[Callers] Brain Dead - Need Suggestions

[jim saxe]

On Aug 18, 2019, at 7:33 AM, Linda S. Mrosko via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

>  I think I'll focus on quickly saying something like the difference between reels (animated alligators) and jigs (all the kings horses...) ...

Linda,

I presume and hope that if you use "animated alligators", "all the kings horses ...", and/or other such phrases to explain the difference(s) between reels, jigs, and/or other tune types, you will do it by saying those phrases in the actual rhythms you mean to describe.  In my opinion, merely speaking such phrases as in ordinary conversation is not an effective way of communicating anything,  There are just too many opportunities for misinterpretation.

True story:  I once attended a presentation by a modern western square dance caller who gave the Mickey Mouse March as an example of a tune in 6/8 time and illustrated by singing

     One, two, three.
     One, two, three.
     Em oh you ess ee.

The Mickey Mouse March may indeed by played and sung in 6/8 time, though it seems more commonly to be published in a duple meter time signature (usually 2/4) with a dotted rhythm.  Compare, for example,

    https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/175876/Product.aspx

vs.

    https://www.sheetmusicnow.com/products/mickey-mouse-march-easy-piano-p453304

That's not my main point, though.  My point is that even for the 6/8 version, the presenter's explanation--singing "one two three" (where the original lyric has "M-I-C"), etc.--is completely wrong.  The mere words "one, two, three; one, two, three" without the correct rhythm are not adequate to explain the idea of 6/8 rhythm.  I presume the presenter at that session (who, by the way, I believe was--and probably still is--good at his craft and successful at entertaining the dancers at his events) had himself once seen or heard the idea of a 6/8 tune "taught" in such an inadequate manner.

By the way the 6/8 version of the Mickey Mouse March is an example of a tune in 6/8 that is generally considered to be not a jig but--you guessed it--a march.  Another example, definitely written in 6/8, is "Seventy-Six Trombones".  Some of Sousa's marches are also in 6/8.

--Jim