Letters to the Editor Controlled Abandon Future of Membership Services Committee
Music for New Publications Dear Editor, We read in the last issue of the commitment to publishing a new book of dances every year for the next five years, as part of a ‘back to basics’ approach in producing new dances and curating old ones. What about the music? My interest in the dance music was piqued as a child by my mother's ability to recognise dances by their music, and I later came to realise that in many ways the original tune, and the way it is played, define the dance, and even how it may be danced. As a musician I work hard to match alternate to original tunes, avoiding the cardinal sin of using other originals and thereby confusing the dancers. To maintain this approach, as new books have been published, I have sometimes had to adjust sets to remove a tune that has been adopted as an original. That's easier for me as a solo player than it is for bands, and increasingly we hear originals played within sets of tunes. Bands may well argue that they got there first, though that's less of an excuse for slipping Flowers of Edinburgh into the middle of a set of reels. This year sees some 30 new dances published. Following my principle I have ripped up one entire set of alternate tunes, since all three (traditional) tunes appear as new originals, and adjusted several others. The trend of hearing originals played as alternates can only increase, particularly when we see the Iain MacPhail tune Mrs Mary Printy as an original, a tune played by musicians all over the world, myself included, as a cracking finale to a set of reels. Can we expect them all to change? Quite apart from the matter of ruining my sets of alternates, personally I am often unconvinced by the matching of traditional tunes to modern dances. At the same time, we seem to call upon a small group of composers for modern compositions. So, if we are going to continue publishing new dances in such quantities (a point for another day), then why not also encourage composers of new music to match? What about competitions equivalent to those for Book 49 dances? Let us create a pool of unpublished tunes that can then be matched to new dances. Yours sincerely,
Jeremy Hill, London Branch
Dear Editor, As a former member of Membership Services Committee I am fully with Philip Whitley in his analysis (April 2014 issue), and I fully support the need for change. However, Philip gives just one future scenario, and I am sure there are many others that would fit the bill, especially since much of the groundwork in establishing a methodology for production of new publications has now been established and perhaps is in less need of a Committee to support it. The Society does need to periodically restructure to meet new challenges, so calling an end to Membership Services may be the end of an era, but it could also herald new opportunities. One area of note is the need to dramatically increase the level of participation in SCD. One of the comments I hear far too often is ‘Our numbers are falling and we’re all getting older but we don’t seem to be able to attract any younger people in’. To my mind this is an area of work that requires a much stronger focus, possibly through the appointment of a ‘Director of Dance Participation’ (massive job) or by extending the Membership Services Committee function into this area. There are lots of examples of good practice – but it needs leadership and commitment to pull things together and mobilise the resources that we have at HQ, branch, group and individual levels. Roger Malton, Newcastle Branch
Meta Dow Dear Editor, I am Miss Margaret Mary Dow’s 95-year-old niece and am writing to say how delighted I am to have lived to see my Aunt Meta get some of the recognition she so well deserves in her life with Scottish country dancing. My aunt trained at the Dunfermline College of Physical Education, a fairly new college then. Country dancing played a very important role in her life. The caption for the photo with Dancie Reid is wrong. My aunt is not there, but I am – the naughty one wearing white shoes! I am very grateful to Archivist Alan Macpherson for writing the article. He and another gentleman interviewed me about my aunt some time ago. Yours sincerely, Isabell Dow (Isbie)
Dear Editor, I watched the programme Controlled Abandon and read Jimmie Hill's review [April 2014 issue] with interest. He is quite right about The Generation Game. The BBC did not seem to give much consideration to accuracy or etiquette. The contestants were dressed up in tartan, yet were not equipped with suitable shoes. The London Branch Demonstration Team appeared on The Generation Game on more than one occasion, and the late Norris Haugh was a member of the team at that time. He was a teacher, and the morning after a broadcast a pupil said to him, ‘Did you see the Scottish dancing? One of the dancers looked just like you, Sir.’ Norris replied, ‘I don't watch television, I just appear on it.’ Elizabeth Bennett, Croydon and London Branches
"A Female Society?" Dear Editor, Perhaps, John D Carswell (April 2014 issue), Miss Milligan and Mrs Stewart just assembled like-minded people to start collecting traditional dances, and it was coincidental that their interested colleagues were predominantly female. The words ‘Men and Dancing’ in the same breath have been and will continue to be an issue, but surely the paucity of male dancers is more a case of men choosing not to join than any other reason. Men are actually involved in SCD at all levels; some clubs in Australasia have more men dancing than women. The criticism of Book 47 may be justified but only if you expect all dances to be written in Scotland and to somehow appear instantly traditional. Looking through the earlier books I note that there are, as today, dances which survive and others which fade into obscurity, traditional or not. Perhaps in 2023 dances like Scott Meikle and Pelorus Jack will be regarded as traditional (even if one was written by a Kiwi). Our musicians are adapting traditional music and using non-Scottish music and the dances must evolve too. Now that old dances are no longer being collected, we should move on or declare a moratorium on dances so teachers can catch up! ‘The team producing the magazine is also entirely female’ begs the question ‘And the problem is?’ Yours sincerely,
Fiona Bullivant, New Zealand
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