The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #165625 Message #3975301
Posted By: Tootler
07-Feb-19 - 10:24 AM
Thread Name: Playing at speed
Subject: RE: Playing at speed
Actually, Dick I checked the fiddler's tempo some years ago and checked it again just now. He taps his foot at an almost metronomic 60bpm. (The "tap in" on my electronic metronome varied between 58 & 60) He'll be tapping minims and that equates to crotchet=120.
That clip shows two things to me
1. Effective dance music does not have to be all that fast.
2. Elaborate ornamentation is not necessary to effective playing of traditional tunes. The fiddler does ornament but he uses it sparingly and is all the more effective for it.
Traditional Irish music has gained a reputation for being played at breakneck speed and I suggest some reasons for it.
* Recordings by professional bands, particularly in the 60s & 70s. Albums were often a mix of songs with instrumental pieces thrown in and these were often jigs or reels played at silly tempo. Irish bands weren't the only ones guilty. I have a couple of albums by Capercaillie who play reels at silly tempo and The same was often true of Fairport and Steeleye Span.
* "Irish Music" seems to be played by many people who aren't Irish who didn't grow up with the music and who will likely have first been exposed to it from these recordings and think that's the proper tempo.
* A few years ago, I saw a clip (probably on You Tube) of some Donegal fiddlers discussing trends in their music. One of the comments that was made is that traditional Irish music has become detached from its original function as dance music and that, as a result too many people play it too quickly.