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Index
out-of-sync figures (was Red House)
Martin.Sheffield
Jan. 22, 2001, 11:46 a.m. (Message 24448)
Anselm wrote:
>
>Dancers are conditioned to expect that a dance figure will finish when
>an 8-bar phrase finishes (or should be, anyway), and to carry on dancing
>in spite of this can be difficult.
I don't think that "carrying on" is a problem, rather it is knowng when to
stop that can be hard, when figure and music lengths do not coincide.
In "Quarries jig" for example, if you're not concentrating, it's easy to go
on trying to dance the triangular chain beyond the allotted 12 bars, since
the figure ends in mid phrase. Similarly, with "dance to each corner and
set" type figs that take 12 bars.
Devisers would help dancers by putting the beginning of a12-bar fig on bar
5, in order to allow them to finish the fig on bar 16.
The Red House discussion must have been of purely academic interest; no-one
ever dances that dull old dance, do they?
Martin,
in Grenoble, France.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france/scd.htm
(dance groups, some new dances ...)
Alan Paterson <xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx> writes: > > The Red House discussion must have been of purely academic interest; = no-one > > ever dances that dull old dance, do they? > = > Martin seems to be applying for the position of Strathspey "Troll"! Well, we don't really need the Internet to find out that one person's `dull old dance' is the next person's barnstormer ... Anselm (closet Red House fan) -- = Anselm Lingnau ......................... xxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxxxxxx.xxx-xxxxxx= urt.de I recently heard that scientists have isolated the gene that makes scient= ists want to isolate genes. -- Terry = Morgan
Martin Sheffield wrote:
> Anselm wrote:
> >
> >Dancers are conditioned to expect that a dance figure will finish when
> >an 8-bar phrase finishes (or should be, anyway), and to carry on dancing
> >in spite of this can be difficult.
>
> I don't think that "carrying on" is a problem, rather it is knowng when to
> stop that can be hard, when figure and music lengths do not coincide.
> In "Quarries jig" for example, if you're not concentrating, it's easy to go
> on trying to dance the triangular chain beyond the allotted 12 bars, since
> the figure ends in mid phrase. Similarly, with "dance to each corner and
> set" type figs that take 12 bars. Devisers would help dancers by putting
> the beginning of a 12-bar fig on bar 5, in order to allow them to finish
> the fig on bar 16.
And then there's the problem of dancers remembering to start in the
middle of a phrase, particularly if they've been standing for the
previous 4 bars. Eg Gothenburg's Welcome or The Comely Lass.
Cheers,
Ian
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There is nothing dull about the music for Red House, beginning with the emphasis on the off-beat of the first measure and ending with the change from minor mode to major mode in the 3rd part for 7 measures and back to minor for the last measure. That is one reason people like to dance it. Sylvia Miskoe, Concord, NH USA
