Hornpipe

From DictionGloss

A class of dance tunes, or the dance for which those tunes are intended as musical accompaniment, relating to a fancy solo dance popular from the later eighteenth century into the twentieth century. An earlier British musical form called the hornpipe, in 3/2 time, is musically unrelated to the 4/4 hornpipe. The music for hornpipes is typically in 4/4 time and is played somewhat slower than reels. It often involves melodically complex and elaborately arpeggiated tunes. In the Appalachian South, there are not many hornpipes in the repertories of fiddlers, and they often seem to be converging in tempo and style with the larger "breakdown" category.