Klarinet Archive - Posting 000175.txt from 2006/10

From: Wayne Thompson <wthompson222@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Greek Clarinet Music
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:47:47 -0400

List,
It seems that someone out there must have much
experience than I, but aside from Fred Jacobowitz, no
one else seems to be speaking from experience. Well,
I have danced the Syrtos about a million times in
recreational dance situations, and it has never been
clear to me what the meter is. It is a
'slow-quick-quick' dance step. Is it closer to 3-2-2
or 4-2-2 (i.e. 2-1-1) or something in between? I bet
that if you went to Los Angeles and hired a Greek band
for a wedding you would still find the musicians to be
working from an aural tradition. I have heard that a
hundred years ago when Middle European folk dances
were getting written down by musicologists, the meters
as played by the musicians did not always fit neatly
into the western systems used to record them. Is this
discussion an example of this? Or maybe in the
villages the meter varied slightly from town to town,
tradition to tradition, or tune to tune. Is this
possible from your point of view, Fred?

I'm about to drive down the hill to Bakersfield. I'll
take a CD of Greek dances and see if I can work it out
better as I drive. :)

Wayne Thompson

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