I find your observations interesting, especially in that a march usually listed as a retreat like "Battle of the Somme" seems to want-- at least for me-- to move along a bit. I guess these are mostly Amercan tunes, but how do you feel about "rattlers"--which are sometimes noted as retreats? "Morgan's Rattler" also seems to be kind of speedy, but maybe i'm playing it wrong.
CliffA The retreat march is not, as Stan suggests, necessarily a march time tune which would be marched to - as often as not it was played as part of the evening ritual in the military camp as day duties gave way to night ones. It was not linked to the military manoeuvre of retreating in or from battle but was linked to the idea of refuge and safety in the camp. Some contemporary players, assuming that the retreat march is to be marched to, crank it up to a kind of swaggering, kilt swinging, tempo which robs the airs of the inherent melancholy quality which many possess. > > I hope this helps illustrate my earlier point. > > Stuart Eydmann __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
