Dancing Across the Pond
OBJECTIVE AND BACKGROUND
COPYRIGHT AND "FAIR USE"
USERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES and LIMITATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF FIGURES AND MUSIC
SOURCE DOCUMENTS LIST
OBJECTIVE AND BACKGROUND
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this Project was to develop tools to analyze data from databases on country dances from England and America in the 18th Century, and to produce a document that shows those dances that probably originated in America, as well as those that came across the Atlantic. We call the first of these "native born", and those that came across as "imports." Those whose FIGURES came across with different TITLES, we identify as "figures imports", and those that came across with TITLES (which defined the MUSIC) as "titles imports." At present we have completed the first two of these sets, and plan to complete the other two soon.
BACKGROUND:
During the 18th Century, country dances were published in England, by several major publishers: Playford, Walsh, Johnson, Longman & Broderip, Cahusac, et al., as well as monthly literary magazines. In America, dance instructions or “figures” were recorded in personal manuscripts, often by dancers as aide-de-memoir or by dancing masters: i.e. John Griffith(s), Benjamin Walker, as well as several "Ladies' Pocket Books". Musicians often recorded a simple score for use in playing in local taverns or homes. Some dances were published in America, often without music for instruction of dancers by dancing masters. Music was also recorded in manuscripts or published books.
Databases have been developed to identify dances by their musical “incipit”, i.e. the first few measures, using a numerical code based on the musical scale (1=DO, 2=RE, 3=MI…7=TI), and by the sequence of FIGURES (O=HANDS ROUND IN A CIRCLE, X=HANDS ACROSS, B=BACK-TO-BACK, etc.). Simple analysis has shown that dances were remarkably stable, in that a dance title usually kept the same music and figure, whenever it appeared. This was usually true even when the dance migrated from England to America.
For a detailed description of the DANCE FIGURE INDEX refer to Dance Figures Index: American Country Dances, 1710-1830:
Dance Figures Index: American Country Dances, 1710-1830: and to
Dance Figures Index: English Country Dances, 1650-1833:
Tables have been downloaded from the above databases into ACCESS format, for use in analyzing Titles, Figures and Publisher/Scribe. Preliminary analysis shows that there are approximately 25,464 country dances from English sources, and 2,703 from American.
Procedures: We used MATCHING techniques to find those dances that appeared in BOTH English and American sources (obviously “immigrants”) and those that ONLY appeared in American sources (probably “native-born). Since many American sources provided only the title and dance figures, we had to locate music in other sources. Another on-line index was used to find matching music:
Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, 1589–1839: An Index:
Once we had a list of “native-born” dances, we could scan the simple music strain and dance figures. We could also include the “imports” for comparison.
Priorities:
1. Analyze data to develop “native-born” dances
2. Locate sources of dances, mostly in our own collection
3. Scan dance figures and music from available sources
4. Design publication format for inputting figures and music
5. Ensure that complete source documentation is available and provided
6. Input dance and music images for publication.
COPYRIGHT AND "FAIR USE"
Copyright protection, in general, expires 70 years after the death of the author. Since all sources were generated in the 18th and 19th centuries, copyrights expired at least 100 years ago. However, in order to avoid hard feelings from the libraries that provided us copies from their holdings, for “research and scholarly purposes”, we provided source documentation for those images selected. Since this project will produce only archives, not publications, we will not publish any of these images. If users wish to publish any images, they will be required to request permission from the original owners.
It should be noted that “fair-use” procedures will be followed, i.e.: *
Purpose of use: research and scholarly purposes;
Nature of use: publication of historical documents;
Amount of use: in most cases only a few images or pages from any one document. Complete documents are all out of print or not available from the publisher.
Market value of documents: No effect on document’s value.
*Council on Library and Information Resources: Copyright Issues Relevant to the Creation of a Digital Archive: A Preliminary Assessment.
USERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
Users of this document are responsible to protect the rights of owners of the original dance figures and music. Although the original documents are several hundred year's old, owners of the documents still maintain "ownership" of the document and can control publication. Images in this document are provided from the archives of the author and must be used as “fair use” for scholarly and research purposes only. Images MAY NOT be uploaded to an Internet, social network or personal web site, and MAY NOT be published without permission of the original document's owner. If users wish to publish the dance figures or music by making a transcription, that is acceptable, provided the source and owner of the original document is listed. Please refer to the discussion of Copyright and Fair Use elsewhere in this document for the basis of this policy.
NATIVE-BORN Figures and Music
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF FIGURES AND MUSIC
NATIVE-BORN Source Documents List
NB SOURCE DOCUMENTS LIST
COMPLETE-IMPORTS Figures and Music
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF FIGURES AND MUSIC
Source List
CI SOURCE American DOCUMENTS LIST
CI SOURCE British DOCUMENTS LIST