); 2/3 (5 bars--during which I think I hear a flute in addition to the pipes); and 4/5 (4 bars--pipes). There are phrase extensions in chorus 2 (first a is 9 measures, instead of 8), and chorus 3 (second a is 9 measures, rather than 8.) The piece closes with a 4-bar a statement in the pipes. The harp is apparent in the piece. Nice tune in the British ballad tradition.
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