Does anyone out there play contra music, or does everyone here pretty much play Irish trad?
I play contra music. . .spent a fairly happy Saturday with the leg propped up, sitting in my garden playing from the Portland collection. My hardest thing was that I was playing recorder for this music for years, and had to unlearn all the fingering and such. I still run into tunes that my brain says I know, but my fingers trip up on the old fingering.
What is contra music and how is it different from ‘whistle music’?
On 2002-04-29 16:15, avanutria wrote:
What is contra music and how is it different from ‘whistle music’?
It is music played for contra dances that is drawn from a variety of sources (Irish, Scottish, American, Swedish). The ornamentation and treatment of tunes is different than Irish. I don’t know enough to wax eloquent on the precise differences but I know that when I hear an Irish tune “contra-ized” on a fiddle it leaves me wanting. Somehow, to my ear, it makes the tunes seem bland compared to the Irish treatment.
Cheers,
David
P.S. I should add that I don’t mean to totally dis contra music. There are some good tunes to be found in the contra repetoire and I know many fine contra musicians. Mostly fiddlers.
[ This Message was edited by: Feadan on 2002-04-29 16:39 ]
Warning…long, possibly boring post about my favorite sport. . .
Contradancing is a New England form of dancing that is very similar to many other community dance forms.
Couples stand in long lines across (contrary) to each other. In a ‘proper’ dance the gents are all in one line and the ladies in the other, but many…most of the modern dances are ‘improper’, that is every other couple cross over before the dance begins, so each of the lines is MFMFMFMFMF…
okay, the figures are danced with two couples, the couple that is closest to the band is called the ‘number one couple’ and the next down is the ‘number two couple’. In the older dances primarily, most of the dancing is done by the #1s, so they’re also called the ‘active’ couple. So each contra line (consisting of two lines facing each other) is numbered 1212121212…
During each pass through the dance, the number 1 couples move down the line, and number 2 couples move up the line, so you’re constantly dancing with a new couple. When you are a #2 and you get to the top of the line, you wait out one turn of the dance, then plunge back in as #1. Likewise, #1’s who eventually end up at the bottom of the line, wait out one pass then come back in as #2.
The figures that get you where you’re going are all very similar to what you may know as square dance figures: balance and swing, ladies chain, do-si-do, star left and right, etc. Each takes eight beats. At most contras, they start with beginners stuff, then start throwing in dances with more complicated figures, such as the infamous hey-for-four which loses most beginners until they’re very well seasoned, or ‘contra corners’ which baffles even intermediate dancers because you dance ‘outside the set’…that is at some point you have to dance with you’re neighbor’s #2 couple as well as your own #2.
Example of one of my favorite dances: Chorus Jig: Number One couples down the outside(of the line, come back, meet your partner and go down the inside, turn alone and come back up. #2 partners assist you around. Balance in the center, and pull through for contra corners (right hand turn with the inactive, left to your partner, right hand turn with the other inactive) balance and swing with your partner, then back to the beginning, doing it all again with the next couple down the line.
Nearly every dance is taught at a walk, then ‘called’ at least 3 times through the dance until the caller has it figured that the dancers have it together. He or she may watch and return to calling if things start falling apart. Some dances are called almost all the way through.
But being that this was New England, the dancing is far more sedate than what I’ve seen in Irish sets. This isn’t to say that you don’t work up a sweat, but its usually at 112 to 124 bpm.
I have heard some rollicking good contra music, including one caller who, when she stopped with calling picked up a clarinet and put a wicked good slant on the music. Just as you’re going to get inspirational players and pedestrian players with Irish session music, you’re going to get the same range with contra or any other music. Many, many of the tunes are basically the same as in the Irish tradition (I learned Kesh, Morrison’s, Chorus, Atholl Highlanders, Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies and many others first as contra music) but there isn’t a call for being clever with the ornamentation, and much of it isn’t played highly embellished. Its meant to be danced to, so the beat must be clear and strong, speeding up at the appropriate time once the dancers are warmed, and transitions between tunes in a set must be absolutely on the beat.
The Irish and Scottish tunes tend to be Americanized in that there isn’t a tendancy to have what I think of as bridging notes between one go-through of a tune and the next…that run-on sense that I get in an Irish session when you wonder where the whistler/flautist is breathing. Many triads are abbreviated, you don’t have as much in the way of accidentals or bends. There are also tunes that have more of a bluegrass, country swing feel and sound.
Beginners are always welcome, and tradition has it that even if you do come with someone, you circulate and dance with other people as your partner as well, so singletons are the norm. During a contra you will probably also have a few squares called, maybe a circle or two, and at the break there is often a few waltzes, and maybe something like a hambo or schottishe, or even zydeco.
It comes to mind that it will be a long, long time before I’m able to handle a balance and swing on my bum leg.
for anyone who lasted this long through the post, please think of me on Tuesday. This cast comes off off off, and I’m hoping that the next is for walking! Whoo hooo!
Tyghress
…And I go on, pursuing through the hours,
Another tiger, the one not found in verse.
Jorge Luis Borges
[ This Message was edited by: tyghress on 2002-04-29 18:49 ]
I’m afraid I don’t really play any true New England Contra tunes, but I do have the dubious distinction of having grown up in Nelson, NH, the unofficial Contra-Dance capital of the universe. We’ve had contra dances in the town hall every Monday night for as long as anyone can remember… Nelson is sort of the Mecca for devotees of the dance and the music. I can’t claim to be a very good dancer, but I enjoy it a lot and occasionally I take the stage to play a set or two of Irish tunes for the dancers. I’d like to learn the New England and Cape Breton fiddle music popular for Contra Dancing, but a lot of it is in keys that are not so friendly to the flute or whistle. Anyways, if anyone is ever in the NH vacinity and wants to go dancing get in touch with me beforehand and we’ll have some fun. It’s just a short walk up a dirt road from my house and you’re there.
Chris
Tyghress, that was a great explanationtutorial. The band I play the most whistle with is a contra dance band that plays for the monthly dances here in Lincoln. We do play primarily old time and bluegrass style but thanks to me and the lead fiddle we are bringing more and more Irish into the mix. A good reel like Cooley’s really gets the dancers going.
If any of you would like to improve your ability to keep a steady beat I highly recommend playing for dancers. It really forces you to pay attention to what you’re doing rhythmically. We play for the semi-annual ceilli as well which really brings up the speed. If you’re ever nearby the first saturday of the month give me a email and stop by the dance!
Mark V.
I definately agree with you, tyghress, that contra dancing is the best dancing there is… When you play for dances, do you tend to add lots of ornaments or play harmony at all? I always get so jealous of the fiddle players because they can play all these wonderful harmonies… I never feel like I can, because I’m just a lowly whistle player.
Just so you guys don’t get too Eastcoast-centric: Contradanzas were a big part of California Spanish music prior to Gold Rush days and are found through most of Latin America. We do the same steps but in sombreros, boots etc etc. Our historical reenactment groups do em and I have presented them at school assemblies here (we get the kids to learn the fiddle tunes and teach others the dance).
Same tunes as well are used with different names. I had corresponded with Peter Laban about the Varsovianna, a popular Rancho-era dance for kids. They call it Shoe the Donkey in Ireland and Put Yer Little Foot Right Here in elementary schools. that one came from Poland. I can’t remember where contradances started: Spain or Italy??
But I had no idea they were so big back there! Never seen that in East Coast characterizations on media etc…Sounds like you polka west of great lakes and contradance east??
[ This Message was edited by: The Weekenders on 2002-04-30 17:42 ]
Well, there’s a pretty solid contra dance community here in Northern Colorado. You could go to a dance just about every friday and saturday night within an hours drive of Boulder.
- Joel
There is a lot of Contra dancing available in the Washington-Baltimore area.
You can check it out at the following.
- The](http://www.bfms.org/index.html%3EThe) Baltimore Folk Music Society
- Folklore](http://www.fsgw.org/%3EFolklore) Society of Greater Washington
- Annapolis](http://www.w4c.com/dance/atds/%3EAnnapolis) Traditional Dance Society
- The](http://www.cdss.org/%3EThe) Country Dance And Song Society is an umbrella organization for many of the local contra dance societies on a national level.
Contra dance is part of how I got interested in Irish music. I was playing in BFMS’s Open Band on a regular basis a few years ago and found the the tunes I liked most were Irish. So I subsequently starting looking into available Irish music sources and discovered the wonderful world of Irish sessions.
Playing for the dancers put me in touch with the dance component of the music. At its heart I always felt it was a traditional folk approach to community, just folks getting togeather to have fun.
My interest in Irish music began with Australian bush music and dancing.Although not strictly contra dancing,it was pretty similar and the band I played guitar with(didnt play whistle OR fiddle back then unfortunately) were primarily a bush dance band.A few weeks ago I was invited to play fiddle with what is probably Viennas only bush dance band and it was a lot of fun doing the drongo,strip the willow,waves of tory,heel and toe polka and other fun dances and I,ll have a chance to do it again at the end of May with a 2nd fiddler so I get to play whistle as well on some tunes.
peace,Mike