A strathspey (/stræθˈspeɪ/) is a type of dance tune in 44 time, featuring dotted rhythms (both long-short and short-long "Scotch snaps"), which in traditional playing are generally somewhat exaggerated rhythmically.
Examples of strathspeys are the songs "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" and "Coming Through the Rye" (which is based on an older tune called "The Miller's Daughter").
[5] According to William Lamb on the Bagpipe News website, the first mention of the word "Strathspey" in connection with a specific type of dance is the anonymous Menzies manuscript dated to 1749.
Many strathspeys were written in the 18th and 19th centuries by composers such as William Marshall, James Scott Skinner, and Magdalene Stirling, who utilised the full range of the fiddle to produce many memorable tunes.
Although band and solo competition bagpiping generally involves a complicated, heavily ornamented setting, traditional pipers often play simpler, more rhythmically driven versions.
Unlike their Scottish counterparts, highlands are played with a smoother, less-jagged articulation, and the dotted rhythms tend to devolve into long passages of triplets.