Hi,

Here is a question that has come up in my band, which plays Irish traditional music.

Is it appropriate to use a tune, or a part of a tune, as a break between verses in a song. Or for that matter, to go into a set of tunes after the song has concluded, sort of like a second part of the song.

The question came up during our attempts to do nice arrangements of songs. It is often good to have an instrumental break as part of the song in order to give the song more of a "band" feel. However, one more repetition of the melody can get a little bit old. Ideally, we could write our own variation on the melody to play between verses, but that is a lot of work and requires a lot of cajolling from the singer (me). So, is it a bad idea to splice a tune into the song.

I know some of you will say...anything is appropriate, if you want to do it, but I am really more interested in the conservative view of this question. I also know that others might say - only the unaccompanied song is truly traditional. However, our band likes a full band sound on at least some of the songs. Although our band doesn't always acheive a totally traditional tone and sometimes we gladly stray far away from tradition (weird songs, etc), It would be helpful to know when we are straying and how far.

I would also appreciate any oppinions on arranging traditional songs to incorporate instrumentals, while keeping an authentic sound.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, ideas, and inspiration.

Claire