7: The Cherping of the Nightingall |
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longways for 6 or 8 |
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mms pages 10 and 11 |
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Playford
version: from 1st edition to 8th edition. |
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Music: |
Chirping of the Nightingale
- Mr Playford's Dancing Master, by the Lauten Company |
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Verse, Part A |
1: |
Lead up [a double] |
2: |
[Fall back a double] |
3-4: |
Lead up [a double and fall
back a double] again |
Verse, Part B |
1-2: |
Set [and turn left] |
3-4: |
Set [and turn right] |
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Because this dance can be
done with 3 couples or 4, the choreography has to change to fit with the
music. Fortunately, this dance only
has one figure, so I will give the different steps separately by couples: |
Chorus A, if 3
couples |
1: |
Man 1 sets to his partner |
2: |
Man 1 sets to woman 2 |
3-4: |
Man 1 turns woman 3 all the
way around |
Chorus B, if 3
couples |
1-2: |
Man 1 leads woman 3 up to
the top softly/slowly |
3-4: |
Man 1 turns woman 3 all the
way around again, and puts her in woman 1's place, with the other two
slipping down a spot. |
Chorus A, if 4
couples |
1: |
Man 1 sets to his partner |
2-4: |
Man 1 turns woman 3 all the
way around |
Chorus B, if 4
couples |
1-3: |
Man 1 turns woman 4 all the
way around |
4: |
Man 1 leads woman 4 up
"as fast as he can" and puts her in woman 1's place, with the other
three slipping down a spot. |
Continuation: |
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The dance will continue in
the same pattern, leading up twice and setting twice, then doing the
appropriate version of the chorus for the number of couples, until the lead
man fetches his original partner again. |
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It seems, according to
"and the rest may doe the like if they please", that it is possible
for the dance to continue beyond that point by changing out the lead man
(perhaps in the next "lead up" bit). |
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Comparison to
the Playford version (1st to 8th editions) |
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Once again, same name (or
part of name, as per Tenn Pounde/Ten Pound Lass), totally different
dance. Playford's Nightingale is a
round dance with a single progressive "dance with" figure, |
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in which the first couple
will dance the figure with every other person in the dance individually (i.e.
first the next man, then the next woman, then the next man, etc). The intro figure isn't even the same -
there are no sets (with or without turns) anywhere! |
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Beyond the name and the
progressive nature of the dance, these aren't similar at all. |
Conclusions: |
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While the choreography of
the dances don’t match, there is probably a reason they have the same name -
i.e. the music. |
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The structure of the music
out of Playford has an A part of 8 beats total, and a B part of 16 beats
total. To fit that to the above
choreography, it would end up being ((AAAABB)x(3 or 4 depending on the number
of couples))x(the number of lead men desired (1, or 1 for each couple). |
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It's pretty obvious that the
musicians for this music were expected to be flexible and capable, so while
that's a pretty complex musical formula, it wouldn't likely be beyond their
abilities. |
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