Welcome to old and new friends who are interested in discussing Cajun and other diatonic accordions, along with some occasional lagniappe....



CAJUN ACCORDION DISCUSSION GROUP

 

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Iry LeJeune speed and dancing

No one that I have ever talked to enjoyed dancing to Iry. They always extol his very passionate singing and I am told he would often bring listeners to tears. But as far as I have heard, no went to see or hear Iry because they wanted to dance, according to those who lived then that I have talked to, Iry did not play the greatest music for dancing. They draw by his passionate crying vocal style and his accordion "acrobatics"...but it was never really geared toward dancing. The dance king back then was Lawrence Walker...he drew the dancing crowds around the Lacassine/Jeff Davis area.

By the way, there are a number of two steps Iry played slow...like Jolie Catin and Teche Special...there are some fast notes in there, but the beat is slower than the way most people play today. Not everything that he did was breakneak speed.

To me the speed has changed because of the dance styles changed. When I started out I played two steps a lot faster back then and the dance step people did seemed to fit it just fine. Today I find I must play two-step a little slower to really pack the floor. I think you have to just watch the crowd and see what gets the best dance response if that is what you are going for. The comment about the "groove" is really the most important, however. If the band is grooving, I have never heard anyone complain...fast or slow...also if the beat (tempo) is a bit slower, you can put in more ornamental notes and trills and things like that...so sometimes, it acutally sounds like the accordion is playing faster notes...kind of like the band is in third gear on the bicycle and the accordion player is in first and pedalling quickly but the whole band is moving ahead together at the same ground speed...(a wierd analogy, hope you understand)...

I agree with a previous post that most Zydeco is slower in tempo even though there is an illusion that it is faster than Cajun music...It just comes from the syncopation and internal energy that is in the style, not from playing faster.

Re: Iry LeJeune speed and dancing

Chris,

Wow, this is the kind of local knowledge that really gives us some major insight on things.

Thanks!

- David

Speed... Scene and the variation of audience type

Roger ... that is an interesting perspective .. re: speed and all, depending on the type of audience.

I see how that ties very well... I mean the differances in a dancing crowd and that of just a listenging crowd.

I too have noticed that when you have a predominate listening audience (festival) they snap too when the music starts hopping (two step or driving zydeco beat). Especially an audience that has very little knowledge of this genre. But dancers are a form of the the total entertainment for many.

When I finally placed a dance floor at a festival, a big transformation occured, whereby any speed seemed to be attractive to the audience by virtue of the dancers that simply wanted to dance..they likewise were part of the entertainment for the sitter-downers.... it was the best $600 I ever spent on tounge and groove and a gob of 2x4's and screws! Just about every band that played could feel the audience for what they wanted and mixed it up very well crossing many speeds, it was cool... To me, that is the upper level of band experience, reading the audience and knowing how to get the juices flowing (so to speak) enough to have folks (that want to dance) mark their territory on the floor.

Dave

Re: Ok, I'm starting this as a new thread...Speed confusion

I must have it good. No dancers and no one to jam with. Thankfully the accordion is a band rolled into one box! It all sounds good to me.

Re: Re: Ok, I'm starting this as a new thread...Speed confusion

Hi...interested in reading the postings on "speed at sessions" (Don't use it myself have enough problems playing !!)

Here in UK there is a real mentality around which can be very destructive to new players. It's the smirking comments..."this is the RIGHT way to play this tune/etc"

Some people appear to want to hold music in a time warp (usually Morris players)...I wonder how music evolved if these people had been around !!

Of course there are correct speeds for specific dances and it is good discipline to play them BUT lets remember that American Old time/etc came from a pooling of many older English/Irish/etc tunes which were either half remembered and redesigned for local tastes and dancing.

We can still keep the "traditional tunes" BUT we must experiment surely.

Geoff

Heard you at Half Moon this fall

You didn't sound too fast to me when I heard you this fall at the jam at Half Moon. Good luck with your gig!

great turn out

The gig went fantastic. We were a little shakey at first but people danced and enjoyed it. I'm happy. Got a good chunk of change out of it too.

Anticipating our second gig TBA!



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

Brett's all new Cajun Accordion Music Theory for all keys!

LFR1.gif - 1092 Bytes The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week

augusta.gif - 6841 Bytes

Listen to Some GREAT Music While You Surf the Net!!
The BEST Radio Station on the Planet!