strathspey@strathspey.org:45453

John Cahill

Re: Divided by a common language (was Reels and Hornpipes)

June 1, 2006, 11:33 p.m. (Message 45453, in reply to message 45444)

At 08:15 AM 6/1/2006, you wrote:
>Jim Healy <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
>| John Chambers wrote:
>|
>| >For example, the terms "reel" and "jig" are used  by  both  musicians
>| >and  dancers,  but  with unrelated meanings.  And most of them aren't
>| >even aware of the problem.
>|
>| Until the dancer asks a piper to play a 'jig'

FWIW, a tremendous number of pipe tunes used for SCD don't appear in 
the "Reel" or "Jig" sections of the pipe tune books at all but in the 
"March" sections.    "Bonnie Dundee", "White Cockade", "Blue 
Bonnets", "Corn Rigs" and so on are all marches so far as pipers are 
concerned.  I recall one very unfortunate incident in which the band 
I was in at the time played a set we had not played in a while which 
included "Mairi's Wedding", a 2/4 march in every pipe score on the 
planet.  Your servant was not, shall we say, entirely focused.   I 
had SCD reel tempo for MW pretty much in my bones.  The other ladies 
and gentlemen, ahem, did not.  I was heading for the stretch and they 
hadn't quite cleared the starting gate.  Pipe Majors hate it when you 
do that.  They take it personally.

Cheers,

-John-