More from Green Ginger!

A few months ago I noted that the UK dance band Green Ginger had begun making extended tracks of some of their country dance tunes so that they would have a repeat structure useful for historical sets and progressions, which require specific numbers of repeats for specific lengths of sets, as described in detail here.  Most notably, six or twelve repeats are useful for three- or four-couple sets.  Seven repeats, which I gather are frequently used for modern-style country dancing, are not useful for much of anything, historically speaking.  

Since I generally teach to recordings and therefore have a bottomless appetite for new music that I do not have to wrestle with music editing software to make useful, I am delighted to discover that they have continued the project, and have recently made some new tracks available.

I do not plan to make a habit of posting every time Green Ginger puts out something new, but I will create a "mothership" post here for their country dance tracks and update it as new music comes out.  

I am only listing tracks which (1) are tunes for country dances, (2) have the correct number of repeats for some length of set, and (3) are individually downloadable.  I recommend exploring their online shop in full for music that does not fit all three of those criteria.

Here is the list, with direct links, of the tunes they currently (June 2, 2016) have available.  Downloads are £0.79 each.  I have organized the list historical-style, by the length of the tune as recorded, further breaking it down by number of repeats (six or twelve).  Note that some tunes are available in both six- and twelve-repeat versions!  

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Twenty-four bars, twelve times through

• "The Waterloo Dance" (reel)
• "Lord Dalkeith’s Reel" (reel)
  
  

Thirty-two bars, six times through

• "Lord Lotherdale Favorite" (jig)
• "Orpheus and Eurydice" (jig)
• "Money in Both Pockets" (jig)
• "Lady Catherine Stewart’s Fancy" (reel)
  
  

Thirty-two bars, twelve times through

• "The College Hornpipe" (hornpipe)
• "Bonaparte in a Knapsack" (jig)
• "The Young Widow" (jig)
• "The Sailor's Reprieve" (iig)
• "Lord Lotherdale Favorite (jig)
• "Orpheus and Eurydice" (jig)
• "The Oldenburgh Bonnet" (reel)

Forty-eight bars, six times through

• "Morgan Rattler" (jig)
• "The Muff" (reel)
  
  

Sixty-four bars, six times through

• "Cupid in Armour" (waltz)

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Of particular interest to those who prefer to work with primary source material, most of the tunes have a page with one or more of the following:

(1) a transcription of a set of figures printed with them
(2) a modern interpretation of the figures or a link to one
(3) the name of the source of the music and figures
(4) a link to the original source, if it is online

I have not checked the modern interpretations (and don't plan to), but in general, one should be very careful with modern versions, since such they are often adapted to fit modern tastes.

The mandatory historical note:

If it is not obvious from my phrasing, the figures given are not "a dance by this name"; the name belongs to the tune.  The figures could be used with different dances, or the tune with different figures, which is what makes these recordings so wonderfully useful.  I've written about this topic extensively in the past, and will not do so in detail here, but for one quick example, the figures set to "Orpheus and Eurydice" in Green Ginger's source were:

The 1st and 2nd Cus: set & right hands across – Left hands back again – Lead down the middle & back again – Hands 6 once round.

The same figures appear in other manuals attached to tunes including "Gushendall Bay", "Cupid's Bow", "Miss Cazalet's Fancy", "Morris's Whim", "Lock and Key", "Champignon", and "La Fricassee Dance", as recorded in the Dance Figures in England database.  I could probably find other instances as well just by flipping through my own collection.  This is typical for dance figures of this era.

If you want to know more about the historic interchangeability of tunes and dances, please see my earlier posts "Dancing to Mutual Love" and "Dancing to Wakefield Hunt" for detailed discussion and specific examples.

I hope other teachers and groups using historical dance practices will support Green Ginger and encourage the production of more music by buying these tracks and helping further spread the word!

Please note: I do not get any kickback or other benefit from anyone's purchasing music from Green Ginger.  I don't even get the tracks for free.  My only interest here is to have more music that works for historical country dancing!