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Brenton Gavottes

Brenton Gavottes

I have been learning some tunes from the Dvd by Kevin Burke entitled " Reel, Jigs and Gavottes. The second DVD of the two volume set. In it he plays a set of Gavottes. And tells that they are from Cape Brenton. I found these to be very interesting and want to know more about them. Unfortunately the set that Kevin plays all the tunes are untitled .can anyone shed more light on Gavottes.
Thanks
John

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by doley50

Re: Brenton Gavottes

Cape Breton... Settled by emigrants from France and Brittany, England, Scotland and Ireland, who brought their music with them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavotte

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by Dragut Reis

Re: Brenton Gavottes

The gavottes are probably Breton rather than Cape Breton though - as in from Brittany in France.

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by No Cause For Alarm

Re: Brenton Gavottes

My apologizes to Kevin he did not say the gavottes were from cape Brenton, he said Brenton ( I through they were one and the same )
i hope to find a good source for listening and learning more of these tunes.

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by doley50

Re: Brenton Gavottes

John, please, Breton not Brenton. Means from Brittany in France.

Gavottes are just one type of many traditional Breton dances, which is danced in a "snake" line (the dancers hold each other's palms and lock their elbows, dancing sideways to the left, following the leader). For dancing purposes, they are usually danced in suites, which comprise of three parts: Gavotte Ton Simpl, Bal Gavotte and Gavotte Ton Doubl, in which the middle part is a "breather" for the dancers, consisting of interweaved slow and fast phrases. The tempo varies depending on the type of gavotte and preference of the dancers, but more often than not they are played at a hornpipe tempo and a slight syncopation (but not with a "jumpy" feel to them, they should be more "stompy").

For listening and learning more of these tunes:

Solution 1: Sell your house, go to http://nozbreizh.free.fr/ go to "Albums" and start buying,

Solution 2: Go to youtube and search for: "gavotte", "gavotte des montagnes", "suite gavotte", "Jean-Michel Veillon", " "Hamon Martin", "Jacky Molard", or any other name you will find here: http://www.celticsons.com/

I would also advise you to start from here (no offence, but I believe learning a bit about the place and its traditions would only let you appreciate the music more):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Brittany

I don't know if you speak French - most valuable online information I know about is in French.

Enjoy your learning.

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by Janek

Re: Brenton Gavottes

"For dancing purposes they are usually *played* in suites"

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by Janek

Re: Brenton Gavottes

A good source for learning more of these tunes would be Brittany.

# Posted on November 18th 2010 by Dragut Reis

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