Madam Frederick!

[Ptarmigan]

Madam Frederick!
.
A traditional Scottish Slow Strathspey composed by William Marshall & first published in 1797.

I learned it from the playing of James F Dickie of New Deer, the 'Master of the Strathspey'.
Played on English Concertina and Fiddle.
Lockdown Video #721

 

Cheers,

Dick

 

 

 

[Roger Hare]

Thanks for that! I'm a great  admirer of William Marshall's music. This is played rather slowly, but I've seen instructions on ABC transcriptions 'Slowly unless danced'. Is it acceptable to play it a bit quicker then?

[Ptarmigan]

37 minutes ago, Roger Hare said:

Thanks for that! I'm a great  admirer of William Marshall's music. This is played rather slowly, but I've seen instructions on ABC transcriptions 'Slowly unless danced'. Is it acceptable to play it a bit quicker then?

 

Hi Roger,

 

The fact is, Slow Strathspeys are never danced to. Technically, they're always played much more slowly than regular Strathspeys, but at the same time, they're not Slow Airs.

 

If you want to hear an expert playing & talking about the Art of the Slow Strathspey, you might like to check out this video by Paul Anderson. - The Slow Strathspey

 

Cheers,

Dick

 

P.S. Here's a fine example of a Slow Strathspey.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2024 by Ptarmigan

[Roger Hare]

20 hours ago, Ptarmigan said:

The fact is, Slow Strathspeys are never danced to. Technically, they're always played much more slowly than regular Strathspeys, but at the same time, they're not Slow Airs.

 

If you want to hear an expert playing & talking about the Art of the Slow Strathspey, you might like to check out this video by Paul Anderson. - The Slow Strathspey,...

Thank you very much! I have roughly a dozen of these 'slow when not danced' annotations in my collection of ABCs, and they've always left me a bit puzzled - wondering whether they are played at the gallop for a dance, and slowly otherwise, which, as an idea, somehow didn't 'feel' right. That clarifies it! (Later edit: I should perhaps say that those annotations are all in Strathspeys by William Marshall, and that I don't know whether they were in the original (printed?) score, or were additions by the original ABC transcriber - that's why I'm in such a quandary...)

 

I'll have a look at that Paul Anderson video later. Thanks again!

Edited May 7, 2024 by Roger Hare