Music & Dance
The Ulster-Scots Tradition
There is a wide variety of music and dance traditions associated with Ulster-Scots culture and heritage. Highland dancing is popular in Ulster-Scots communities, as are ceilidhs, and the Ulster-Scots music tradition includes fiddle, fife, drum as well as highland and lowland pipes.
Ulster-Scots emigrants took these traditions with them, and over time these influenced other musical genres including American country music, bluegrass, and even rock and roll.
Musical Influence
Much of the dance music of Ulster is similar to the dance music of other parts of the British Isles. So there are jigs which came from Ireland, reels and Strathspeys which originated in Scotland, and hornpipes which came from England.
You can find examples of all of these tunes in the folk tradition of each part of the British Isles. Most of these were in a standard format of two sections of eight bars each. Strathspeys were normally of four bar sections.
The dance music was closely related to the marching tunes played by military bands: usually made up of fifes and drums. These became common with the growth of part-time military organisations including the Irish Volunteers, the Yeomanry and the Militia. The parading tradition was carried on in the 19th century by newly formed groups such as the Ribbonmen and Orangemen.
Although these two groups were very different they shared a common reportoire of tunes, in addition to some that were considered ‘party tunes’ such as the Hibernian ‘St. Patrick’sDay’, or the Orange ‘Lilliburlero’. A range of tunes in hornpipe time developed around the Lambeg drum and fife tradition. This type of music was common to both Loyalists and Nationalists at this time, although nowadays it is almost exclusively associated with loyalist music.
There is a range of music and dance traditions associated with Ulster-Scots culture and heritage. Highland dancing is popular in Ulster-Scots communities and the music tradition includes fiddle, fife, drum as well as highland and lowland pipes.
Ulster-Scots emigrants took these traditions with them, and over time these influenced other musical genres including American country music, and even rock and roll.
The distinctive styles of many modern-day American country, bluegrass and folk music performers can be traced directly back to the 18th century Ulster-Scots or Scots-Irish settlers.
Additionally, the dance tradition of the Appalachian region in the south-eastern part of the United States also has very strong Ulster-Scots roots which go hand in hand with the music.
This is music and dance which crossed the Atlantic during the great waves of emigration and, in the modern idiom, it is a rich cultural expression which is being taken back to the homeland.
The Ulster-Scots sound of drone notes, associated with the pipes and fiddles, is very pronounced and the story-telling balladry of the Scots-Irish diaspora remains deeply rooted in what is American country and folk music today.
Our Instruments
The fife is a wooden flute usually played in the key of Bb or C# and is an important instrument in Ulster-Scots music tradition. The fife was traditionally accompanied by the side or snare drum and used by the military to keep soldiers in time as they marched.
In Ulster, there are still many fife and drum bands that have adopted that tradition, the drum heads being commonly made from goatskin like their bigger Lambeg counterparts.
The fife has also become established in the musical tradition of the Lambeg drum. Although the fife is not commonly played with the Lambeg in Counties Armagh and Tyrone, it is certainly a popular twinning in County Antrim and parts of Down.
Fifes and flutes come from the same family of instruments. The fife isquite a simple and primitive version. It is quite difficult to play because its tone is not very accurate so it is hard to play a complete and accurate scale. Flutes are more sophisticated and come in different keys for example you could play the Bb flute or the F flute.
Flute bands have been popular in Ireland for many years. Some of the bands still playing today can trace their origins back nearly 200 years— for example the Churchill Flute band from Londonderry which was formed in 1835. Playing a flute in a flute band is not as easy as it might look. Keeping everyone in tune together is a major problem. Playing the tune individually is relatively easy but when a number of flutes play together it is difficult tomake them all sound the same. The addition of a metal tuning slide to the instrument has helped greatly.
The Lambeg drum is a percussion instrument unique to Ulster.
It is one of the largest (and loudest) acoustic instruments in the world. Although large drums exist in other cultures and music traditions, these typically have a low bass pitch. The lambeg drum has a unique ‘crack’ due to the highly tensioned skins.
Each drum is commissioned and hand crafted by a single craftsman who steams wood (oak is normally preferred) and shapes it to make the shell of the drum. The ‘hoops’ that secure the skins are typically made of oak.
The skins of the drum are traditionally goatskin and before playing, they are tensioned using 15 ‘buffs’ on ropes that are laced through hoops on each side of the drum. It is critical that each ‘head’ (side) has the same pitch and tone. This is done by ear before the drum is played and can involve striking the wooden hoops in places with a mallet. When not being played the tension on the heads is released.
The Lambeg drum has been associated with Orange parades since the Orange Order was formed in 1795. The first record is of a Twelfth demonstration in County Armagh in 1796. Today you will still see the drums at Orange Order parades but you are more likely to see and hear them at one of the many drumming matches held around Ulster. It has now become almost a sport with matches being held regularly and cups and trophies being awarded.
The accordion has longstanding roots in Ulster, and there are many accordion bands throughout the province today that play a variety of music and take part in competitions.
Any violin may be called a fiddle, as the instruments are identical, but the musical tradition being practiced may influence a person to call it a fiddle rather than violin.
One of the main fiddling traditions in Ulster is found in Donegal, where the type of fiddling played is very similar to that found in Scotland. This is largely due to the work connections that people in Scotland and Ulster would have had. For example, Donegal fishermen often went to work on Shetland at particular times of the year. When they returned to Donegal, many of them brought Shetland tunes back with them.
The main feature of this style of fiddle playing is the especially skilful use of the bow. If you were watching a fiddle player using this style from a distance, the bowing would look curved rather than straight up and down. The fiddler’s left hand concentrates on the melody. The Donegal Style is probably unique in that it takes the drone of the pipes into its sound. This is not surprising as the Donegal fiddlers were strongly influenced by Scotland, where many local Donegal people worked.
Most people, when they think about bagpipes or hear bagpipes being played, immediately think of Scotland. However no one is exactly sure where bagpipes originated.
Pipes are mentioned in the Bible, in the Old Testament and were also played in ancient Greece and Rome so they have obviously been around for a long time. The Miller in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales which was written in the 14th century was said to be skilled in playing the pipes and Shakespeare too makes mention of them.
Of course bagpipes were played in Scotland in ancient times too and with the close links and constant coming and going across the sea between Ulster and Scotland they made their way here too. While many pipes bands play traditional Scottish pipes there is also an authentic Ulster-Scots pipe.
The Brian Boru bagpipes may sound very Irish, but they are the authentic Ulster-Scots bagpipes first invented by William O'Rean from Dungannon in partnership with Henry Stark, bagpipe maker to Queen Victoria, in 1908. Henry Starck and William O’Duane began working together at the beginning of the 20th century.
They first produced the Dungannon Pipes, a revival of the ancient Irish War pipe. Unfortunately none of these remain in existence. They then went on to produce the Brian Boru Pipe which many claim is “the perfect bagpipe”
Music & Dance Publications
We have a range of free music and dance publications that we have produced alongside the Ulster-Scots Agency, all of which are available on our website and as physical copies in the Discover Ulster-Scots Centre.
These publications each focus on the lambeg drum, the fife, the B flat marching flute, and Scottish country dancing. You can find these on our Publications page.
Funding Opportunities
New funding opportunities are always arising for those with a genuine interest in Ulster-Scots musical and dance traditions, allowing events to be held, instruments to be purchased and physical spaces to be maintained.
For more information, check out our funding page.
