tarantella

The Tarantella is an upbeat Italian song and dance style characterized by light, quick steps, and tambourine-playing (note how we use wrist bells in class to mimic this!) The name “Tarantella" is believed to come from the disease “Tarantism” – a form of hysteria induced by the bite of a Tarantula spider.

Tarantella music frequently follows a 6/8 or 3/8 time signature and cycles through major and minor keys. Tarantella music often relies on staccato accents to create the lively, quick procession of notes to mirror the skipping dance steps. Common tarantella music characteristics: 6/8 or 3/6 time signature.

The dance is called “tarantella” because, according to lore around the dance, its origin was as the only cure for the bite of a tarantula, or wolf spider. The tarantella has its origins in Italy, although other nations have dances similar to it.

In fact, the Tarantella is now considered unlucky by some to be danced alone. With music written in a lively 6/8 time, this rapid whirling dance is characterized by light, quick steps, and flirtatious gestures between the two partners.

Meaning of tarantella in English. a dance from southern Italy in which two people holding each other move around very fast, turning as they go, or a piece of music written for this style of dancing: 30 people each took turns dancing a tarantella with one another.

The tarantella is a traditional dance form, and accompanying music, with a distinctive rhythm, from the south of Italy. Tarantellas appear in many pieces of classical music, in literature, and in popular culture.

The tarantella is most frequently played with a mandolin, a guitar, an accordion and tambourines. flute, fiddle, trumpet and clarinet are also used.

Northern ballad-singing is syllabic, with a strict tempo and intelligible lyrics, while southern styles use a rubato tempo, and a strained, tense vocal style. Folk musicians use the dialect of their own regional tradition; this rejection of the standard Italian language in folk song is nearly universal.

The dance was later applied as a supposed cure for the behavior of neurotic women (Carnevaletto delle donne). There are several traditional tarantella groups: Cantori di Carpino, Officina Zoé, Uccio Aloisi gruppu, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Selva Cupina, I Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli.

/ˈtɛrənˌtɛlə/ A quick, spirited Italian folk dance that involves much spinning and often the playing of tambourines is called the tarantella.

Italy was afflicted with tarantism, an epidemic presumably caused by the bite of venomous spiders. Its effects had to be counteracted by distributing the poison over the whole body and “sweating it out,” which was accomplished by dancing to a special kind of music, the tarantella.

Tarantella Napoletana is written in the key of A Minor. According to the Theorytab database, it is the most popular key among Minor keys and the 7th most popular among all keys.