Annotation:Highland (form)
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HIGHLAND. A dance form with accompanying music in 4/4 time. The name Highland is a regional name in northern Ireland (where Scottish influence is strong) for the dance form elsewhere most often called a schottische. It is also sometimes called a German (although this form is slightly different-see note for 'German'), and elsewhere in Ireland is called a fling, highland fling or highland schottische. According to Caoimhin Mac Aoidh (1994) highlands were adapted by Donegal fiddlers from strathspeys and reels, and are played much slower than a reel but faster than a Scots strathspey. When borrowed from a strathspey the triplets tend to be simplified, but the "Scottish snap" is retained, unlike a German. In previous times the Highland/Fling/German form was to be heard played over much of Ireland, however, in the 20th century they were increasingly confined to the northern counties, principally in Donegal.
Fiddler and scholar Danny O'Donnell thought the term 'highland' arose to distinguish certain pieces from a 'barn dance', the latter also known as a 'german' in County Donegal. In the second half of the 19th century, published pieces of music labelled "German schottische" and the similar "Highland schottische" began to be available in the region. Caoimhín Mac Aoidh explains O'Donnell's reasoning:
Local fiddlers, anxious to learn the tunes from those who could read [published melodies], correctly concluded that the 'German Schottische' in fact rhythmically equated with what, by then, had been well-established in the Irish tradition as a 'barn dance'. As such, they applied the title 'german' to a barn dance, a usage which still remains in some parts of Donegal. Alternatively, Donegal fiddlers of the late 1800's concluded the 'Highland Schottische' tunes must therefore equate with a 'highland'. Thus, establishment of the labels for both the 'highland' and the 'barn dance' arose from the attempts to distinguish various forms of the schottische. [1].
- ↑ Caoimhín Mac Aoidh, "The Donegal 'Highland' tunes: origins and movement of a dance-driven genre," in Ón gCos go Cluas/From Dancing to Listening, Liz Doherty & Fintan Fallely, eds., Aberdeen, 2019.