MIDI Renditions of Selected Contra Dance Tunes One repetition at typical tempo takes 30 to 35 seconds and corresponds to once through the set of figures which make up a contra dance. You may decide that the sounds do not correspond to the instruments claimed. The capturing of realistic samples for some instruments, especially bowed strings (e.g. fiddle), turns out to be hard. ---------------------------- Recent (May 2009) examples (generally 4 times through): Connaughtman's Rambles (jig) midi Dundee (hornpipe) midi Durang's Hornpipe midi Kesh Jig midi Lamplighter's Hornpipe midi Maggie's Favorite (jig) midi McDonald's Reel midi Soldiers Joy (Reel) midi Irish Wash Woman (jig) midi Waves of Tory (reel) midi --------------------------- Older (2004) examples (in general, not as well done as the more recent examples): President Garfield's hornpipe (4 times through) midi President Garfield's hornpipe midi This is almost full contra dance length (10 repetitions) and has been used to call a dance for a small group. An extra phrase has been added after the tenth repetition for a long partner swing at the end of the dance. Played on clarinet (melody) and piano (backup). The variation is principally in how the chords are played and to some extent in which chords are chosen. Old Zip Coon (reel) midi A minstrel tune from the 1830's. Its modern descendant is "Turkey in the Straw". Four repetitions. Uses clarinet and fiddle for melody, piano, dulcimer, and electric bass for chords/backup. Instrument changes are used to delineate eight beat phrases. How was this MIDI file generated? Discussion Maggie Brown's Favorite (jig) midi Three times. Melody is played on different instruments for alternate phrases: fiddle on 1,3,5,7 and piano on 2,4,6,8. Nylon guitar on backup. Durang's hornpipe midi Four repetitions, played on fiddle (melody) and piano (backup), with a dulcimer playing the accented notes (every other sixteenth note: 1, 3 ,5, 7, ... played as eighth notes) in the melody during the second and third repetitions. Hull's Victory hornpipe midi Four times. Melody instrument changes from fiddle to clarinet, then fiddle doubles on the even phrases in repetition 3, both play in last time. Backup on piano with some chord changes. Shenandoah Falls midi Three repeats. Recorder on melody, guitar on backup for last two repeats (unisons only, then boomchuck). More examples: demo2, demo1. Details of the project to make these MIDI renditions: VAMP