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Reel (dance)
Encyclopedia
The reel is a folk dance
type as well as the accompanying dance tune type
. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig
, the strathspey
and the waltz
, and is also the name of a dance figure (see below).
In Irish dance
, a reel is any dance danced to music in reel time (see below). In Irish stepdance
, the reel is danced in soft shoes and is one of the first dances taught to students. There is also a treble reel, danced in hard shoes to reel music.
time signature
in Miles Krassen, O'Neill's Music of Ireland, New & Revisited, p. 158, (1976), whereas in 4/4 time in Robin Williamson, English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Fiddle Tunes, p. 69, (1976), each measure in both cases spanning the same part of the melody.
All reels have the same structure, consisting largely of quaver (eighth note) movement with an accent on the first and third beats of the bar. A reel is distinguished from a hornpipe
by consisting primarily of even beats. Reels usually have two parts (A and B); in most reels each part is repeated (AABB), but in others it is not (ABAB). Each part (A and B) typically has eight bars, which in turn are divisible into four-bar and two-bar phrases. (An exception is the "auld reel" of Shetland which tends to irregular structure and may have been influenced by the Norwegian halling
.) The example of Johh Shand performing Mairi's Wedding
follows the pattern ABABB, giving a pattern of 40 bars. The group of thirty-two bars (four times eight) is itself repeated three or four times before a second reel is introduced. The grouping of two or more tunes
in medleys
or "sets" is typical in Celtic
dance music
. Today many Irish reels are supplemented with new compositions and by tunes from other traditions which are easily adapted as reels. It is the most popular tune
-type within the Irish dance music tradition.
Reels are popular in the folk music
of South West England
. It crossed the Atlantic ocean with Irish and British immigration and thus entered the musical tradition of Atlantic and French-speaking Canada
including that of Quebecers
and Acadians. Reels are featured in many pieces of Quebec
singers and bands; for example: La Bolduc
, La Bottine Souriante
and even the more modern néo-trad
group Les Cowboys Fringants
(like the song Mon Pays suivi du Reel des aristocrates).
In Scottish country dancing, reels are figures in which three or more dancers follow an interweaving path, similar to the hey of other folk dance
traditions. The most common reel is the reel of three, in which, as the name implies, three dancers weave in and out of one another, completing a figure 8 pattern on the floor, usually in six or eight bars of music. The dancers simultaneously follow the same path, but begin the pattern at different points: one each at top and bottom, and one in the middle. Two of the dancers will pass each other to begin the reel, and the reel is labeled a right- or left-shoulder reel depending on which of their shoulders are closest when they pass. When the reel is finished, all three dancers will be back where they began.
There are myriad variations, including:
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
type as well as the accompanying dance tune type
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig
Jig
The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
, the strathspey
Strathspey (dance)
A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe 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...
and the waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
, and is also the name of a dance figure (see below).
In Irish dance
Irish dance
Irish dancing or Irish dance is a group of traditional dance forms originating in Ireland which can broadly be divided into social dance and performance dances. Irish social dances can be divided further into céilí and set dancing...
, a reel is any dance danced to music in reel time (see below). In Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance is a type of performance dance originated in Ireland from traditional Irish dance, characterised by solo dancers who dance with hands by their sides and upper body stiff, making quick, intricate movements of the feet, often with a troupe. Irish stepdancing was popularized by the...
, the reel is danced in soft shoes and is one of the first dances taught to students. There is also a treble reel, danced in hard shoes to reel music.
Reel music
Reel music is notated in duple time, either as 2/2 or 4/4. For example the same reel Rakish Paddy is notated in 2/2 time with an alla breve (cut time) time signatureTime signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
in Miles Krassen, O'Neill's Music of Ireland, New & Revisited, p. 158, (1976), whereas in 4/4 time in Robin Williamson, English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Fiddle Tunes, p. 69, (1976), each measure in both cases spanning the same part of the melody.
All reels have the same structure, consisting largely of quaver (eighth note) movement with an accent on the first and third beats of the bar. A reel is distinguished from a hornpipe
Hornpipe
The term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...
by consisting primarily of even beats. Reels usually have two parts (A and B); in most reels each part is repeated (AABB), but in others it is not (ABAB). Each part (A and B) typically has eight bars, which in turn are divisible into four-bar and two-bar phrases. (An exception is the "auld reel" of Shetland which tends to irregular structure and may have been influenced by the Norwegian halling
Halling (dance)
The Halling is a folk dance traditionally performed in rural Norway, although versions of the halling can also be found in parts of Sweden. It is the most ancient documented dance of North Europe, and its roots go back to 2500 years old cave paintings.The dance is traditionally performed by...
.) The example of Johh Shand performing Mairi's Wedding
Mairi's Wedding
Mairi's Wedding is a Scottish folk song originally written in Gaelic by Johnny Bannerman for Mary McNiven. Written using a traditional Scottish tune, it was first played for McNiven in 1935 at the Old Highlanders Institute in Glasgow's Elmbank Street. Hugh S...
follows the pattern ABABB, giving a pattern of 40 bars. The group of thirty-two bars (four times eight) is itself repeated three or four times before a second reel is introduced. The grouping of two or more tunes
Tune (folk music)
In folk music, a tune is a short instrumental piece, a melody, often with repeating sections, and usually played a number of times. The most common form for tunes in folk music is AABB, also known as binary form....
in medleys
Medley (music)
In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks...
or "sets" is typical in Celtic
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
. Today many Irish reels are supplemented with new compositions and by tunes from other traditions which are easily adapted as reels. It is the most popular tune
Tune (folk music)
In folk music, a tune is a short instrumental piece, a melody, often with repeating sections, and usually played a number of times. The most common form for tunes in folk music is AABB, also known as binary form....
-type within the Irish dance music tradition.
Reels are popular in the folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
of South West England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It crossed the Atlantic ocean with Irish and British immigration and thus entered the musical tradition of Atlantic and French-speaking Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
including that of Quebecers
Music of Quebec
Being a modern cosmopolitan society, today, all types of music can be found in the Canadian province of Quebec. What is specific to Quebec though are traditional songs, a unique variety of Celtic music, legions of excellent jazz musicians, a culture of classical music, and a love of foreign rhythms...
and Acadians. Reels are featured in many pieces of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
singers and bands; for example: La Bolduc
La Bolduc
Mary Rose-Anna Travers, was a French Canadian singer and musician. She was known as Madame Bolduc or La Bolduc. During the peak of her popularity in the 1930s, she was known as the Queen of Canadian Folksingers. Bolduc is often considered to be Quebec's first singer/songwriter...
, La Bottine Souriante
La Bottine Souriante
La Bottine Souriante is a folk band from Quebec specialising in traditional Québécois music, often with a modern twist.Formed in 1976, they have toured extensively through North America and Europe. As well as the traditional accordion, fiddle, guitar, piano and double bass, the band added a...
and even the more modern néo-trad
Néo-trad
Néo-trad is a musical style from Quebec that arose around the turn of the 21st century. It can be considered a subgenre of Québécois Trad music. The term combines the Greek prefix neo, meaning new, and the contraction of the word traditionnelle, as in traditional music.It basically constitutes...
group Les Cowboys Fringants
Les Cowboys Fringants
Les Cowboys Fringants are a popular band and cult phenomenon from Quebec, who perform Québécois néo-trad music , the band also draws on Country music. They have gained an international underground following, especially in France, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland...
(like the song Mon Pays suivi du Reel des aristocrates).
Reel (dance figure)
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
traditions. The most common reel is the reel of three, in which, as the name implies, three dancers weave in and out of one another, completing a figure 8 pattern on the floor, usually in six or eight bars of music. The dancers simultaneously follow the same path, but begin the pattern at different points: one each at top and bottom, and one in the middle. Two of the dancers will pass each other to begin the reel, and the reel is labeled a right- or left-shoulder reel depending on which of their shoulders are closest when they pass. When the reel is finished, all three dancers will be back where they began.
There are myriad variations, including:
- Half reels of three, in which the dancers complete only half their path, usually in four bars of music. At the end of the figure, the dancers on the ends of the 8 will have switched places, and the dancer in the middle will be back where he or she began.
- Parallel reels, in which two reels are danced simultaneously by two groups of dancers, usually one group on the men's side of the set and one group on the ladies' side of the set. The reels are "parallel" in the sense that each person in one reel dances exactly the same track as the corresponding person in the other reel, maintaining the same distance from them at all times.
- Mirror reels, which resemble parallel reels, except that each person dances a mirror image of the track being danced by the corresponding person in the other reel (so that if one reel begins with two dancers passing left shoulders, the other reel will begin by passing right shoulders).
- Crossover mirror reels, which are mirror reels that begin with two of the dancers crossing over to participate in the opposite reel. In double crossover mirror reels, they cross back to their original reels when the figure repeats.
- Inveran (or sausage) reels, in which a couple crosses back and forth between two reels at both ends of the figure.
- Tandem reels, in which two dancers take the place of a single dancer in the reel, one following close behind the other. In dolphin reels, those two dancers switch positions with each other at each end of the 8.
- Reels of four, in which four people dance a reel, adding a smaller loop to the path in the middle of the figure 8 to allow the two inner dancers to pass each other.
- Closing reels, which are six-bar reels of three danced by the active couple with their corners at the end of a dance. The active couple crosses over to their own sides on the final two bars of the figure.
See also
- Music of IrelandMusic of IrelandIrish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
- Music of ScotlandMusic of ScotlandScotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music...
- Music of QuebecMusic of QuebecBeing a modern cosmopolitan society, today, all types of music can be found in the Canadian province of Quebec. What is specific to Quebec though are traditional songs, a unique variety of Celtic music, legions of excellent jazz musicians, a culture of classical music, and a love of foreign rhythms...
- List of Scottish country dances
- JigJigThe Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
- HornpipeHornpipeThe term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...
- PolkaPolkaThe polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
- MazurkaMazurkaThe mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
- Slide (tune type)Slide (tune type)In Irish traditional music, a slide is a tune type in 12/8 akin to, and often confused with, a single jig. Slides originated the Sliabh Luachra region of southwestern Ireland....
External links
- Military Two Step
- Gay Gordons
- Sheffield University Ceilidh Society Probably one of the most well established and largest English Ceilidh Societies in England.
- The Round is the website of the Cambridge University English Dance society, and an excellent resource on e-ceilidh.