David Kilpatrick writes:
| ... A Scottish country dancer friend
| liked it and asked what it was - after I told him, he immediately
| recognised it, but said playing at such a slow speed had hidden the tune
| from him. To me, the slow speed brings out the beauty of the tune (which
| has a very song-like melody and is no doubt a song too) and the dance
| tempo just makes it sound like everything else!
This is indeed a problem with playing for dancing. The
tempo is determined by the dance, and you really have to
honor it. If there are no dancers, you are a lot freer to
play with the tempo, vary it, etc.
A fair number of the SCD "strathspey" dances have standard
tunes that are really slow airs. For dancing, of course,
you have to play them in a strict tempo. They don't come
out sounding like slow airs, but they don't sound like real
strathspeys, either. It does add variety to the dance
program.
For that matter, a tune that goes over quite well in waltz
tempo is Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second
Wife. Now, this is obviously a bit of sacrilege, dancing on
her grave as it were. But it's a very effective waltz. And
then, when people ask you what that beautiful waltz tune
was, you tell them, and they get this confused look on
their face ...
Another interesting experiment a bunch of us tried at this
year's local Hogmanay dance (in Concord, Mass.), was the
following medley. You might note one tune that isn't
exactly a traditional Scottish air. But in fact it worked
well. Some of the dancers were singing along, and a number
had obvious grins on their faces. There were also a couple
who asked us whether that was a Beatles tune. Not quite.
Possibly the most interesting aspect was that most of the
remarks were about the fourth, minor tune. I don't think
any of the dancers had heard it before, and they really
seemed to notice it.
It did turn out to be good that we had several rehearsals;
the third tune lacks a downbeat, and we learned that the
accompaniment had to come in really strong to keep the beat
going. Anyway, this was the most-remarked-on medley of the
evening.
X: 0
T: Miss Gibson's Strathspey
T: 8x32S3
O: RSCDS Leaflet
K: A
X: 1
P: The Music o' Spey
C: J.S.Skinner
R: air, strathspey
Z: John Chambers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
N: Scottish Violinist p.35; Hardie p.55; BSFC II-3; Caledonian Companion, p.49.
N: The Fiddle Music of Scotland, James Hunter, #36.
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: A
[| E2 \
| "A"c2 B>A E2 E2 | "D"F>E F<A "E7"E2 FG | "A"A2 A2 "F#m"A2 A2 | "Bm"B4 "E7"e2 E2 |
| "A"c2 B>A E2 E2 | "D"F>E F<A "E7"E2 FG | "A"A2 A2 "E7"B2 e2 | "A"A6 |]
[| E2 \
| "E7"d2 d>c B2 E2 | "A"e2 e>d c2 de | "D"f2 e2 d2 c2 | "E7"c4 {dc}B2 e>d |
| "A"c2 B>A E2 E2 | "D"F>E F<A "E7"E2 FG | "A"A2 A2 "E7"B2 e2 | "A"A6 |]
X: 2
P: Annie Laurie
O: Trad
R: air
M: C
L: 1/8
K: D
"A7"FE \
| "D"D2 D2 d3 c | "G"c B3- B2 B2 |1 "D"A2 F2 "Bm"F2 ED | "Em"E4- "A7"E2 FE \
:|2 "D"A2 F2 "A7"F3 E | "D"D6 "A7"A2 ||
|| "D"d2 d2 "A7"e3 e | "D"f6 "A7"A2 | "Bm"d2 d2 "Em"e3 e | "F#7"f6 fe \
| "G"d3 c Bc dB | "D"A2 F2- "Bm"F2 FE | "G"Dd- dF "A7"F3 E | "D"D6 |]
X: 3
P: As Tears Go By
C: Sir Michael Jagger, Keith Richards
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: G
|: "G"z2G2 A2B2 | "A"A2A2 E2G2 | "C"G4- GEG2 | "D"F8 \
| "G"z2G2 A2B2 | "A"A3A E2G2 | "C"G4- GEG2 | "D"F8 |
|1 "C"z2cc c2B2 | "D"A3A GA3 | "G"z2B2 B2A2 | "Em"G E7 \
| "C"z2e2 e2e2 | e3E F2G2 | "D"A4- AGAG | F4 z4 :|
|2 "C"z2cc c2B2 | "D"A3A GA3 | "G"z2B2 B2AG | "Em"B3B AG3 \
| "C"z2e2 e2e2 | e3E F2G2 | "D"A4- AGAG | F4 z4 |]
X: 4
P: Back to the Hills
N: Dedicated to Tom Fraser
C: J.S.Skinner
R: air, jig, reel
N: Skinner, SV p.41, Hardie (see fingerings) p.111 [Reverie]
M: C
L: 1/4
K: Em
F \
| "Em"E>F GF/E/ | "Am"A>B cB/A/ | "Em"BG {G}FE | "(B)"E2 "B7"{FE}^DB, \
| "Em"E>F GF/E/ | "Am"A>B cB/A/ | "Em"Be "B7"e^d | f2 "Em"e ||
B \
| "Em"e2 B2 | "Am"c3 c | "Em"B[gG] [fF][eE] | "(B)"[e2E2] "B7"{fe}[^d^D]B \
| "Em"e2 B2 | "Am"c3 c | "Em"Be "B7"e^d | f2 "Em"e |]
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