Hello John
I think that's fairly close.
It is possible to do rants steps to reels, polkas and even jigs but in
the Northumbrian sense it is a subtle up-tempo near hornpipe that
really does help you to lift your feet off the ground and
move rhythmically around the floor for long periods of time (e.g.
Eightsome Reel - up to 11 minutes) in that unique way.
There are quite a few examples of people really lashing into it; Dorset
4 Hand, Royton Clog Morris etc. and these might reflect the more
colourful definitions of the word recently offered but as
I've indicated before this has nowt to do with the Northumbrian sense
of the word.
In fact 'rant' seems fairly common in the general tune sense. I
remember my disappointment when I discovered "The Aith Rant" was a jig!
In true traditional style, however, the word means something to
Northumbrian dancers which others do not share/find alien.
Listen to Willy Taylor playing his own 'reels' and you'll get a perfect
sense of the way they go. His rants steps were smooth,
economical, simply beautiful to watch and as far removed from
dictionary definitions as it is possible to be.
As aye
Anthony
--- On Mon, 11/7/11, Gibbons, John <j.gibb...@imperial.ac.uk> wrote:
From: Gibbons, John <j.gibb...@imperial.ac.uk>
Subject: [NSP] Re: Rants again
To: "NSP group" <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Monday, 11 July, 2011, 13:05
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
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