Dancers have their needs. The dance mustn't go too slow or too fast.

If dancing is not involved, then the music ought to be paced so that we can play with precision (for example, get all fingers in the right place), so we can tell minor from major, and so that there is variation in tempo from one piece to another. An entire night of pieces in the tempo is tiresome.

My husband plays the bodhran. I was surprised to learn that it was possible for our amateur group to play Irish music too fast for him.

Most of the bands who travel, doing concerts, play all the dance music fast and loud. They also turn the guitar into a percussion instrument, tuning it DADGAB and whacking the strings all night. The result: new listeners say it all sounds alike.