Strathspey (dance)
Encyclopedia
A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to 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...

 but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps'. A so-called Scotch snap
Lombard rhythm
The Lombard rhythm or Scotch snap is a rhythm associated primarily with Baroque music, generally consisting of a stressed sixteenth note or semiquaver followed by a dotted eighth note or quaver. This effects a reverse of the dotted rhythm normally used in notes inégales, in which the longer value...

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
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond
"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or simply "Loch Lomond" for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song . It was first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland....

", provided it is sung staccato
Staccato
Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...

:
"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
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...

(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, for step dance
Step dance
Step dance is the generic term for dance styles where the footwork is the most important part of the dance. Body and arm movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant.Step dance is one end of a spectrum of dance styles...

), and contains many dot-cut 'snaps', it is a rhythmically tense idiom. Traditionally, a strathspey will be followed by a reel
Reel (dance)
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 ....

, which is in 2/2 with a swung rhythm, as a release of the rhythmic 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 as canntaireachd
Canntaireachd
Canntaireachd is the ancient Scottish Highland method of noting classical pipe music or Ceòl Mòr by a combination of definite syllables, by which means the various tunes could be more easily recollected by the learner, and could be more easily transmitted orally...

, a style of singing in which various syllables stand in for traditional bagpipe ornaments.

The dance is named after the Strathspey
Strathspey, Scotland
Strathspey is the area around the strath of the River Spey, Scotland, in both the Moray council area and the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area of Highland....

 region of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, in Moray
Moray
Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...

 and Badenoch and Strathspey
Badenoch and Strathspey
Badenoch and Strathspey as a local government district 1975 to 1996Badenoch and Strathspey is a local government ward of the Highland council area and a ward management area of the Highland Council in Scotland...

. Strathspey refers both to the type of tune
Tune
Tune may refer to:* A melody* A tune-family* A tune , a short piece of instrumental music, usually with repeating sections, and often played a number of times* British slang term, often said when referring to a piece of music that is enjoyed...

 and to the type of dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 usually done to it (although strathspeys are also frequently danced to slow airs). The strathspey is one of the dance types in Scottish country dancing
Scottish country dance
A Scottish country dance is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns according to a predetermined choreography...

. A Scottish country dance will typically consist of equal numbers of strathspeys, 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...

s and reels
Reel (dance)
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 ....

. The strathspey step is a slower and more stately version of the skip-change step used for 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...

s and reels. The strathspey also forms part of the musical format for competing pipe bands. Modern high grade pipe bands are required to play a march, a strathspey and a reel for competition purposes.

The strathspey was originally conceived for the fiddle, using a peculiar bowing technique that would produce its characteristic "scotch-snap" rhythm; many newer strathspeys were written in the 18th and 19th centuries by composers such as William Marshall
William Marshall (Scottish composer)
William Marshall is regarded as one of the greatest composers of Scottish fiddle music.Marshall was born in Fochabers, Scotland. He entered the service of the Duke of Gordon, eventually becoming the Factor to the Gordon Estate. James Hunter's The Fiddle Music of Scotland credits Marshall with...

 and James Scott Skinner
James Scott Skinner
James Scott Skinner was a Scottish dancing master, violinist, fiddler, and composer.Skinner was born in Banchory, near Aberdeen. His father was a dancing master on Deeside. James was only eighteen months old when his father died. When James was seven, his elder brother, Sandy, gave him lessons in...

, 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
Air (music)
Air , a variant of the musical song form, is the name of various song-like vocal or instrumental compositions.-English lute ayres:...

 which were for listening (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 bouncy schottische
Schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...

, the strong strathspey, the song or air strathspey, all three of which can be enjoyed for dancing, and the competition strathspey for the Great Highland Bagpipe
Great Highland Bagpipe
The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....

, primarily intended as a display of virtuosity. Although band and solo competition bagpiping generally involves a complicated, heavily ornamented setting, traditional pipers often play simpler, more rhythmically driven versions.
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