New, in the Old Style: Sean Nos Settings in Contemporary Irish Classical Music

I'm finally getting my act together and applying for this Lilly Project summer research grant. They're specifically oriented for research in regard to a vocation, and they carry a stipend of $3,000. I e-mailed my composition professor (at Willamette) today to ask him to sponsor me, figured out a rough outline of my proposal, and so it's basically in the bag. You know, I don't feel like re-typing this whole thing, so here's the (relevant parts of the) e-mail:

I've been studying composition with Donnacha Dennehy at Trinity, and am interested in the fusion of ethnic (specifically Irish) music and song with classical notation and compositional style. Donnacha showed us one of his sean nos settings where he collaborated with an Irish singer to set one of the texts for singer and his ensemble, the Crash Ensemble. Since sean nos is traditionally unaccompanied, he had to record the singer and create a system of just-intonation that would capture the actual notes sang, not the equal-tempered approximations. You can hear something like this on one of his other pieces with a sean nos text and singer, Gra agus Bas (Love and Death). In talking casually around the school with some of the other students, as well as some of the graduate students, it seems like there's a strong resurgence in Ireland of incorporating this music into a contemporary setting.

Not all that tough, pretty much flawless. Just have to write up a budget, flesh out some details, and cash a check for $3,000. In other news, the Crash Ensemble is playing Feb. 15 as part of the RTE (national television station) music festival for living composers, focusing on the music of Arvo Part. I already bought tickets. And the Trinity new music ensemble is playing in the chapel tomorrow night, so I'm going to go see that and document it for at least the internet. Hopefully also for print, and maybe even to get me other writing jobs. If this sean-nos project pans out, it should keep me going through the summer and let me spend all my time, every waking hour, listening to newer, stranger sounds, while reading the newer, weirder scores.