Home Again Home Again Jiggedy Jig

So y'all're thinking about traveling to Ireland, and i affair you're really looking forward to is hearing some traditional Irish music…maybe even listening in on a existent Irish "trad" session!

At that place's simply 1 problem…you know absolutely nothing well-nigh Irish traditional music (other than that you lot like it), and you'd like to learn a little fleck before yous go. No problem! We aim to please! Here's a very bones primer on a few of the types of tunes you're likely to encounter in a typical Irish music session.

First, some basics

Irish traditional music is almost entirely an aural tradition. That is, the music is passed forth past learners listening to and emulating experienced musicians rather than by printed "canvas music."

In fact, many traditional Irish musicians don't read music at all. Those that do tend to rely on information technology much, much less than do other types of musicians. One thing y'all definitely won't see at a real, traditional, session is a music stand up!

It'southward often said that yous can't learn to play Irish music properly from printed music, and I have to agree. If you simply play the tunes equally they may be written down on the folio, they will not sound authentic (and a existent Irish musician will be able to spot you as a poser from a mile away!).

When it comes to playing Irish music, there's just no substitute for doing a lot of listening (which is why I'm going to include several music videos in this post)!

That said, written music can exist a useful manner to pass on tunes to people who already take a good feel for how Irish music should be played. It'southward also a useful style to depict the various types of Irish gaelic music to people who may be more familiar with working from written music.

I will exist including some terminology from written music in my descriptions, merely don't worry if they don't mean anything to you…I'll include other means of identifying tune types, as well as the tune samples, then you'll have a skillful frame of reference.

And a bit of terminology

"Songs" vs. "tunes":Non-musicians sometimes refer to all music equally "songs," only in reality, "vocal" only refers to music that is actually sung.

While some Irish sessions do welcome singers, almost of them are purely instrumental. A piece played entirely on instruments is referred to equally a "tune" rather than a "song."(Sometimes you'll hear "tune" pronounced "choon," peculiarly in the north!).

"Tune" vs. "air":Typically, in Irish music, "tune" refers to the actual piece being played (for case "What melody was that?" "Oh, that was 'The Route to Lisdoonvarna.'"). "Air" refers to the melody of the tune ("How does the air to that get?" "Here, let me play it for you.").

"Air" vs. "tedious air":As I said higher up, "air" used by itself simply means the melody of a particular tune. "Irksome air" on the other manus, refers to a particular blazon of tune: typically the air of a vocal from the sean nós singing tradition when it's played every bit a purely instrumental piece.

So many tunes; and then trivial time!

There'due south no way I could perhaps draw every blazon of Irish gaelic melody yous may see in ane post (well, peradventure I could, but your optics would probably glaze over long before I got to "strathspey" and "waltz"!), and so in this post I'g only going to talk about 3 basic types of dance tunes: jigs, reels, and hornpipes.

Whatever other tunes y'all may encounter at a session or a trip the light fantastic, you lot stand a really good adventure of hearing one or all of these. Then let's dive on in!

Jigs

Before you enquire…no, they're not ALL jigs! Jigs are so closely associated in peoples' minds with Irish dance music that the uninitiated seem to think that "jig" is just another word for "Irish trip the light fantastic."

A jig is a particular blazon of melody; one that'due south marked by a very distinctive "pulse" (underlying rhythm), as you'll run into (or rather, hear). It's very handy that this detail "pulse" has the same feel as the word "jiggedy!"

"JIG-ged-y, JIG-ged-y, JIG-ged-y, JIG-ged-y…" Try repeating that as y'all listen to the tunes below. If yous can proceed this "pulse" going along with a tune, you'll know y'all've got a jig on your hands.

There are four basic types of jigs — single jigs, double jigs, skid jigs, and slides. They all have this aforementioned underlying "jiggedy" pulse going on. The main differences between them are the annotation patterns and the fourth dimension signatures.

Single and double jigs

Single and double jigs are both played in vi/8 time. The only real difference between them are the annotation patterns.

A unmarried jig leans toward a pattern of eighth notes (or "quavers") followed past quarter notes (or "crochets"). If y'all've heard the English Christmas ballad "I Saw Iii Ships Come Sailing In," yous've heard a single jig.

This pattern gives a single jig an almost "skipping" feeling.

A double jig leans toward a pattern of repeating eighth notes (if you look at a double jig written out in music notation, y'all'll meet lots of groups of three eighth notes beamed together, two groups to a mensurate).

If you lot've heard "The Irish Washerwoman," you've heard a double jig.

In the video below, the man commencement plays a double jig ("The First Dark in America") followed by a single jig ("Come in From the Rain"). Ignoring the antics with the drink and the rather heavy bass, it's a practiced illustration of the difference between the two types of jigs!

http://www.youtube.com/sentinel?v=2KAEbrG2TJ8

Feel that "jiggedy" pulse going?

Slip jigs

A slip jig is similar to a unmarried or double jig (and can comprise either, or both, note patterns), merely is played in nine/eight time. This gives it a slightly more lilting, more leisurely, less driving, experience than the single and double jigs.

That "jiggedy" pulse is still in that location, though!

"The Butterfly" is a classic skid jig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?5=iQorIhMTSNA

Slides

Some would say that a slide isn't technically a jig, simply it fits the aforementioned basic pattern. The just real difference between a slide and the other three is the fourth dimension signature: 12/eight in the case of a slide.

Slides come up predominately from County Kerry.

Hither's a slide I especially like: "Denis Murphy'south." There's that "jiggedy" pulse over again!

http://www.youtube.com/sentinel?5=7Vh8GqTd2-o

Another well-known slide, which our friend Mary Potato has actually put words to, is The Road to Lisdoonvarna.

Reels

Reels are the stone and rollers of the Irish trad world. Musicians beloved to play them difficult and fast (though they're frequently more accordingly played at a moderate speed for dancers).

If you lot mind to a reel, ane of the start things y'all should notice is that it doesn't have that "jiggedy" pulse going on. The pulse is driving, and grouped in fours:

"Ane-two-three-iv, I-ii-three-four, etc."

If you like using a word to remember how the pulse of a reel should go, a skillful one is "watermelon":

"WAT-er-mel-on, WAT-er-mel-on, etc."

For you music readers out there, reels are often notated in 4/4, but usually played in cut time (2/2).

Yous'll often hear reels played at céilí dances

Here's ane of my favorite reels, "Scully's," played relatively slowly for a sean-nós dancer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqKf2by3QCw

Here'due south a overnice trio of favorite session reels, "Silver Spear," "Dove on the Gate," and "Begetter Kelly'south," played at something closer to a regular session speed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?5=a5Z-3n9O_d0

Hornpipes

If jigs skip and lilt and reels drive, hornpipes swagger.

Generally played more than slowly than other session tunes, with a definite "roll" to their gait, hornpipes came to Ireland from England, most likely brought by sailors.

They were originally written for sailors to dance to in the cramped conditions aboard ship. In fact, the archetype "sailors' hornpipe" is danced near entirely in place.

Yous'll find Irish gaelic hornpipes written in 2/4, 4/4, and cut time. What sets them apart is dotted rhythm (usually a design of dotted 8th notes (quavers) and sixteenth notes (semiquavers).

This gives them a bouncy feel that, along with (normally!) a slower playing speed gives them that "swagger" I mentioned.

If you lot're not a music reader (or if you lot just like having a mnemonic), a good mnemonic for most hornpipes is "upsy daisy."

"Up-sy DAI-sy, UP-sy DAI-sy, etc."

Try it with the two hornpipes in the video below! Commencement is the first hornpipe I always learned: "Harvest Habitation" (also known as "The Cork Hornpipe"), followed by another well-known Irish hornpipe, "The Boys of Bluehill":

(These are played at close to session speed, but a bit faster than one would apply for dancers)

http://www.youtube.com/picket?v=Z3NR6ktiJ88

Of course, there's more than!

Of course, there's lots more to the world of instrumental Irish music than jigs, slides, reels, and hornpipes! Polkas, waltzes, and mazurkas; barn dances and highlands, marches and strathspeys and slow airs…it's quite a list!

With these few styles nether your belt, however, you'll feel a bit more at home at your first session! Just don't forget to give the musicians a hearty "maith sibh!" (my shiv) or "mo cheol sibh!"(muh khyohl shiv!)  — "well done!" or "bravo!" — from time to time! We all dearest to feel appreciated!

hartynotake.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.bitesize.irish/blog/jigs-and-reels/

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