tune names - may I vent?

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 06:16 PM

In Shetland music you get The Five Tunes.

For Irish music it's even simpler, with The Three Tunes.

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 05:34 PM

I sympathise, Leeneia. Most of our Brit bands are led by either the caller or the lead musician. IMO the lead musician should decide the tune sets unless the caller is also a musician and prefers regular sets for each dance. I was always part of or organised bands for public dancing and we always kept the dances easy and generally used the same tune sets for each dance. Never was interested in dancers' dances, but each to their own.

Having been with the same band for 30-odd years most of the tune titles were abbreviated, e.g., Rakes, Irish and Shandon was a set consisting of Rakes of Kildare, Irish Washerwoman and Shandon Bells usually used with the dance Bridge of Athlone.

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 05:16 PM

So you wouldn't approve of a dance (North West, I think they called it The Banks) to "The Blaydon Races", "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo" and "Nellie The Elephant" then?

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 05:02 PM

All our dances are one-off. One dance is done to one tune. I wish we had a repertoire of easy dances which people could get under their belts so they can relax more. But our leaders don't want to make it easy.

So, Peter, to answer your question, if the tune has a name, call the unique dance to it by the same name. If you compose a dance for the existing tune "Bruxa", call it "Bruxa."

Here are a few illogical pairings which I would rather not bother with:

Autumn in Amherst to the Red Star Line

Alice to Siciliano

General Grooviness to March for Warren


and if you like twee, The Chocolate Equation, danced to a tune called 72%

Meanwhile, I'm dealing with certain fellow musicians who can barely find the rehearsal spot, much less organize their music.

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Will Fly
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 03:29 PM

And in Sweden everything is a polska (which is NOT a polka).

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 03:06 PM

In Turkish music just about all tunes are called "<form> in <mode> by <composer>".

In Breton music you don't even get that. The prevailing attitude is that names are for wimps.

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Will Fly
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 01:23 PM

Our ceilidh band uses two callers - they sometimes call the same dance but want different tunes for their version of the dance. That's what they get - and we don't particularly care.

We play a tune whose proper name is "J.B. Milne" - it's often used for a dance called "Knutsford", so we often just refer to it as "Knutsford", even though the dances it's used for by our callers are neither of them called "Knutsford". Fun, eh?

Dances are dances - they have the same steps all the time - but you can play any suitable tune set for a dance as long as it fits. Who cares - the dancers rarely do, unless you're playing for a well established dance such as the "Dashing White Sergearnt" where, oddly enough, we play a tune called "The Dashing White Sergeant".

If I was a composer of tunes, which I'm not (other than one called "The Lurcher" which changes time signatures every few bars or so), I'd call 'em just what I wanted - just for the hell of it.

As to "La", "Une" and "Le" and other such definite/indefinite articles - well, that's what they are in foreign languages. My alphabetisation rule for it is simple: If the tune title is in English and begins with ""A" or "The", the article goes at the end after a comma: "Lurcher, The". If it's a foreign tune, the article goes at the front: "Le Canal En Octobre".

Simples.

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 01:20 PM

Here are some of the tunes from our latest album.
Old Joe, the boat is going over
Sobriety on the Humber, 25th April, 2012
The Flying Lock Key

Do we pass muster?

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: GUEST,Some anonymous Adonis
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 10:49 AM

I've never referred to real names in all my years of playing.

Granny get off the stove, you're too old to ride the range.

I thought my nose was bleeding but it's not

Why can't you see I love you when it's sticking out a mile.

Etc etc.

Give the po faced buggers some enjoyment, most of them need it.

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 10:44 AM

[i]'The tune and the dance do not need two unrelated names, unless people have composed more than one dance to a good tune. Calling 'Bruxa' 'Flying Sorceress' just because you thought of flying saucers makes things more complicated.'
[/i]

Given that 'A Bruxa' translates as 'The Witch' from the Galician, how related do you want your names?

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 10:33 AM

Better compose the tunes yourself then!

Subject: RE: tune names - may I vent?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 10:31 AM

Gulp!

Subject: tune names - may I vent?
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Jun 17 - 10:28 AM

I play music for country dancers, and I'm the band member who knows the most about computers and music. And so, when our fearless leader went to Germany, it fell to me to locate 15 dances for the other players. I had a bad cold during this period, and like most people, I had a life to live at the same time.

And I just wanna say this to the people who compose new dances and new tunes. Would you please do us all a favor and stop being clever? For example.

The tune and the dance do not need two unrelated names, unless people have composed more than one dance to a good tune. Calling 'Bruxa' 'Flying Sorceress' just because you thought of flying saucers makes things more complicated.

Don't use a name like '1a'. Where is it in an index?

I don't care if you have a friend named Genevieve. I want 'Jig for Jenny,' not 'Gigue for Genny.' Same with 'High Ginks' and 'Handel with Care.'   It's not that amazing that you are familiar with Handel. We all are.

Do not name a tune after a brachiopod unless the spelling is straightforward. Unusual spellings (in this case, Greek) waste volunteer time because they quickly get corrupted.   
=========
I'm willing to contribute my time, but but I resent people who waste it.