Hello Colin
What I am trying to get across is precisely the fact that the tunes
themselves were played as rants at musical gatherings with no
suggestion of dance involved. Yes, there are similarities to the polka
rhythm but Rant tunes tend to be crotchet rich and have, to my ears,
quite a different feel (as anyone familiar with Will Taylor's rendition
of the Pearl Wedding or Nancy Taylor will realise - polkas they
ain't!). Dancers can indeed just get on and rant along to most reels.
In fact 3 Rothburys ago I Ranted the whole of a very long Dashing White
Sergeant set to full-on reels played by 422. Not as satisfying as rants
but acceptable and more fun than a gym workout.
It was the labelling of tunes such as Whinham's Reel and Lamshaw's
Fancy as marches which I found particularly misleading. Perhaps
calling them Polkas would have closer to the mark.
It's funny you know, but back in the late 70s I remember a
music evening at the Dickson's near Wooler when John Dagg chipped in
over a similar reel/rant discussion instigated by something the
Toonies (in this case represented by Foster Charlton) had
said. Foster had apparently suggested that there were so many notes
in such and such a tune that it had to be a Reel not a Rant . John's
comment, I don't give a doodies [sic] how many notes it has you can
still give it a good rant rhythm, remains etched in my memory. This
discussion is far from new and only goes to emphasise the differences
in understanding and approach across a mere 40 miles of countryside!
Regards
Anthony
--- On Wed, 11/3/09, rosspi...@aol.com rosspi...@aol.com wrote:
From: rosspi...@aol.com rosspi...@aol.com
Subject: [NSP] Re: First 30 tunes
To: anth...@robbpipes.com
Cc: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
Date: Wednesday, 11 March, 2009, 4:20 PM
Dear Anthony,
Since you are now on the List I feel I can respond to your fascination
with gobstoppers and tomato soup. I was going to comment on what you
were saying about playing Rants and how deeply disappointed you were
that none of the tunes in the 30 tunes collection were called RANTS. I
think the reason is simple enough in that the rant is a dance step and
not a specific tune rhythm. A tune with that rhythm consistently
throughout the music would be a polka. The tune Hesleyside Reel only
has it specifically written into the music at the end of the four bar
phrases in the A part and at the end of the tune. The dancers however
are stepping throughout the tune so in calling it a reel we were not
wrong only in not mentioning in the forward that Julia wrote that tunes
like this can and maybe should be stepped with a rant step. I have been
playing this tune for many years now with the High Level Ranters and
concentrate on keeping a good bouncy rhythm along with other tunes that
can be called reels or hornpipes like the Morpeth Rant and leave the
dancers to get on with their footwork.
Cheers,
Colin R
-Original Message-
From: Anthony Robb [1]anth...@robbpipes.com
To: [2]john_da...@hmco.com; [3]rosspi...@aol.com
CC: [4]...@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:52
Subject: Re: [NSP] Re: First 30 tunes
Dear Colin, John et al.
I think we should be distinguishing between Regional and personal
styles here.
Reels in the most of the British Isles (and elsewhere) have a pulse
which can be interpreted as:
Gob-stopper, gob-stopper, gob-stopper, gob-stopper.
In Northumberland many of these tunes would be played as Rants which
have a pulse:
Tomato soup, tomato soup, tomato soup, tomato soup
There is much room for personal interpretation on top of this basic
style difference. Letting people hear these differences is important.
As for so-called bad habits these must surely be/have been pleasing
to the players themselves at some point and are therefore valid in
their own right even if others may find them displeasing. Copying these
personal idiosyncracies is one thing, and each player can decide this
for themselves, ignoring the regional accent completely is another
thing altogether!
I would say go for it Colin, a person with your background can not help
but make a valuable contribution to the body of piping knowledge.
As aye
Anthony
--- On Wed, 11/3/09, [5]rosspi...@aol.com [6]rosspi...@aol.com wrote:
From: [7]rosspi...@aol.com [8]rosspi...@aol.com
Subject: [NSP] Re: First 30 tunes
To: [9]john_da...@hmco.com
Cc: [10]...@cs.dartmouth.edu
Date: Wednesday, 11 March, 2009, 1:12 PM
Dear John,
No, it would not do at all for me to play the tunes as20I would be
imprinting my own style, whatever that is, on the tunes with all the
bad habits of gracing I have picked up over the years.. This would also
apply to other pipers who have learnt from 'the old guys' and have
developed a personal style
