# Celtic Plinn — Breton 7/8 Circle Dance # Reference: Bagad Kemper, sonneurs (binioù + bombarde pairs), Alan Stivell recordings, # "Kan ha diskan" (call-and-response Breton singing tradition), # Gilles Servat, Dan Ar Braz, traditional Breton festoù-noz (night feast) # The Plinn (also Plin) is a Breton couple dance from Poher (central Brittany). # It is danced in a chain or circle at festoù-noz — community dances that have been # UNESCO-protected since 2012. Its defining characteristics: # - 7/8 time felt as 2+2+3: two quick beats then one long beat. # In 14-step notation: 4+4+6 sixteenth-note groupings. # - The "long" beat (pos 8–13) is where the feet do the characteristic gliding step. # - Snare and bass drum drive the dance together; no sustained melody instruments in # the percussion arrangement. # - The bagad (Breton pipe band) style uses multiple snares in unison with a # grosse caisse — captured here as a single snare + kick. # - Sticks-on-rim accents (cross-stick) simulate the "baguette" technique of # traditional Breton drummers. # - The feel is "straight" — Breton music does not swing; it marches with purpose. # # Three variations capture the main plinn performance contexts: # traditional_plinn — the standard bagad-style plinn for open-air dancing # festnoz_groove — more intimate version with cross-stick colour for indoor fests # biniou_drive — high-energy version that mimics the biniou's drone + ornaments # # RESOLUTION NOTE: resolution 14 = 14 × 16th-note steps per 7/8 bar. # Grouping: [0–3]=beat1 (quarter), [4–7]=beat2 (quarter), [8–13]=beat3 (dotted quarter). # pos 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 # (── beat 1 ──)(── beat 2 ──)(──── beat 3 ────) # # GM notes: 36=kick (grosse caisse), 38=snare (caisse claire), 37=cross-stick (baguette rim), # 42=closed HH (cymbal), 49=crash # # ── Step grid notation ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── # Each character in a step grid represents one subdivision of the bar. # Resolution controls how many steps per bar (16 = 16th notes in 4/4; 14 = 16th notes in 7/8). # # X Strong accent — velocity = base_velocity × 1.00 (full hit / downbeat) # x Medium accent — velocity = base_velocity × 0.75 (firm stroke / upbeat) # o Soft hit — velocity = base_velocity × 0.55 (brush / light touch) # g Ghost note — velocity = base_velocity × 0.28 (barely audible, mostly felt) # . Rest — no note fired at this step # # Beat positions — 7/8 at resolution 14 (one char per 16th-note equivalent): # pos 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 # beat1 ──── beat2 ──── beat3 ────────────── # Grouping (2+2+3): [0-3] | [4-7] | [8-13] # ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── name: Celtic Plinn family: folk bpm_range: [92, 140] time_signature: [7, 8] resolution: 14 feel: straight instruments: kick: { note: 36, base_velocity: 105, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.12 } snare: { note: 38, base_velocity: 90, velocity_range: 15, timing_jitter: 0.012, duration_beats: 0.09 } snare_rim: { note: 37, base_velocity: 75, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.012, duration_beats: 0.07 } hihat: { note: 42, base_velocity: 68, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.012, duration_beats: 0.07 } crash: { note: 49, base_velocity: 100, velocity_range: 8, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.22 } humanization: timing_jitter: 0.012 velocity_jitter: 14 velocity_drift: 0.05 sections: intro: type: count_in hits: 7 note: 38 groove: bars: 1 variations: - name: traditional_plinn weight: 3 # Standard bagad-style plinn for open-air dancing. # KICK: downbeat of each of the three beats (pos 0, 4, 8) — the grosse caisse # marks the pulse. The long beat (pos 8–13) gets a kick on its first 16th, # reinforcing where the dancer's gliding foot lands. # SNARE: hits on each beat start (pos 0, 4, 8) plus a ghost and a 16th-note # pickup before beat 3 (pos 6, 7) — this "rushing" pickup is the characteristic # Breton push into the long beat that makes the Plinn dance irresistible. # HI-HAT: every 8th note (every 2 steps) = 7 hits across 14 positions, # providing the constant pulse dancers use to stay together. kick: "X...X...X....." snare: "X...X..gX....." hihat: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x." - name: festnoz_groove weight: 2 # Indoor fest-noz (night feast) variation: more intimate, with the snare rim # (cross-stick / baguette technique) providing a woody, resonant timekeeping # sound. The kick is softer, letting the cross-stick carry the groove. # Ghost notes fill the 16th-note gaps within each beat group, adding texture # typical of Breton drummers who trained in both classical and traditional styles. kick: "X...X...X....." snare: "o...o...o....." snare_rim: "x.g.x.g.x.g.x." hihat: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x." - name: biniou_drive weight: 2 # High-energy biniou-style drive — the biniou kozh (Breton bagpipe) plays in # a very high register and pushes the tempo forward. This variation simulates # the urgency a bagad drummer feels when the pipes start climbing. # Snare rolls (ghost-accent pairs) on the first and second beats create # rudimental density. The three-beat grouping is now felt as a fast, continuous # drive rather than a dance-step indicator. kick: "X.x.X.x.X.x.x." snare: "Xg.xXg.xXg.x.." hihat: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x." fill: bars: 1 variations: - name: snare_rush # Snare-rush fill: ghost notes accelerate into full accents, simulating the # rudimental "rush to the beat" that Breton drummers use to signal a new section. snare: "XgXgXgXgXgXgXg" kick: "X............." - name: bass_tom_roll # Bass-and-snare interlock: kick and snare alternate on every 8th note, # creating the "call and response" texture of kan ha diskan vocal tradition # translated to percussion. kick: "X.X.X.X.X.X.X." snare: ".X.X.X.X.X.X.X" crash: bars: 1 variations: - name: standard crash: "X............." kick: "X...X...X....." snare: "....X...X....." structure: fill_every: 4 break_every: 0 break_length: 1 crash_after_fill: true dynamic_build: false