9/8 vs 6/8

Ian Brockbank

Message 42296 · 23 Sep 2005 16:05:26 · Fixed-width font · Whole thread

Syliva wrote (in reply to Steve):

> lot of great 9/8 tunes out there that we can no longer use
> unless someone cleverly converts them to 6/8
>
> Don't. There's a lot lost in translation and the tune cries
> to be put back in 9/8.

Woo'd and Married an A' is a perfect example of what goes wrong.
In 6/8, as published by the RSCDS, (achieved by taking 9/8 and
extending the last note over the following 3 quavers*)
Dum da diddly | daaaaaaaa de | dum da diddly | daaaaaaaa
de | diddly diddly | daaaaaaaa de | dum de diddly | daaaaaaaa

Very laborious and galumphing - stops at the end of every second bar.

In 9/8:

Dum da diddly daa de | dum da diddly daa
de | diddly diddly daa de | dum de diddly daa

Much more lively, rolls along - actually quite a nice tune!

- Dum da is crotchet followed by quaver
- diddly is three quavers
- de is the quaver up-beat
- daa is a crotchet (so "daa de" is the same as "dum da", except
there's a phrase break)
- daaaaaaaaaaa is far too long a note (must be 5 quavers, or maybe
it's 4 plus a 2-quaver up-beat) which completely stops the tune
in its tracks.

*For the Americans+, a crotchet is a quarter note and a quaver is an
eighth note.
+Or is it everyone except us Brits?

Cheers,

Ian Brockbank
Edinburgh, Scotland
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
http://www.scottishdance.net/

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