Fairy Rings
Enchanting Music
The treble was a three-mouthed grasshopper,
Well-tutored by a skilful chorister:
An ancient master, that did use to play
The friskings which the lambs do dance in May.
And long time was the chiefest called to sing,
When on the plains the fairies made a ring;
Then a field-cricket, with a note full clean,
Sweet and unforced and softly sung the mean,
To whose accord, and with no mickle labor,
A pretty fairy played upon a tabor:
The case was of a hazel-nut, the heads
A bat's wing dressed, the snares were silver threads;
A little stiffened lamprey's skin did suit
All the rest well, and served them for a flute;
And to all these a deep well-breasted gnat,
That had good sides, know well his sharp and flat,
Sung a good compass, making no wry face,
Was there as fittest for a chamber-bass.
These choice musicians to their merry king
Gave all the pleasures which their art could bring.
by William Browne.
Music plays such an important part in a fairy's day, particularly that of a Celtic fairy,
that some wee folk like the Hebridian Spinning fairy, The
Loireag, punish humans who can't hold a tune.
Haunting, lilting, and utterly other-worldly, fairy music, once caught by human ears, is so
bewitching, one loses one's senses. Whether it comprises sweetly melancholic airs
that fix the hearer to the spot, or lively tunes that cause the body to start dancing, this music
can remain in the mind forever, of the human
though it is impossible to recall the melody or quite remember the word.
The English composer Thomas Wood described listening to fairy music for some
20 minutes in 1922, and was struck by its harmonic structure.
Rather than featuring a melody that led from and to somewhere, it was more vertical, he said,
a stacking of tenuous sounds,
woven together overhead, faint as a breath.
Fairy instruments are exquisitely turned to the cultural tastes of the
mortals who listen to them: In Wales, the little people play golden harps,
in Ireland miniature fiddles, In Scotland the pipes. They can make music
on more uncommon instruments, too: fishing nets and silver branches,
even a hammer on an anvil.
What is constant is their abilities,when a fairies fingers runs over an instrument, to create sounds
that will cause a listener's hair to stand one end. St Patrick himself was reputedly so
entranced by the tunes of fairy musician Cascorach that he declared,
''but for a twang of the fairy spell that infests it...nothing could more nearly than it resemble
Heaven's harmony."
by-William Browne, the fairy musicians
posted by Wendy
I have always been fascinated with the fairy rings. I hope that
you all enjoy the poems that I found of these artist as much as I have.
YOUR WENDY
Cynthia Fairies and Me
Fairy Rings & Enchanting Music
I hope that you Enjoy the post just a small
fun one for you all my dears ..
I love you all my dears Friends and Followers
YOUR WENDY
that some wee folk like the Hebridian Spinning fairy, The
Loireag, punish humans who can't hold a tune.
Haunting, lilting, and utterly other-worldly, fairy music, once caught by human ears, is so
bewitching, one loses one's senses. Whether it comprises sweetly melancholic airs
that fix the hearer to the spot, or lively tunes that cause the body to start dancing, this music
can remain in the mind forever, of the human
though it is impossible to recall the melody or quite remember the word.
The English composer Thomas Wood described listening to fairy music for some
20 minutes in 1922, and was struck by its harmonic structure.
Rather than featuring a melody that led from and to somewhere, it was more vertical, he said,
a stacking of tenuous sounds,
woven together overhead, faint as a breath.
Fairy instruments are exquisitely turned to the cultural tastes of the
mortals who listen to them: In Wales, the little people play golden harps,
in Ireland miniature fiddles, In Scotland the pipes. They can make music
on more uncommon instruments, too: fishing nets and silver branches,
even a hammer on an anvil.
What is constant is their abilities,when a fairies fingers runs over an instrument, to create sounds
that will cause a listener's hair to stand one end. St Patrick himself was reputedly so
entranced by the tunes of fairy musician Cascorach that he declared,
''but for a twang of the fairy spell that infests it...nothing could more nearly than it resemble
Heaven's harmony."
by-William Browne, the fairy musicians
posted by Wendy
I have always been fascinated with the fairy rings. I hope that
you all enjoy the poems that I found of these artist as much as I have.
YOUR WENDY
Cynthia Fairies and Me
Fairy Rings & Enchanting Music
I hope that you Enjoy the post just a small
fun one for you all my dears ..
I love you all my dears Friends and Followers
YOUR WENDY
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