Thread
Index
Corstorphine Fair
e.ferguson
Jan. 24, 2002, 7:55 a.m. (Message 29256)
We recently danced Corstorphine Fair, a 4C Jig by M. Hunter. The only source given by Dancedata is Pilling. Does anyone know the original instructions? The Pilling version is curiously asymmetrical, in that 1W uses "easy hands" when making the three crossings to reach the bottom (bars 17-22), while in the similar movement in bars 25-30 1M uses "awkward hands", forcing him to make loops. One would expect "easy hands" both times. Happy dancing, Eric -- Eric T. Ferguson, van Dormaalstraat 15, NL-5624 KH EINDHOVEN, Netherlands tel: (+31)(0)40-243 2878 fax:40-246 7036 e-mail: x.xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx
Eric, There must be several errors in the instructions you have. Corstorphine Fair is a 40 bar jig, and the crossings come at the end of te dance. The first ladies crossings occur on bars 25-30, and are "easy" turns, beginning wiith all on opposite sides and first lady changing places giving right hand to second man, left to third lady and right hand to fourth man, On bars 33-38, , The men dance similar easy turns, first man changing places with second lady givingt left hands, third man right hands and fourth lady left hands, The dance was published originally as a leaflet by Mozart Allen, devised by Miss M. Hunter, Edinburgh. It included music for two jigs,the title tune and one other, both composed by Nan Main. The Jimmy Blair recording for the dance does not include either one. Harry
> The dance was published originally as a leaflet by Mozart Allen, devised by > Miss M. Hunter, Edinburgh. It included music for two jigs,the title tune and > one other, both composed by Nan Main. The Jimmy Blair recording for the > dance does not include either one. > > Harry Hi, Harry Wasn't there some story at the time about J.B. always avoiding modern tunes and sticking to Trads. where possible? :) All his old 45's in my ditty-box have trads. anyway. I wonder why....? :) Cheers, Ron :) < 0 Ron Mackey,(Purveyor of Pat's Party Pieces) 'O> Mottingham, /#\ London. UK. l> xxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
In response to my question, Harry Ways replied: > The first ladies crossings occur on bars 25-30, and are "easy" turns, > beginning wiith all on opposite sides and first lady changing places > giving right hand to second man, left to third lady and right hand to > fourth man, > On bars 33-38, , The men dance similar easy turns, first man changing > places with second lady givingt left hands, third man right hands and > fourth lady left hands, This would indicate that there is an error in the diagram for bars 33- 38 in "Pilling". Does anyone know if "Pilling" is lurking on the List, or has e-mail? They should have the opportunity of correcting the error. Happy dancing, Eric ----- Eric T. Ferguson, van Dormaalstraat 15, NL-5624 KH EINDHOVEN, Netherlands tel: (+31)(0)40-243 2878 fax:40-246 7036 e-mail: x.xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx
Eric wrote; '> This would indicate that there is an error in the diagram for bars 33- > 38 in "Pilling". Which prompted me to drag out my copy of Pilling (Third Edition), which I have not looked at for over 20 years. That is not the only error there. The dance is listed as 32 bars instead of 40. There are 5 8 bar sequences, and 3 of them have one or more errors. Bars 19-22 are indicated as "set advancing-set retiring. Should be advance and retire with skip change. The diagrams for bars 25-40 have all on the wrong side of the dance, and the hand giving is wrong on bars 33-38, Harry
Harry Ways <xxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xxx> writes: > Which prompted me to drag out my copy of Pilling (Third Edition), which I > have not looked at for over 20 years. > That is not the only error there. The dance is listed as 32 bars instead of > 40. There are 5 8 bar sequences, and 3 of them have one or more errors. Bars > 19-22 are indicated as "set advancing-set retiring. Should be advance and > retire with skip change. The diagrams for bars 25-40 have all on the wrong > side of the dance, and the hand giving is wrong on bars 33-38, I've just had a look through my wee collection of Pillings (incorporating editions 4 through 7 -- anybody have a spare copy of 1, 2 or 3? :^) And before you ask, Eric -- I'm not going to document the differences between the various editions). It turns out that the diagrams in 4 and 5 are essentially identical graphically and the ones in 6 and 7 as well (of course everything was redrawn for 6), and they are the same, content-wise, too. Harry's handing bug in bars 33-38 has persisted through all editions since 3. As far as I know the Pillings committee is not on-line but they give a snail-mail address for ordering copies near the explanations at the start. I suppose if one were to drop them a post card at that address the person there would know what to do with it. Incidentally, can someone describe in more detail what goes on during bars 17-24? I remember doing the dance once ages ago and what we did there was decidedly unusual (I'm not going to say any more for fear of spoiling the answers). It's something I've been wondering about for some time but since I never had access to the original words I couldn't check back. Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau .......................................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx Literature is news that stays news. -- Ezra Pound
Harry Ways <xxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xxx> writes: > Bars17-24 All 4 couples, facing top, slip 4 steps to center of dance, women > passing in front of men. Join nearer hands or link arms with partners and > dance 2 steps forward and 2 steps backward (skip change) Then 4 slip steps > back to sidelines, women again in front of men. Right, this is about what I remember from way back when. Thanks! Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau .......................................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it. -- Gene Spafford
Harry wrote: >Bars17-24 All 4 couples, facing top, slip 4 steps to center of dance, women >passing in front of men. Join nearer hands or link arms with partners and >dance 2 steps forward and 2 steps backward (skip change) Then 4 slip steps >back to sidelines, women again in front of men. That's interesting. We always slipped across to the other side of the set before advancing. However, having just checked the original insturctions I find we were wrong. We used to this dance a lot in the childrens class I went to. We danced it to lots of tunes with animal connections (ie 'The animals went in two by two' and 'Nellie the Elephant') becasue Corstorphine Hill is home to Edinburgh Zoo. Seonaid
Can Pilling ever be wrong? Yes. But I understand that all but one of the errors that I pointed out for this dance in the Third Edition have been corrected by The Seventh Edition. The Wee Green Book defines how the dance is done for most people. Perhaps for the simpler dances, but I think most people would have a problem with more complicated dances unless they had some previous famiiarity with them, or had at some time seen the full instructions or been taught the daace. Harry
Can Pilling ever be wrong? Yes. But I understand that all but one of the errors that I pointed out for this dance in the Third Edition have been corrected by The Seventh Edition. The Wee Green Book defines how the dance is done for most people. Perhaps for the simpler dances, but I think most people would have a problem with more complicated dances unless they had some previous famiiarity with them, or had at some time seen the full instructions or been taught the daace. Harry
Can Pilling ever be wrong? Yes. But I understand that all but one of the errors that I pointed out for this dance in the Third Edition have been corrected by The Seventh Edition. The Wee Green Book defines how the dance is done for most people. Perhaps for the simpler dances, but I think most people would have a problem with more complicated dances unless they had some previous famiiarity with them, or had at some time seen the full instructions or been taught the daace. Harry
Harry Ways wrote: >> The Wee Green Book defines how the dance is done for most people. > Perhaps for the simpler dances, but I think most people would have a problem > with more complicated dances unless they had some previous famiiarity with > them, or had at some time seen the full instructions or been taught the > dance. Yes, I agree that one can't learn a complicated dance just from Pilling (though it often helps in getting the picture more than the written instructions). But there has been much discussion on the list about the need for a "right way" of doing a dance so that everyone in the set knows what to expect. In my experience, what people expect is what is in Pilling (which they've just checked). They probably don't know or can't remember what's in the original! Andrew Buxton