Fast Rappers

[hais1273]

This was stumbled on in the Melodeon Forum.


I enjoyed this clip immensely. It has a PA, a diatonic and Best Bitter ( I hope) driven blokey dancing! :b

 

[george garside]

there are lots of rapper dance vids on you tube and all worth a look! Rapper was , I understand, originally danced to a single fiddle. When I played regulary for rapper I preferred to be the only musician rather than having a 'band' as a sole player can more readily adjust as necessary to the feet of the dancers and to me multiple musicians can sound a bit mushy and lose the cutting edge of a single instrument.

The box I used was a one voice castagnari Lilly which played at speed without bass was probably the nearest you could get a box to sound like a single fiddle! The tunes are mainly 6/8 jigs played very much on the fast side to fit in with the intricate footwork of the dancers. Tunes like roaring jelly , pet of the pipers, athol highlanders, all worked well.

On a big box I would suggest using no more than 2 voices , no bass! and keeping the bellwos no more than 9'' open to make it easy to emphasize single notes here and there

george

 

[JerryPH]

Wow, that was fun to watch, thanks for sharing... a real toe tapper!!

 

[hais1273]

Thanks for the info about playing for rapper dance, we don't see too much of it on the South Coast, but we did have a ladies rapper team/side dance at a large Morris convention/rally here in Shoreham a couple of years ago. (Organised by Sompting Village Morris) They just had a fiddle player, she was very good indeed. Did she drive the dance or did the dancers drive the player, or a subtle mix of the two?

 

[george garside]

see the sword dance union for location of some , but maybe not all, rapper sides. On south coast there is RX womens rapper at hastings and Dorset buttons mens rapper aat wareham. there is of course plenty at sidmouth folk festival and other festivals.

other websites are the morris ring and open morris.

Anybody interested in dancing or playing for rapper will usually be made very welcome

george

 

[Anyanka]

Nice one! Thats rather nifty playing by the two boxes there. I cant see much of a problem with having more than one musician when they synchronise that well.

[...] we did have a ladies rapper team/side dance at a large Morris convention/rally here in Shoreham a couple of years ago. (Organised by Sompting Village Morris) They just had a fiddle player, she was very good indeed. Did she drive the dance or did the dancers drive the player, or a subtle mix of the two?

I remember that rapper side (we (Rampant Rooster) had a dance spot with them), they were fabulous. Sompting Ales are among my very favourite Morris occasions!

 

[george garside]

Nice one! Thats rather nifty playing by the two boxes there. I cant see much of a problem with having more than one musician when they synchronise that well.

[...] we did have a ladies rapper team/side dance at a large Morris convention/rally here in Shoreham a couple of years ago. (Organised by Sompting Village Morris) They just had a fiddle player, she was very good indeed. Did she drive the dance or did the dancers drive the player, or a subtle mix of the two?

I remember that rapper side (we (Rampant Rooster) had a dance spot with them), they were fabulous. Sompting Ales are among my very favourite Morris occasions!

I did say that a single musician was my personal preference !. I am well aware that some rapper sides have multiple musicians and who very well together, the essential ingredient being that they practice together and keep to a well honed repertoire. What does not work well is other musicians joining in on the day as often happens at gathereings north west, Cotswold and border at morris gatherings , sometimes beneficially and sometimes not!

george

 

[TomBR]

Same with playing for step-clog, single musician is preferred. "One would like to think" that the precision of the dance is matched by precision of the music, and that you can get a two-way flow between musicians and dancers, as hais suggested. Having done a lot of playing for step clog, I'd also like to think that it's possible for the musician to make the dancer appear better than they might actually be.

 

[george garside]

Sir Jimmy shand put it very succinctly when he said watch the feet of the dancers and it sort of comes back to you''

george

 

[hais1273]

Thanks, for the info again. We saw Dorset Buttons over at Worthing awhile ago. I have a feeling they only had a fiddle player but I might have mis-remebered as it was a while ago.

 

[george garside]

. Having done a lot of playing for step clog, Id also like to think that its possible for the musician to make the dancer appear better than they might actually be.

all part of the art of turning shit into milk chocolate! But seriously playing for rapper clearly demonstrates the point that the rhythm must bbe inherent in the way the melody is played - fiddles dont have any bass!

george :evil:

 

[hais1273]

George, that's exactly the point I try to make at the Folk Dance Band I sometimes play with! Without some sense of rhythmic feeling the dance tune is only a pretty melody. My wife went to "rehearsal" yesterday and came back eyes rolling and sighing heavily because of the lack of feeling and the same problems as the last time! In this case milk chocolate into turds!! She only goes because of the playing out experience. I, however had a grand time at work explaining the mysteries of roundabouts and dual carriageways, to a charming young lady over at Worthing!

 

[george garside]

I think part of the problem, particularly with 'ad hoc' bands eg anybody can join in, is that particularly with bass/treble instruments such as accordions and melodeons everybody bashes away on the bass but not necessarily with the same precision! I personally prefer to keep the melody to no more than two instuments eg box & fiddle and have a good percussion or 'dunt' section eg drum of some sort, bass guitar and keyboard/piano or 2nd box both of the latter pair playing chords with both hands and keeping at the lower end of the keyboard as far as possible. For a simple 3 piece box/fiddle /drum, bass guitar or keyboard does fine.

Ad hock collections of ? musicians is fine in a session but there is nothing worse than a ?band that has not practiced and honed their efforts to as near spot on as possible. Any newcomers , and weve all got to start somewhere, can be accommodated sitting at the back and playing quietly well out of any amplifications way.