strathspey@strathspey.org:11782

S.M. Gent

Re: Dancing to pipes - or not!

April 24, 1998, 2:50 p.m. (Message 11782, in reply to message 11760)

> >On Tue, 21 Apr 98 09:48:36 GMT Norman BETT <xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx> writes:
> >>This talk about pipes and drums raises very deep questions:
> >>How do we as dancers (or listeners) discern `the beat' and just as
> >>importantly, the end of the phrase?

Although most dancers probably do listen for the beat and the end of the 
phrase this is not always the case.  A few years ago we had some children 
from Donaldson's (the school for the deaf in Edinburgh) who came and 
joined our class.  They were unable to hear the music but were able to 
pick up the beat from vibrations in the floor.  They were then able to 
work out that there were so many beats per phrase etc.

They were super dancers.

Seonaid.