Irish music in central Oklahoma: An ethnographic study.

Abstract

Based mainly on fieldwork conducted in the Oklahoma City and Norman areas over a three-and-a-half year span (2002--2006), the research material for this dissertation has been gathered primarily through the author's observations as a participant in the Irish jam session held monthly at various places in the Oklahoma City and Norman areas, informal conversations, and planned and structured interviews with other participating session musicians. Information gathered from each interviewee included how musical skills were learned, circumstances under which he/she first encountered Irish music, experiences with other music genres, differences between Irish music and old-time or bluegrass music, appealing factors for his/her involvement in jam sessions, and family ethnic heritage.

Musical activities in the United States traditionally associated with ethnic minorities are becoming increasingly popular among native-born Americans. Irish music, traditionally served as the cultural reminder for the Irish immigrant community, has in recent years been greatly enjoyed by the wider non-Irish-born American population. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of Irish music in Oklahoma, a locale that is relatively distant from cities that are recognized as having high concentrations of Irish immigrant population, such as New York, Boston, or Chicago.

The survey of the various contexts of Irish music practices in Central Oklahoma in Chapter 5, the close examination of the blooming Irish jam sessions in the Oklahoma City and Norman areas in Chapter 6, and the case studies of individual musicians in Chapter 7 inform us of the cultural conditions in the American mid-West; ethnic musical activities, such as the Irish session serves not only as a reminder of the cultural identity of the particular ethnic group, but also offer a broader meaning in the social context of post-modern America. Irish music in Oklahoma, far removed from its original homeland, becomes a means by which native-born Americans find communities, roots and traditions, ethnic identities, or simple pleasures of learning and playing a musical instrument.