Nigel Gatherer wrote:
I'm writing an article about the speed of Scottish tunes using my own
research based on recordings of dance bands, although I've just noticed
that I didn't note any Strathspeys. I've always been under the
impression that a Strathspey would be played slower than a reel, but
looking at 'The Caledonian Companion', Alastair Hardie gives reels at
120-128, Most reels, however, will benefit from the less breathless
tempo of 108-116 He gives the Strathspey tempo as between 126-138,
considerably faster than the reel. He has marches at 92-100,
even-rhythmed hornpipes at 104-112, and uneven-rhythmed hornpipes at
69-76, which does seem rather slow to me. I'd like to hear your
opinions.
I'm under the impression (without doing much research) that strathspeys have
slowed down somewhat over the years. Hugh Thurston, in Scotland's Dances,
quotes Major Edward Topham, in 1775, writing as follows:
Another of the national dances is a kind of quick minuet, or what the
Scotch call a 'Straspae.' We in England are said to walk a minuet: this is
gallopping a minuet. Nothing of the minuet is preserved except the figure;
the step and time most resemble an hornpipe--and I leave you to dwell upon
the picture of a gentleman full-dressed and a lady in a hoop dancing an
hornpipe before a large assembly.
I think he wouldn't have made this observation if he'd encountered the
strathspey at the tempos we dance it nowadays.
I remember a discussion on the STRATHSPEY mailing list in the last couple
years to the effect that even within recent memory the tempo of the
Strathspey has slowed down. Writers attributed it mostly to the graying
of the SCD population but it may also have to do with the trend toward more
gracefulness in the step. Some people said they recalled that in the
mid-1900s the strathspey tempo was more like what we now do Glasgow
Highlanders at, ie around 60-66 BPM. (regarding Hardie's tempo for the
Strathspey it seems to be double what I'm used to. Do you think he's
counting differently?)
At any rate, regarding current practice, Barbara McOwen (a great fiddler
from San Francisco always in demand for RSCDS functions) writing in 1989
gave these tempi:
Reel and jig: 112-120
Strathspey: 60-66; strathspeys with highland setting may require 66 or
faster, official Highland Fling tempo is 68.
Suzie Petrov (an excellent pianist from Pennsylvania who plays at a lot of
RSCDS functions) writing in 2001 gives tempi for the RSCDS versions of these
tunes as follows:
quick time tunes (jigs, reels hornpipes): 110-112
Strathspeys: 60
(As an aside, as far as I can tell the Society doesn't differentiate between
hornpipes and reels, using them almost interchangeably as tunes for reels
(the dance). As I understand it, the Hornpipe as danced historically,
requires a much slower tempo due to the complexity of the steps.)
I hope this is useful. -Steve
--
Steve Wyrick [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Concord, California
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