But how fast is fast and how slow is slow? Can anyone suggest a metronome range for, say, reels at dance tempo?

Someone early in the thread seemed to suggest that you speed up for dancers. But when I looked in at the World Irish Dancing Championships in Belfast last month the tempos (tempi?) were definitely much slower than I usually hear nowadays - more Arty McGlynn than Finbar Furey.

I've seen Finbar quoted - reliably or not I don't know - as saying the reason he plays fast is because he can. Which doesn't sound a good enough reason to me. Then again I remember Stefan Grossman becoming alarmed at the growing number of youngsters who could keep pace with him.So he downtuned his guitar for a recording of Red Pepper Rag,and speeded it up the track to bring it back to true pitch. The net result of this prank was to create a generation of youngsters who could play Red Pepper Rag at double speed. Maybe we should all back off this speed thing before we melt our fiddles.

One last thought. A piper somewhere around Birmingham (Tim Mahon?) told me that for sessions around Clare and Galway, some pipers now opt for instruments in C sharp or even E flat. Fiddles and some whistles can then tune in to match, but boxes are stuffed, which is apparently the objective. Any truth in this? It sounds a bit elitist to me.