I tried timing the tempos in those youtube videos of Bridgerton music. My
results are mostly close to Erik Hoffman's estimates, except for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
which Erik describes as "around 140". In the parts where I can hear the beat
most clearly, I time that one as around 125 or 126 BPM.
Here's what I got for the rest of them:
> On May 19, 2022, at 11:20 AM, Erik Hoffman via Contra Callers
> <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> ...
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCIG6nbyiUM
> This is about 120 BPM. ...
I get about 117.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qi1ApgkdCo
> This one is very close to 120. ...
I get about 116.
> ...
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU1RZVX5mQ
Erik doesn't give a tempo. I measure it as about 118 BPM.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhzFE2C-_w
Erik doesn't give a tempo. I measure it as about 95 or 96 NPM.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
> This one is more fiddlistic, too. Around 128 BPM, could be played slower.
Solidly 128. I think they could be playing to a metronome or a click track.
In the message that started this thread, Alexandra Deis-Lauby wrote:
> The event is normal wedding fare- not experienced dancers. Which will either
> mean everything falls apart or they won’t mind the dance being sloppy because
> they’re just so excited by dancing and the cool music.
> ...
> So if you have related experience: Have people been into the music so much
> they don’t mind that they’re finding it hard to dance with the phrase and
> remember the dance? Are you able to keep them together just by your calling?
> Do they kind of figure it out? Other ideas?
The very few wedding dances I've called were many years ago and not to this
sort of music, so if anyone with more relevant experience wants to contradict
me, please feel free. That said, I'd recommend going in with the expectation
that most of the wedding guests will not lock on to the phrasing (such as it
is) in the music, that many likely won't reliably memorize the dance sequences,
and that they won't mind if you keep calling all the way through and if the
timing on the floor isn't crisp. If the bride and groom themselves are skilled
contra/English/Regency dancers and they seem to expect the kind of dancing
they'd find at events they've attended with other hobbyist dancers--or if
they're not skilled dancers but have been to an event with a mostly-experienced
dance crowd, and they're expecting the dancing at their wedding to be like
that--then you might try to temper their expectations in advance.
--Jim
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