The puzzle remains, however. Surenne's characterisation of the
foursome, at
least according to the evidence collected by the Fletts, seems to be
found
only in the anarchic choices of the Kilberry piper.
The arrangement in the books seems to point to a well-founded practice
on
the dance floor,
There is a clue in the Introduction to J.T. Surenne's The
Dance Music of Scotland (Edinburgh 1852):
This Collection contains two hundred and forty-five of the
best Reels and strathspeys The tunes are distributed
into sets of three, as they are generally danced; that is to
say, Reel,
There is a clue in the Introduction to J.T. Surenne's The
Dance Music of Scotland (Edinburgh 1852):
This Collection contains two hundred and forty-five of the
best Reels and strathspeys The tunes are distributed
into sets of three, as they are generally danced; that is to
say, Reel,
Jack Campin wrote:
Somebody remind me what Carl Volti's real name was?
Archibald Milligan, b. 1849, came from a family of fiddlers. His uncle
was George Hood, a celebrated fiddler of his time (apparently). Young
Archie's first tune on the fiddle was High Road to Linton (he said,
in his
Somebody remind me what Carl Volti's real name was?
Archibald Milligan, b. 1849, came from a family of fiddlers. His uncle
was George Hood, a celebrated fiddler of his time (apparently). Young
Archie's first tune on the fiddle was High Road to Linton (he said,
in his autobiography).
Any relation
Is anybody except Nigerian scam artists still reading this?...
Kerr's collections have pages and pages of reels and strathspeys
in similar key signatures printed alternately, this being handy
for some kinds of dance that were popular at the time.
Whatever those dances were they must have been
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jack Campin
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 7:20 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [scots-l] Kerr's reel-and-strathspey pages
Is anybody except Nigerian scam artists still reading this?...
Kerr's collections have pages
This is something that has puzzled me for years too. I had been led to
believe that Kerr's pages were laid out that way to provide suitable music
for the foursome reel, which was popular in the latter part of the
nineteenth century, but any descriptions of that dance I have seen always
have the
Maybe it's just one way to avoid putting all the strathspeys in a
different section from all the reels. Other tune collections mingle
strathspeys and reels, likely for the same reason: it's nice to place
a strathspey close to a reel that it might go well with.
Are the Kerr's books all strictly
have the dance moving from strathspey to reel, but not back to
strathspey
again.
I didn't think that the layout necessarily meant that they went back to
strathspeys after reels in a dance. I just thought it was like in Cape
Breton, where you wouldn't dream of playing a strathspey without a reel
I'm no historian, so be warned!
I believe there were dances known as strathspey reels. I don't believe
anyone really knows how they were danced; there are people who try to
work it out.
Is it possible that reels and strathspeys were not played as differently
two or three hundred years ago as
But there were also many fiddlers who
didn't read music in Cape Breton in the past.
Yes, it could be of course that the arrangement in the printed collections
followed the custom of the players, as per Nigel's post about Nathaniel Gow.
For the benefit of those who habitually stuck to the same
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