Unencumbered as I am by knowledge, experience or understanding of dance steps, I too have asked this question. I am led to believe that the emphasis should be on the third beat of the bar as this mirrors a larger/more emphatic step in the dance.
I had a look at Moody to see if there's any guidance linguistically. No definite help, we have: Rantan, Rantaan. Used in the phrase "on the rantan", indulging one's self in disorderly and wild conduct as a form of high spirited enjoyment: a milder form of "on the rampaadge"(sic), "on the spree", e.g. He's gyen on the rantan, i.e. his frolic can be sympathetically excused. Ranter 1. A term applied in contemptuous disparagement to the more zealous members of the Methodist Church - particularly of the Primitive Methodist body - who were given to ardent impromptu prayers, lusty singing of hymns and loud ejaculations of Pious praise during their religious services. Thus: "Aa've left the Chorch (Anglican) an' aa've joined the Ranters.Note, the Primitive Methodist Church originated in 1807-1810 and the term Ranter was first used in 1814. 2. By transference, applied to hymns sung in the Primitive Methodist and United Methodist Churches, or in the Salvation Army. These hymns, nowadays sadly out of favour, were characterised by rollicking tunes, half line refrains (sung by alternate parts) and rather crude sentiment; but they were enjoyable to sing and were rendered both lustily and fervently: e.g. "Ay, that's a gud aad Rantor that hymn" So can anyone fill in the gap between the hymns and the dance? Or any of the rollicking tunes? I'll put this on the NSP forum as a question too. cheers Tim On 11 Jul 2011, at 13:05, Gibbons, John wrote: > Why has this rant thread gone so quiet all last week? > > What makes a tune sound like a rant, rather than a reel or hornpipe? > If I take a (4 in a bar) hornpipe without triplets, speed it up a bit, but > not as much as a reel, > smooth out the dotting a bit, and emphasise the odd beats at the expense of > the even ones, > will I get a rant? How essential are those 3-crotchet cadences? > > Are there any essential stylistic features that this attempt at a description > misses? > > > > John > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
