reel
Reel ( English ; ir. Ríl or cor ; Scottish Gaelic righil , righle ) denotes both an originally Scottish folk dance and the melody on which it is based in a fast ² / ₂ time (" small allabreve "). The tempo of a reel is usually around 100–120 bpm (half notes per minute), ie 50–60 beats per minute (TPM); However, reels are also played both slower and faster , depending on the musician and tune . A higher tempo is generally required for dancing.
Scotland
The reel is the characteristic dance of the Scottish highlands. The name is old and probably of Norse origin. The name has also entered the Gaelic language as ruidhle , righil , etc.
The first evidence of the name comes from 1590. In Newes from Scotland it is mentioned that the witchcraft accused Agnes Thompson admitted to having danced a reill with two hundred other witches ( "... daunced this reill or short dance ..." ) . The reel was probably already in use at the beginning of the 16th century. Possibly it goes back to Haye, who appeared in France in the same century .
The Highland Reel
In its basic form, the Reel was danced by three or four people who simultaneously dance a kind of figure eight. As a dance figure ( Reel of three or Reel of four ), this form is still part of modern highland dancing and Scottish country dance . (The same figure occurs under the name Haye , Hey or German Hecke in folk dances of other nations.) Over time, the name was transferred to the melodies, and finally to all dances that were danced to these melodies.
This original form, later also called "Highland Reel" or "Scotch Reel", was the most popular dance of the Gaelic- speaking Scots well beyond the 18th century and was danced everywhere at céilidhs or weddings.
The Scotch Reel was already known in England in the 18th century. Giovanni Gallini describes it as a "funny" dance, but also admires the lively, brilliant steps:
“It is to the Highlanders in North-Britain, that I am told we are indebted for a dance in the comic vein, called the Scotch Reel , executed generally, and I believe always in trio , or by three. When well danced, it has a very pleasing effect: and indeed nothing can be imagined more agreeable, or more lively and brilliant, than the steps in many of the Scotch Dances. "
In the 19th century the reel was danced in ballrooms in England and Ireland alongside country dances, and also in most European courts. Thomas Wilson, a London dance teacher, gave a description of the "Old Scotch threesome and foursome reels" around 1815:
“… In their construction, they consist merely of the Country Dance Figure of hey, with alternate setting. The threesome Reel or Reel of three… is composed of three persons, placed in a direct line, and is commenced by the three persons setting; the center person setting half the time to one, and then turning and setting the remainder of the time to the other, and turning back again the center person afterwards strikes the hey with the other two, and so finish the strain of the music and the Reel together, leaving one of the other persons in the center, who commences the Reel, & c. as before. The foursome Reel, or Reel of four, is composed of four persons, placed in a direct line, facing each other, two and two, who thus begin, and after setting out the time of one strain to their partners, without turning, they hey till the next strain is finished, which also finishes the Reel. "
The reel consisted of two parts, which alternated according to the phrases of the music: the “Traveling” and the “Setting”. When traveling , the dancers danced the figure of eight mentioned. In the setting , everyone danced on the spot for themselves, using different, challenging steps that gave the dancers the opportunity to show their individual skills.
In Highland Dancing , the Highland Reel is danced in this form to this day. Four dancers first dance the figure eight (bars 1–8), followed by different settings in bars 9–16. The tempo is 100–108 bpm and any Scottish reel can be used as music.
Scottish Country Dance
The English country dances had already reached Scotland in the 18th century , initially in the ballrooms of the larger cities. These new dances were soon mixed up with the old reel. In addition, as Thomas Wilson's description shows, the old folk dance was preserved in its basic form until the 19th century.
Even in the oldest collection of Scottish country dances, the Menzies Manuscript from 1749, there are dances that have the designation Reel in the title, but are clearly contrarian dances , for example:
“Mr. Jack Stewart's Reel
1st man sets to the 2d woman then the 1st woman sets to the 2d man, then cross over two pair lead up through the middle sett & cast off then the 1st pair goes four hands round, above & below & reels at the sides ”
Most of these dances contain the typical figure of eight, which here (and in Scottish Country Dance to this day) is also called reel . Thomas Wilson called this figure hey , but in Highland Dancing it is called figure of eight . Today in Scottish Country Dance, all the dances that are danced to reel tunes are called reels.
The reel as a form of music
Reels are fast pieces of music in 2/2 time. Notation in 4/4 time is common, but strictly speaking not correct: a measure has two beats of half a note each, the emphasis is on the first and fifth eighth of a measure (see note examples). The melodies consist largely of eighth notes . Reels almost always have an AABB structure, with parts A and B each consisting of four bars that are repeated. There are also parts that are eight bars long, but then without repetition. In any case, there is a sequence of eight-bar sections that corresponds to the structure of the Highland Reel: eight bars of traveling in the reel figure and eight bars of setting .
A variant of the reel was the Strathspey Reel . At first, a local style of playing the reel from the Strathspey region was named. An independent form of music developed from this as early as the 18th century.
Another variant was the rant . This designation can be found in the names of numerous pieces that are now classified as Reel or Strathspey. A dance with this name is not known. The differences between rants and reels are minimal; Rants are very lively pieces that often contain figures made up of two sixteenth and eighth notes. According to Emmerson, the rant corresponds to a Scots Measure if its eight-bar phrases - halving the note values - are compressed to four bars. The rant behaves similarly to the slower Scots Measure as the reel to the 4/4 hornpipe . The typical “Di-dam-dam” motif of three quarter notes at the end of the phrase can also be found in the rant, shortened to three eighth notes (see note example).
Pipe music
Reels have always been part of Scottish bagpipe music: In the oldest collections from the 18th century, reels are the most common dance tunes. To this day, reels are one of the most important bagpipes that are still being composed and played by pipe bands and solo pipers.
The pipe reels are also in 2/2 time and consist of two or more sections (“parts”), each eight bars long (or four bars with repetition). The tempo varies from around 84 bpm for complex competition type reels to 104–120 bpm for dance music.
Originally the pipe reels were not played or only weakly dotted (like the Irish reels, see below) Joseph MacDonald wrote in 1760 that dotted playing ("dot and tick") in the style of the fiddle was not common with the pipe:
“The Pipe also plays all the Violin Dancing Musick (within its Compass) very well but as they deviate from its proper style (a great many of them) they cannot be So properly Cut & chiefly on account of the small Dote & Tich [dot and tick] as this never is peculiar to the Pipe. "
Up until the first half of the 20th century, pipe reels were written and most likely played without dots. Only with the development from the dance piece to the competition type reel does the complexity of the dots and decorations increase. A typical example of a traditional reel that has become a competition reel is "The Rejected Suitor".
Ireland
The reel came to Ireland from Scotland in the second half of the 18th century. Many of the reels played in Ireland today are adaptations from Scottish music, and different variations of a melody are often found in different parts of Ireland. There are also many new Irish compositions and also melodies from other traditions that have been adopted as Reel.
While the reel used to be used as a pure dance melody, in the 18th century people switched to making the pieces more interesting as a piece of music for listeners by means of syncopations , time delays and decorations . After the reel soon replaced the jig as the most popular tune in Ireland in the early 19th century , it continued to gain in importance in the 20th century. This is particularly true of the Irish Folk Revival in the 1960s and 1970s. The piano accompaniment that had been common up until then increasingly gave way to multi-instrumental arrangements for bouzouki , bodhrán , concertina , mandola and other instruments. In its speed, ferocity, but also its lyrical expressiveness, today's Reel has little in common with its comparatively simple origins.
As a rule, reels are played slightly “dotted”, ie the 1st (3rd, 5th, 7th) eighth note of each measure is slightly longer than the following. The ratio of the successive eighth notes is between 50:50 and 60:40, depending on the tune, instrument, region and individual taste of the musician. However, the puncture is rarely so strong that it reaches the triplet feeling of a hornpipe (66:33).
Similar to other folk dances, the Reel is usually divided into an AB or AABB structure. Both parts A and B consist of eight bars each (or four bars that are repeated) and can be further subdivided into so-called phrases of four and two bars. Most of the time the B part is played in the upper octave. Traditionally, most Irish reels, like the Scottish ones, consist of two eight-bar parts for a total of 16 bars; today it also happens that the eight-bar sections are repeated. Usually the AABB structure is repeated two or three times in total before the next tune begins. It is common practice to put several reels together to form a “set”.
A distinction is rarely made between double reel and single reel . If one speaks simply of the reel , then practically always the double reel is meant. The single reel contains many more quarter notes, while the double reel consists almost entirely of eighth notes. The rhythm of the single reel is very similar to the polka and, like this, is usually notated in 2/4 time. Typical single reels are e.g. B. "Ger the Rigger", "Biddy Martin's" or "Anything for John-Joe".
In Irish dance , both group ( set dances and céílí dances ) and solo dances are danced to reels. In step dance, a further distinction is made between light reels , which are danced in soft shoes, and treble reels (also called heavy reels ) in hard shoes.
North America
English, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought their music with them to America. The Minstrel -Music of the 19th century, issued as African-American, was generically purely European fiddle music . Even old-time music and bluegrass show more clearly these origins. Old-time music was primarily dance music, to which a wide variety of dances were and are danced: clogging or flat-footing , square dance and contra dance . The reel is the predominant rhythm; the corresponding melodies are also known as breakdown or hoedown . The clearest differences to the Irish reel are a backbeat , which is often played by accompanying guitars or banjos, and occasionally longer, syncopated notes in the fiddle melody (see note example).
Many of the pieces are based on Scottish and Irish reels. These include B. "Monymusk" (published by Daniel Dow in 1776 as "Sir Archibald Grant of Monemusk's reel") and "Miss McLeod's Reel" (originally "Mrs. MacLeod of Raasay", published in 1809 by Niel Gow ), which was also used in America under titles such as "Uncle Joe" or "Hop High Ladies" is known.
Reels also play an important role as dance music in traditional music on Cape Breton to this day.
Web links
Videos on YouTube :
Scotland:
- Highland Dancing : Strathspey & Highland Reel (from 1:14) & Reel of Tulloch (from 1:53) ( visited on May 16, 2009 )
- Scottish Country Dance: Reel ( visited May 16, 2009 )
- Great Highland Bagpipe: Reels (played round) ( visited on April 21, 2012 )
- Great Highland Bagpipe: Competition Set March, Strathspey (from 1:47) & Reel (played dotted, from 2:48) ( visited on May 16, 2009 )
Ireland:
- Irish Step Dance: Treble Reel (Hard Shoes) ( visited March 12, 2011 )
- Irish Step Dance: Light Reel (Soft Shoes) ( visited October 5, 2012 )
- Sean Nós Dance ( visited March 12, 2011 )
- Irish Set Dance , Bunclody Céilí Band, 1963 ( visited March 12, 2011 )
North America:
- Cape Breton Step Dance ( visited May 16, 2009 )
- "Clogging" ( visited on May 16, 2009 )
- Appalachian Flat Footing ( visited May 16, 2009 )
- Square Dance: "Virginia Reel" ( visited May 16, 2009 )
literature
- Breandán Breathnach: Folk Music and Dances of Ireland . Talbot Press, Dublin 1971, ISBN 1-900428-65-2 (English, reprint 1996).
- Roderik D. Cannon: The Highland Bagpipe and its Music. New Edition . John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-85976-549-0 (English).
- George S. Emmerson: Rantin 'pipe and tremblin' string. A history of Scottish dance music . Dent, London 1971, ISBN 0-460-03891-5 (English).
- George S. Emmerson: A Social History of Scottish Dance. Ane Celestial Recreation . McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 1972, ISBN 0-7735-0087-1 (English).
- John G. Gibson: Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping 1745-1945 . McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 1998, ISBN 0-7735-1541-0 (English, books.google.de ).
- Highland dancing. The textbook of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing . 6th edition. 1993, ISBN 1-898169-01-2 (English).
- Fintan Vallely: The Companion to Irish Traditional Music . New York University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-8147-8802-5 (English).
- Thomas Wilson: The Complete System of English Country Dancing . Sherwood, Neeley and Jones, London (English, strathspey.org [PDF; 8.0 MB ] around 1815).
Individual evidence
- ^ Newes from Scotland. Declaring the damnable life of Doctor Fian a notable sorcerer, who was burned at Edenbrough in Ianuarie last. London 1591. (Glasgow University Library: Sp Coll Ferguson Al-a.36)
- ↑ John G. Gibson 1998, p. 135
- ↑ Giovanni-Andrea Gallini: Treatise on the Art of Dancing . London 1762 (English, Treatise on the Art of Dancing ).
- ↑ strathspey.org ( Memento from April 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Emmerson 1971, pp. 130 ff.
- ↑ published Edinburgh 1803; quoted according to Gibson 1998, p. 110.
- ↑ cit. according to: Cannon 2002, p. 138.
- ^ A b Francis Collinson: Article "Reel" . In: Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians .
- ↑ Vallely 1999, article "Reel", p. 307 f.
- ↑ cf. z. B. Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland. 1903 freesheetmusic.net
- ↑ irishtune.info
- ↑ Andrew Kuntz, The Fiddler's Companion