Strathspey (dance)

A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4
4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps'. A so-called Scotch snap is a short note before a dotted note, which in traditional playing is generally exaggerated rhythmically for musical expression. An example of a strathspey would be the song "The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond", provided it is sung staccato:

Other examples are Auld Lang Syne (based on Sir Alexander Don's Strathspey) and Coming through the Rye (based on an old strathspey tune called The Miller's Daughter).

Because the strathspey rhythm has four strong beats to the bar, is played quickly (generally ranging from 108 beats per minute, for Highland Dance, up to 160 beats per minute, for step dance), and contains many dot-cut 'snaps', it is a rhythmically tense idiom. Traditionally, a strathspey will be followed by a reel, which is in 2
2 with a swung rhythm, as a release of the rhythmic tension created during the strathspey.

It has been hypothesized that strathspeys mimic the rhythms of Scottish Gaelic song. Among traditional musicians, strathspeys are occasionally transmitted as canntaireachd, a style of singing in which various syllables stand in for traditional bagpipe ornaments.

The dance is named after the Strathspey region of Scotland, in Moray and Badenoch and Strathspey. Strathspey refers both to the type of tune and to the type of dance usually done to it (although strathspeys are also frequently danced to pastoral airs played at the same tempo; an example of which would be the dance Autumn in Appin, danced to the tune The HIlls of Lorne). The strathspey is one of the dance types in Scottish country dancing. A Scottish country dance will typically consist of equal numbers of strathspeys, jigs and reels. The strathspey step is a slower and more stately version of the skip-change step used for jigs and reels. The strathspey also forms part of the musical format for competing pipe bands. Modern high grade pipe bands are required to play a march, a strathspey and a reel for competition purposes.

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