Well, here in the Boston area, there are a number of Shetland tunes
that are played by the contra (and SCD) crowds. Most of them
(Spootiskerry, Willafjord) are 32-bar tunes, but a few (Jack Broke da
Prison Door) are 16-bar tunes. We just have to be aware of this and
make sure that we play them an even number of times. The dancers
don't even notice.
The SCD crowd in particular has a lot of 16-bar tunes in common use.
This includes most of the common strathspeys, and a fair number of
marches. There are fewer 16-bar jigs and (true) reels, but there are
some. It's not really a problem; you just have to be aware of it and
make sure that you play the tune twice for one round of the dance.
There are also 64-bar tunes (The Atholl Highlanders, Troy's Wedding)
with the opposite problem.
A really extreme case is the well-known contra jig Maggie Brown's
Favorite. In its original (Irish) form, this tune has a 4-bar and a
16-bar part, both repeated. I've played it this way for Irish step
dancers, who have a dance that fits the 2x(4+16) form. Now, you might
think this tune would be totally unsuitable for a 32-bar contra
dance, but you'd be wrong. Contra dancers musicians play it AAAAB,
and think that this is the "normal" way of playing it. After you've
played it this way a couple hundred times, it becomes normal.
Janice in GA writes:
| I've been learning Shetland fiddle tunes recently. There's one aspect of
a
| lot of the tunes that made me curious: many seem to be 4 bars A (with
| repeat) followed by 4 bars B (with repeat) -- half the length of the 32
bar
| contradance music that I'm also working on.
|
| Were tunes like "Jack Broke da Prison Door", "Da Caald Nights o Winter",
| "Da Galley Watch" etc. played for dancing? If so, does anyone have any
| idea what the dances were like?
|
| Most of the contradance music in my part of the world (Georgia, USA) is
| Southern Old-Time, with a few bands doing "Celtic-y" pieces. I was
| wondering if it might be possible to slip in some Shetland-style tunes,
and
| would they work in contradance music?
|
| Thoughts or opinions?
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