[SCA-Dance] A few more random thoughts about the Volta

[L.J. Sparvero]

At 06:11 PM 2/6/2006, Courtney Meredith wrote:
>Re galliard vs Volta as separate musical genres: I can't tell any
>difference between music labelled galliard and music labelled volta.
>But I remember one occasion when I was teaching the Volta, and offering
>several different recordings to dance it to - my husband remarked that
>he found it easier to dance the Volta to the music that was *called* a
>Volta, something about it was giving him a little more help.  And I
>*think* someone else at that practice agreed with him ...

Here's a thought along those lines -- IIRC not all galliard sequences are 
"five steps" with the secondary accent on the fourth (as in 
ONE-two-three-FOUR-and-five). Some are three steps (as in 
ONE-and-TWO-and-THREE-and), and are much easier to dance to the appropriate 
music. I can even imagine musicians switching music on the fly, and 
challenging the dancers to adapt their footwork.

Has anyone taken a look at the various Volta/Lavolta music out there, and 
looked for tactus clues? It might give some hints on the "jump on 3 or 4?" 
thread. Just a thought.  -Lyev

"I see a (green) door and I want to paint it black (and gold)." -Mick 
Jagger filk