strathspey@strathspey.org:63101

Steve Wyrick

Re: Are Hornpipes and Reels the same thing?

Sept. 10, 2012, 5:26 p.m. (Message 63101, in reply to message 63099)

It's often because the dancers require the music to be at a specific tempo
which, depending on the tune, isn't always conducive to adding the dotting
that people think of as giving the hornpipe its character.  But I think
historically there was a wide range in the tempos and amount of dotting
used for hornpipes.  If you look at tunebooks from the mid-late 1800s,
which appears to be a heyday for that style, you see a big range in styles
of notation, which I believe extends to the way the tunes themselves were
played (which I think relates to the style of the dance they were used
for--everything from quicktime social dances to solo clogs to stage
shows...). -Steve