Reviews Does your branch or club have a new book which you would like reviewed? If you teach a class and are interested in reviewing books from a teaching point of view, please be in touch mag.editor@rscds.org
After the Rain: A Collection of Scottish Country Dances. Published by RSCDS Belfast Branch. Belfast Branch have a very good pedigree when it comes to books of dances, having published three books previously, so I was delighted to be asked to review their latest book After the Rain produced during the Covid pandemic. The book was funded by the Arts Council for Northern Island and the Ulster-Scots Agency, through the Ulster-Scots Community Network. The Branch was approached in the midst of the pandemic by the USCN who suggested that if they wanted to consider any project which would help them connect with their membership, and help to keep Scottish country dancing alive, then they would consider sponsoring such a venture. One of the branch members, Patricia Sides from the Castlereagh class, had already devised a dance for lockdown which could be danced either individually at home or in a set. This dance sowed the seeds for a proposal and the result was this book which is a free publication. Hard copies can be obtained with package and postage costs only, pdf copies by email from secretary@ rscdsbelfast.org.
The Well Tuned Piano, Piano Music for Scottish Country Dancing with Don Bartlett Back in the days of vinyl, I acquired an LP by a Canadian band, Don Bartlett and the Scotians Play Favourites. It was a thoroughly good listen and became one of my most used LPs. In 2019, when I was a depute director at Summer School in St Andrews, I was delighted to discover that Don was on the staff, and I had the great pleasure of working with him on the Younger Hall demonstration in Week 4. He chose excellent music, including some of his own compositions, for our set of dances, of which only one had an original tune. He was a real member of the team and his interaction with them was much appreciated by its members. Don has been using his time wisely over lockdown, and had produced a solo CD, a real toe-tapper. Several of the tunes he used for the above-mentioned demonstration reappear, and it is a genuine pleasure to hear them again.
I particularly like the title After the Rain which I think really captures the spirit of this book of dances. There are 10 new dances all written by members of the branch with some being written during lockdown with suitable titles. All the dances are accompanied with music, with most of the tunes being original and some written specifically for the named dance. The first dance in the book, The Lock-in Dance a 4 x 32 bar jig, which inspired the idea for the book, was specifically written for dancing in lockdown and was devised with a teddy bear as a partner. How many people can remember dancing with a cuddly toy for a partner during lockdown? I certainly can, mine was a koala! This is a great little dance with a super tune written specifically for it by Nicky McMichan.
Don’s tempo is excellent throughout, and his playing has great lift and drive as his fingers dance over the keys. It really makes you want to be up dancing. All the arrangements on the CD are his own, some of which he has been playing since he started accompanying country dancing in the 1960s and some more recent. He includes no fewer than 19 of his own compositions, but also a range of traditional and familiar melodies, many by weel-kent names like Niel and Nathaniel Gow, James Scott Skinner and others - some sets are all his own tunes, some all traditional, and some a mixture. A particular favourite from among his own compositions is St Anne’s Cathedral, on track 12, which Don also chose as an alternative for the strathspey in the 2019 demonstration.
The more times I read through this book, the more impressed I am at the variety and diversity of the dances. This is a book for all levels of dancer, none of them is particularly difficult although they are not all suitable for less experienced dancers. The music is also very good and the tunes seem well suited to the dances. I thoroughly enjoyed playing all of them. One observation on the tunes: it is interesting to note that all the strathspeys are pastorals, maybe this is a modern trend? I cannot single out any one dance or tune as a highlight as they all look wonderful, and I will be trying out every single one of the dances as soon as I can.
The CD is also available as a download, but this does not include the booklet, which, in addition to interesting snippets of information about each dance, contains the instructions for four dances not published elsewhere. Copies of the CD are available from TACsound here: https://sound.tac-rscds.org/. Don is happy to make sheet music for any of his compositions available to musicians, only asking that, if the tune is recorded, he should be credited as the composer, and that he should be sent a copy of the recording. Contact Don at don.bartlett@ veritrack.ca.
David Queen, Ribble Valley Branch
Anne Robertson, Oban and Lorn/Glasgow branch
www.rscds.org
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