Music Used For Irish Dance

Here is my take on the connection between Irish Dance and the music it is danced to. I have divided it into five parts: A short introduction to music theory, Tempo, Types of music and the dances they are used for, Set Dances and Instruments. I am greatly indebted to the contributors and editors of Wikipedia, The Sessions, A Fiddler's Guide, Tcrgexam.9k.com and all of you DDN'ers who helped me by answering my questions related to the creation of this post and encouraging me to actually create it. A list of the various dances.

A short introduction to music theory

Music notation is a system which is used to represents aurally perceived music in writing. It is done by writing down the notes and rhythms in the music by using symbols. In Western music notation tunes are written down according to a set of rules, which is what this first chapter is all about. The notes are what make up the melody heard in a piece of music, they have qualities like pitch and lenght - each length has a different appearance in writing. These notes are written in a system of 5 horizontal parallel lines (known as a staff).

A tune is divided up into bars (also known as measures), these divide the tune into regular groups of beats. How many beats are in a group is defined by the type of music in question, something known as time signature. Bars are noted in writing by drawing a line perpendicular to the staff.

In standard Western notation, pitches are represented on the vertical axis and time is represented by notation symbols on the horizontal axis.'1 The notes are placed on the lines of the staff according to their pitch, higher position on the line signifies higher pitch. I will include a couple of examples of notes to demonstrate their function in a bar. All of the following definitions are for a 4/4 time signature (for example reel). The 'easiest' note of all is a whole note, it lasts for 4 beats and fills up a bar of e.g. reel all by itself.

A half note last for two beats, in reel where we are allowed four beats per bar (hence the name 4/4) two half notes would fit in a bar.

A quarter note takes up one beat and in reel we can accommodate four quarter notes in one bar.

An eight note takes up half a beat (1/8 of the bar in a reel) and it would take eight eight notes to fill up a bar of reel.