rant. Old Eng. 17th-cent. dance of the jig variety. It originated in Scotland and N. England. Four examples occur in Playford's The Dancing Master (1657 and 1665 revisions). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996
Any advance on Playford? Smith's New Rant (What happened to the old one?) A Scots Rant A rendition of The Italian Rant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPL2FXqVc9M Tim On 11 Jul 2011, at 14:06, Gibbons, John wrote: > 'Rant', as in 'Morpeth Rant', appeared in Vickers' MS in 1770, > predating the Primitive Methodists. > > But 'Ranters' were another religious sect during the Civil War, > so an old name was reapplied to the Primitive Methodists. > > The use of 'rant' for various dance tunes, in various rhythms, > occurs through much of the 18th century, eg The Cameronian's Rant is a reel, > The Collier's Rant a song in 6/8. > > The restricted use of the term to 4/4 tunes like The Morpeth Rant is much > more specific, > and local to Northumberland. > It is perhaps significant that Scots Measures went out of fashion about the > time rants came in. > Both have 8 bars of 4/4. The main difference between the forms is that in the > former, > the cadences have a crotchet then two tied (syncopated) crotchets, > while rants have a strong 3rd beat, and there is no tie. > It would be interesting to know (though we never will) > what Morpeth Rant looked like in Vickers before the page got lost. > He retained syncopation in similar positions in some hornpipes. > > John > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf > Of Tim Rolls > Sent: 11 July 2011 13:46 > To: NSP group > Subject: [NSP] Re: Rants again > > 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 > > > --
