Do any of you play for formal or informal occasions where irish social dancing, ceili or sets, is a part of the eveing’s activities?
I’m not interested in step dancing - that’s a different kettle of fish.
I’ve been doing it a lot recently and found it no end of help for locking down certain sets of tunes and for building stamina.
We barely have musicians here, let alone dancers. I did get to play for some dancers about a year ago, but that was out of state. Great fun, though!
Hi Pat
I play for both ceili and set dancers on an almost regular basis (whistle, bodhran and now some flute), and you are right. It does indeed promote stamina and a very good steady beat, depending on the dance type. Or the dancers will let you know that it was to fast or to slow.
And you really learn your tunes and sets of tunes for each dance! No better way than to learn ITM dance music.
MarkB
It’s a bit odd, perhaps, but I’ve found it easier to put together sets on the fly when I’m soloing than when there are other musicians on board as well.
Playing for dancers IS great for stamina and rhythm.
Would playing solo pipes for an evening of dancing be a test of some sort. I often think of the travelling pipers and the high standards they must have reached in meeting the demands of their rural clientelle. “Missed a beat there … kill the bloody bugger!”
Regards
bl
A few times a year I play my pipes with my band for both set dances, and for Irish country dances (which go on and on). The set dances, the caller (or instructor) gives me the number of bars he wants exactly (ends up being about 3 and 1/2 times, or 5 times through the same tune). The other dances, we usually have a set of three reels or jigs to play together for about 10 minutes p/dance, to relieve the boredom. I find pipes easier for the endurance than a fiddle. I’ll admit I tend to lean in on the bag a little, and play the chanter with the bellows (a little 
), and open the reed a little. I normally practice with the bag just under full…which can make the arm tired after a while. Not so during long dance sets though.
I play quite frequently for step dancers at The Field pub here in San Diego as a substitute member of the band “Cobblestone”, and occasionally for ceili and contra dances. Playing for step dancers is quite challenging as the tempos have to be extremely precise and the reels are played quite fast. I’ve only in the past year been able to play reels at dance speed on the pipes, generally stick to the whistle, flute, or tenor banjo.
Here’s a handy guide to tempos when playing with step dancers:
http://members.cox.net/eskin/dancers.html
Cheers,
Michael
I love playing for dancers, and used to do it quite freqently when I was living in Guelph and Toronto. There is nothing better for stamina than playing for good set dancers/and or with a dance caller who knows what they are doing (Maureen Mulvay in TO is great).
My hubby plays piano, and he could judge how well the dance had gone based on how sore his arms were at the end of the night.
My daughter step dances at Novice level, trying to break into Prizewinner. I’m definitely not there yet on the pipes, but I have played jigs for her to dance to on the whistle.
I’m not able to play at that speed for reels yet, and regarding my jigs, her comment was “it’s still too slow Dad!”
-gary
I’m not talking about step dancing - I hate playing for step dancers. There are a lot of reasons why and I don’t want to go into them here.
Let’s just say they’re better off with canned music.
I mean ceili and set dancing.
Playing for ceili and set dancers is not so much about speed as it is about steadiness - yes you have to be able to achieve and sustain a fast pace, but it’s all wasted unless you are steady, ie you start and finish the set of tunes at the same pace, with no wavering. Every note should be given its full value -not more not less. Harder than it sounds and it will help to make you a better player.
I have played for contra dancers, but after the first dance I played for, I don’t plau pipes. I still can’t go for 20 minutes at a time on the them, so I just play whistle.
2 - 3 part tunes 3 times through on the pipes is enough wear me out.
Yeah, Pat, céilíocha (céilíthe? Okay, céilís, then) are a workout. It took some pleading to convince one of our dance hosts to have the dancers do the longer sets first off in the evening; she hadn’t considered that musicians actually wear out!