On Wednesday 06 February 2002 06:06, Nigel Gatherer wrote: > > STRATHSPEYS > Jeffrey Friedman says they dance Strathspeys at 60. I'm not a dancer, > but musically that seems VERY slow to me [3]. JMM states the limits as > between 160 and 188. That upper limit seems fast to me, but nothing > compared to the 202 reached in some Cape Breton recordings [2]. Now to > Jimmy Shand and his Band; listening to a few Shand Strathspeys gives > measurements of 130, 133 139, 139, 141 and 142; this seems right to me > as a musician, but I can't speak for a dancer. Alastair Hardie's count > of 126-138 seems to concur. <snip> > [1] Flowers of Scottish Melody, 1935 > [2] ...as notated in 'Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton' > Kate Dunlay and David Greenberg > [3] Jeffrey - are you sure it's not half-note measurements you mean?
Nigel - Jeff was referring to Scottish Country Dance strathspeys, not Cape Breton. For SCD aren't the strathspeys supposed to be counted two to the bar, rather than four to the bar as in Cape Breton? I *can* tell you that if you tap your foot for four downbeats the SCD teacher is almost certain to tell you you're playing it "wrong" because it's not what they need. Ian, Anselm?? Wendy Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
