Wendy Galovich wrote: > 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?
That's what I'm guessing, Wendy. Jeffrey specifically said quarter notes, however, which is why I asked. I think as you said we need Anselm or David South to come in with their thoughts now. As for dancers not knowing the difference between a reel and a jig: why on earth should they? I can't see that it's very relevant to how they dance. One plays 2 or 4 notes to the beat, the other 3, but the beat remains the same, doesn't it? On a final note, here's J Murdoch Henderson again: "1. To calculate from the metronome beat of an air...the number of seconds required to render any given part of it: multiply by 60 the number of beats in the part played, then divide by the metronome beat number. e.g. Time required to play once through a strathspey at 160 is 64x60/160=24 seconds. "2. To calculate the metronome beat of an air from the number of seconds required to play any given part of it: multiply by 60 the number of beats in the part played, then divide by the number of seconds required to play that part. e.g. Metronome beat of a reel played once through in 16 seconds is 32x60/16=120..." You can picture it, can't you, a couple of traditional musicians with pencil and paper, scratching their heads, saying "Ach Archie, Ah dinna see hoo we can dae a Glasgow Highlanders, the numbers jist dinna mak sense." "Havers, Dod. Ye've timesed it insteed o' takin' awa the number ye first thocht o'. Hing it a', jist tap yer bliddy foot, man, an' be done wi' it!" -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/ Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
