Re: Freilekhs or Bulgar?

[Mattflight <Mattflight...>]

Lori of Maxwell St. stated;
>To make matters more confusing, my dance instructor friends tell me that 
many 
>of the dances which are named "Sher" or "Bulgar" actually don't work for 
that 
>purpose.

    If we agree that the sher is a square dance, that should end much of the 
problems, because the dance caller should be able to adjust the dance to fit 
the music. But of the three shers that I know (Russian, New York, and 
Philadelphia) , I believe that the dances shouldn't have to be adjusted. 
    Lori I have seen some of you dance instructors, they need to know that 
there is more than just circle dances. Try doing the snakeing line, they seem 
to work for almost all of the music. At Neffa this past weekend I saw Owen 
Davidson teaching a snakeing dance to the music of the sher. My personal 
favorite dances to do are the pair dances, like the over and under. Yes, 
there is specific music that goes along with the dance, it can be done to 
most bulgar/freylkahs. 
    As a percussionist when I see the name of a tune I apply it to the 
relationship of the rhythm section instruments. (Bulgar/ Freylkahs ex. 2 beat 
bass and piano vs. the 8/8 "oy vey" drum beat) The naming of tunes comes from 
recording, just because that tune has that name doesn't give us all the clues 
about the performance of it. If the tune was recorded we that to go by (this 
is old recordings here). If it has never been recorded we have to look for 
recordings from the same band to make an educated conclusion about how we 
think that they would have played it.
    The tempo of the tune also depends on its purpose. I see "Der Hessyer 
Bulgar" as the opposite of a Doyna. It is a fast tune that features the lead 
player, at least that is how most people approach it. (A quick sample of 
recordings in the past 20 years have the tempo at quarter note around 170.) 
Could the tune be done at the slower dance tempo (quarter note = 120 to 132), 
it depends on the dancers that you are playing for. 
    This is just my theory as to why the tempos have gotten faster. In the 
1950's when the Israeli dances were popularized in America they are done at 
faster tempos than the Yiddish dances. As less and less people could do the 
Yiddish dances and were doing the Israeli dances to the Yiddish tunes the 
tempos speed up for the dancers. As more of the traditional Yiddish dances 
are introduced the tempos should slow down to meet them. 
    As a whole we (klezmer revivalist) are playing the tunes of the 20's and 
30's to the tempos of the 50's and 60's. Does that mean that we could play 
the songs of the 50's and 60's at the tempos of the 20's and 30's, why not. I 
believe that the situation needs to dictate the tempo that you are playing. 
If people are dancing keep it slower, if someone knows the traditional steps 
let them dance them, it could very well get past on to the rest of the group. 
If it is a concert situation then you can speed up the tempos, if it is right 
for the band that you have. You must look at the audience that you want to 
decide on the tempo that you play. 
    Try experimenting with the tempos that you play tunes at till they have 
the proper feeling for the mood that you want to set. This is a music that 
comes out of dance and tempos are not set in stone, just have a reason to go 
the tempo that you go and be able to tell me. Music is a subjective art, I 
may disagree but you are the artist.

Matt Temkin

Http://www.geocities.com/mattflight
    The poyk and xylophone pages have had updates added.

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+