Strathspey Teacher Notes Concepts Parts Audio Files MIDI Files Inventing Project Resources

Strathspeys were first published in the 18th Century. One of the first people to publish them was James Oswald, a famous collector of tunes, in c.1742. His first collection of tunes was called the Caledonian Pocket Companion in 1743. Although strathspeys were not actually published until the mid-18th century they were certainly being played or sung many years before this. Strathspeys were primarily used for dancing to and this remains the case today. Traditionally the strathspey is used for stepdancing. This is a form of dance where all the steps are done very close to the floor, no big jumps or high leg kicks as in Irish dancing. It is usually a solo fiddle which accompanies this form of dancing and the rhythm is a very strict four beats in the bar. Its main features are the dotted rhythms which occur often. These dotted rhythms can be long/short: or short/long:

This latter rhythm is called a scotch snap and occurs frequently in the strathspey. Sometimes this rhythm can be played in an even more dotted, almost double dotted, way. This usually occurs in slow strathspeys and competition playing.

The slow strathspey is a more recent development from the mid-19th century favoured by famous fiddle composers such as William Marshall and later, James Scott Skinner. Many of their tunes are still popular today, such as The Shakins o’ the Pocky (see fiddle module), The Dean Brig o’ Edinburgh and The Beauty of the North. These tunes are normally accompanied by piano these days and rarely are they performed without accompaniment. The fiddler J.F Dickie was a great exponent of this style and more recently Paul Anderson is considered to be a fine exponent of the slow strathspey.

The slow strathspey is more for listening than for dancing, although there are a few Scottish Country Dances which have been composed especially to fit the slow strathspey. It contains all the same rhythmic qualities of the stepdanced strathspey but is played with a lot of rubato unlike the steady beat of the stepdanced strathspey.

Many strathspeys have lyrics, either in Scots or Gaelic language. When the words are in gaelic the type of song is referred to as a puirt a beul which means mouth music. The dance for mouth music is usually a strathspey, a reel or a jig. The words are usually simple or nonsense words, which are often humorous.

Most strathspeys are in binary form ie. AABB (two repeated parts). If the strathspey has got four parts, which is common in bagpipe music, then the form is AABBCCDD.

Select a Strathspey below to find out more about it: