--- "The Witful Turnip" wrote: Is it 8 [beats]+ 12 = 20 / 2 = 10 bars?? Is that the conversion?? "30 year Jig" would be 8 + 16 = 24 / 2 = 12 bars.... So, are straight contra dance tunes 32 bar tunes ? (8 + 8 = 16 / 2 = 8 * 4 = 32). If my conversion theory is correct, that would make Cherokee Shuffle a 36 bar tune, and 30 Year Jig a 40 bar tune. Am I understanding this correctly? --- end of quote --- Yes. Typically in "our" kind of music-- the jigs and reels that are commonly played for contras dances-- dancers would walk two steps for each bar of music. (A "bar" is more formally referred to as a "measure," and at the end of each measure of music, when you look at a printed staff, there's a vertical line, known as a bar.) David "cleansed from egg on face" Millstone