The ivory bridge:piano accompaniment on 78rpm recorded sources of Irish traditional dance music America c. 1910-1945

This dissertation is concerned with the polyvalent symbolism of the piano and its manifestation in 78rmp recordings of Irish traditional dance music early in the twentieth century in America. Irish dance music was conceived and practised in its original rural Irish context as an unaccompanied, melodic form whose clear purpose was that of accompaniment to the associated dance figure (I). On being introduced to America by immigrant Irish communities, the music did not seem to resonate within this new urban landscape, reflecting the geographical, social and cultural displacement of the music's practitioners and audiences (III). One way in which the Irish negotiated their ideological space and ethnic identity was through music. Irish traditional dance music was mediated by the piano, initially a symbol of Victorian ideals representing prestige, morality, economic status, and high culture. This symbolism was replaced by a more contemporary interpretation, one that embodied the mechanical complexity of the modern industrial age (II). The addition of the piano to Irish records imbued the music with these associated characteristics. The 78rmp recordings of Irish music with piano accompaniment thus become a social, historical, and musical record of these experiences in 1920s America (IV). Within the three-minute grooves of each recording the manifestations of emigrant experience in this multi-cultural, populist, modern, and capitalist society are encountered (V). The piano, the ivory bridge, is shown to have acted as a mediator between Irish identity and mainstream American culture on a number of interrelated levels.