The accordion leads the melody with accompaniment. The accordion is a prominent feature of the Scottish dance band which also includes fiddle, piano and drums.
What instruments are used in a Scottish dance band?
When you listen to Scottish Country Dance music you will most probably hear a fiddle, accordion, piano, percussion and perhaps a bagpipe, as this is standard instrumentation for a Scottish Country Dance Band (maybe not always the bagpipe).
What instruments are played in Scottish music?
Instruments
- Accordion.
- Bagpipes.
- Fiddle.
- Guitar.
- Harp.
- Tin whistle.
- Bodhrán.
What instrument is unique to Scottish music?
Highland Bagpipes
Highland Bagpipes
Bagpipes are the National Instrument of Scotland.
What are the key characteristics of Scottish music?
Traditional Scottish music sees instruments such as bagpipes, border pipes and small pipes, piano accordion, cello and the grand piano. However, each region seems to bring some difference to Scottish music in general. The Orkney and Shetland Isles sing English songs and play the fiddle quite frequently.
What instruments are used in Highland dancing?
Many of the traditional dances are danced to Scottish bagpipe tunes played on the Great Highland Bagpipe. Dances may also be performed to other tunes (often Celtic in origin) played on instruments such as Scottish smallpipes, Uilleann pipes, fiddle, bodhran, accordion, and many others.
How is Scottish dance set?
A Scot’s ‘set’ is often their signature dance. Practice your set or pas de basque, aiming to travel sideways more that up and down. In a figure of eight your hands should be held loosely behind your back and you should clearly indicate your direction of movement by angling your shoulders.
What is Scottish dance music?
The music of strathspeys, jigs, reels, waltzes, polkas, and hornpipes all play a significant part in Scottish country dancing.
What is a Scottish dance called?
Ceilidh Dance
A ceilidh is a Scottish social event which involves traditional folk music and dancing. The ceilidh dances, also known as the barn dance, can be done in couples, or sets of three, four, six or eight people. Usually, the dances are explained by a dancer-caller that shows everyone the moves.
What is a typical Scottish dance?
Scottish traditional dance can broadly be described as four different styles, with some techniques, moves, footwork and patterns common to all: Ceilidh dancing, Highland dancing, Scottish country dancing & Step dance.
What are Scottish flutes called?
The fife is a diatonically tuned instrument commonly consisting of a tube with 6 finger holes and an embouchure hole that produces sound when blown across. Modern versions of the fife are chromatic, having 10 or 11 finger holes that allow any note to be played.
Are flutes Scottish?
Flutes were made in Scotland in the first half of the century.
What is traditional Scottish music called?
folk music
Scotland is a country with many traditions, such as Celtic music, also known as folk music. Some of the instruments played in Scottish traditional music are quite unusual, but Scottish music has influenced many different types of music around the world.
What are the characteristics of Scottish dance?
Basic description of Highland dancing
Highland dancing is a form of solo step dancing, from which it evolved, but while some forms of step dancing are purely percussive in nature, Highland dancing involves not only a combination of steps but also some integral upper body, arm, and hand movements.
What music is used for highland dancing?
Dancers today typically dance to traditional Scottish music such as Strathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes and Jigs all played by an accompanying bagpiper.
Why is the Scottish accent so attractive?
The beauty of the Scottish accent is that it sounds exactly like the motherland looks: the sometimes-gently sometimes-harshly rolling Rs like the sometimes-smooth sometimes-jagged hills of the Highlands, or the icy flatness of the vowels like the pallid waters of Loch Ness.
What are the names of the 5 Scottish dances?
Scottish dances
- strathspey.
- reel.
- jig.
- waltz.
Why do highland dancers dance over swords?
The Sword Dance
Tradition says that Ghillie Callum defeated a rival clan chief and afterwards he took his sword and crossed it with the sword of the defeated chieftain and danced around them in order to celebrate his victory in battle. The sword dance became a tradition among the Highland warriors.
Do men do Scottish dancing?
In addition, over the years Highland dancing has moved from being an exclusively male pursuit, to one that today includes more than 95% of female dancers.
What shoes do Scottish dancers wear?
Types of Footwear
The type of footwear required for Scottish Country Dancing differs for men and women. Men wear ghillies or ghilli-brogues. Ladies wear either “unblocked ballet flats” or “pumps”. These shoes are made from very lightweight leather with no heel or arch support.
What is the most popular Scottish dance?
Ceilidh dancing has derived from the Old Time dances and couple dances that found their way onto the Scottish dance floor in the 19th century. The names of many of the common Ceilidh dances may well be familiar to you, such as The Dashing White Sergeant and The Gay Gordons.