Greetings, Scholars!
Tarantella Time!
The Tarantella is an Italian folk dance with light, quick steps (staccato) and teasing behavior toward one's partner. The lady dancers carry tambourines and wear wreaths with streaming ribbons in their hair. The music is in lively 6/8 time - compound duple meter. The tarantella dance is connected with tarantism, a disease resulting in hysteria that appeared in Italy in the 15th to 17th centuries and was thought to have been caused by the bite of the tarantula spider. Victims were cured by wild dancing! All three words are derived from the name of the town of Taranto, Italy. Can you find Italy on your globe? Can you remember our Baroque composers from Italy?*
(Hint: Their names end in the letter i, as in spaghetti, ravioli, biscotti, and cannoli. Don't forget to eat your zucchini and broccoli!)
Enjoy watching and listening to Gottschalk's Grand Tarantella!
The Tarantella is an Italian folk dance with light, quick steps (staccato) and teasing behavior toward one's partner. The lady dancers carry tambourines and wear wreaths with streaming ribbons in their hair. The music is in lively 6/8 time - compound duple meter. The tarantella dance is connected with tarantism, a disease resulting in hysteria that appeared in Italy in the 15th to 17th centuries and was thought to have been caused by the bite of the tarantula spider. Victims were cured by wild dancing! All three words are derived from the name of the town of Taranto, Italy. Can you find Italy on your globe? Can you remember our Baroque composers from Italy?*
(Hint: Their names end in the letter i, as in spaghetti, ravioli, biscotti, and cannoli. Don't forget to eat your zucchini and broccoli!)
Enjoy watching and listening to Gottschalk's Grand Tarantella!
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| The Tarantella |
Our syllables for 6/8 time (6 beats per measure - an eighth note gets one beat) are: stroll for the dotted quarter notes, e-ven-ly for the eighth notes, and gal-lop for the quarter notes followed by the eighth notes. Dance those spiders away!
*Corelli, Scarlatti, and Vivaldi!
