- Strathspey (dance)
A strathspey is a type of
dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to ahornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps'. A so-called "Scotch snap" is a short note before a dotted note, which in traditional playing is generally exaggerated rhythmically for musical expression. An example of a strathspey would be the song "The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond ", provided it is sungstaccato ::"You'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the low road, and I'll be in Scotland afore ye"
Other examples are the tunes to "
Auld Lang Syne " (based on Sir Alexander Don's Strathspey) and "Coming through the rye" (based on an old strathspey tune called "The Miller's daughter").Because the strathspey rhythm has four strong beats to the bar, is played quickly (generally ranging from 108 beats per minute, for
Highland Dance , up to 160 beats per minute, forstepdance ), and contains many dot-cut 'snaps,' it is a rhythmically tense idiom. Traditionally, a strathspey will be followed by a reel, which is in 2/2 with a swung rhythm, as a release of the rhymthic tension created during the strathspey.It has been hypothesized that strathspeys mimic the rhythms of the
Scottish Gaelic language. Among traditional musicians, strathspeys are often transmitted ascanntaireachd , a style of singing in which various syllables stand in for traditional bagpipe ornaments. [ [http://www.siliconglen.com/culture/gaelicsong.html Traditional Scottish Gaelic singing ] ]The dance is named after the Strathspey region of
Scotland , inMoray andBadenoch and Strathspey . Strathspey refers both to the type oftune , and to the type ofdance usually done to it (although strathspeys are also frequently danced to slow airs).fact|date=January 2007 The strathspey is one of the dance types in Scottish country dancing. A Scottish country dance will typically consist of equal numbers of strathspeys,jig s and reels. The strathspey step is a slower and more stately version of the skip-change step used forjig s and reels. The strathspey also forms part of the musical format for competingpipe bands - modern high grade bands are required to play a March, Strathspey and Reel for competition purposes.The strathspey may have originated in bagpipe tunes; many newer strathspeys were written in the 18th and 19th centuries by composers such as William Marshall and
James Scott Skinner , who utilised the full range of the fiddle to produce many memorable tunes. Skinner distinguished between dance tunes, which retained the staccato bowing (Laird o Drumblair), and airs which were to be listened to (Music of Spey). More recently,Muriel Johnstone has written some elegant piano strathspeys. These days there are at least four, some would say seven, varieties: the bouncyschottische , the strong strathspey, the song or air strathspey, all three of which can be enjoyed for dancing, and the competition strathspey for theGreat Highland Bagpipe , primarily intended as a display of virtuosity. Although band and solo competitionpiping generally involves a complicated, heavily ornamented setting, traditional pipers often play simpler, more rhythmically driven versions.References
See also
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List of Scottish country dances
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