strathspey@strathspey.org:45417

GOSS9@telefonica.net

Re: Reels and Hornpipes

May 28, 2006, 10:42 p.m. (Message 45417, in reply to message 45385)

Triple time music either 3 (as in a typical waltz), or 6 (as in a 
typical minuet) notes to the bar has been around long before the term 
"waltz". The word "Waltz" is associated with the turn or rotation of 
the couple in the style of dance and does not apply to the 3/4 beat 
necessarily. For example in Spanish country dances, the word "Valse" is 
the name for the figure we associate with the non progressive pousette 
(our 8 bar progression, is a Milliganism) as indicated by the dancers 
positions (Petronella - already progressed), or musical notation (4, 
instead of 8 bars).

The use of "hornpipe" in translation to refer to a bagpipe fits in 
that many mediterranian pipes I have seen, specificly from Calabria and 
Sardinia recently have wooden drones, but animal horns for the one or 
two chanters. Possibly the syncopation is related to the need to use 
non melodic passing tones when moving up and down the scale without the 
ability of tonguing as one would use a flute or oboe, or the little 
"plunger" on some types of Irish pipes.

Having a reed mouth piece has nothing to do with the difference 
between a mouth blown or sack blown instrument. Here in Mallorca, the 
president´s band (dressed as one would for an original reenactment of 
the Watermusic Suite), uses ancient instruments, including a "xeremia" 
(Mallorcan bagpipe), basic difference is that the drones (bordons, 1, 
2, or 3) hang down in front. Its leader, "pipe major" if you will often 
plays as one would expect, however some renaissance music is not 
correct with passing tones. In this case, he simply unplugs the chanter 
(grai) from the bag which he drapes over his shoulder, and plays it 
like a simple oboe, which it is (the air in the lungs substituting for 
that in the bag, the pressure of the cheeks substitution for that of 
the arm on the bag. The grai, an ancient folk instrument of Catalunya, 
now may have keys attached to increase its musical possibilities, but 
in its simplest form, still used, has an indentation for string or cork 
for plugging it into a bag.

In both the 3/2 and 2/4 hornpipes, there is the sense of syncopation. 
As I mentioned before the "dum dum dum" at the phrase or half phrase 
seems to be more modern.

One should be careful when using old music texts to justify such 
traditions as the syuncopated (dot and flag) rhythms. Using language as 
a parallel, no alphabet perfectly fits its language as spoken when 
considering dialects and exceptions, no matter how phonetic. The same 
goes for music. When working with the School of Scottish Studies in the 
late 70´s to early 80´s, I was involved with transcribing traditional 
music from field recordings, and reconciling these with printed 
sources. This was very difficult for several reasons.
1. In the same recordings, folk musicians would float from single jig 
to hornpipe, without changing the tempo of the two basic beats (only 
the ration from 2:1 to 3:1 when all four notes were analyzed). Because 
most of us "know" the difference between a jig and a hornpipe, it is 
very difficult to deal with music played by musicians who learned by 
ear and play it as they heard it, as opposed to how it "should" be 
played.
2. Many tunes were transcribed quickly, or from memory and simply are 
lacking in the more sophisticate rhymic notations, such as the "dot and 
flag" pattern. As a result the written tunes are simply an aid to the 
melody, not as actually played. You can find this by analyzing 
classical solo musicians as compared to the scores from which they are 
playing.
3. Many historic transcriptions are only strings of notes without bar 
lines or length indicated. In some cases, even the pitch is indicated 
as up or down without indicating how far. To see evidence of this even 
in tutored modern times one has only to compare the notation in 
Playford I, with that in Playford XVIII.  

As far as "Strathspey" is concerned, from a music history, this is not 
relevant, though it is in RSCDS dance history. A strathspey is a duple 
style associated with a particular region in Scotland, and considered 
"Scotch" by many outside that region, to the extent that its 
distinctive rhythmic patterns were incorporated into later music 
considered Scottish. The hornpipe pattern is one of these patterns.

 
Thus a trend to play the tune even slower than a regular hornpipe 
(no  
metronome nearby, but strathspey tempo is close). At this speed, 
BTW,  
the dotted nature of the tune is even more important for it to stay  
interesting, so the musician slightly exaggerates that character.