Hello all
I was wondering if anyone knew a good deffinition to a slide? I alwasys thought it was a relatively slower peice of music, but I heard one being played yesterday and it was definitly not slow…soo what is it that makes it a sldie?
thank you!
Slides aren’t necessarily slow at all. They’re generally at jig tempo. Usually notated in 12/8, with 4 pulses per bar. Within the pulses, the quarter + eighth pattern (crotchet + quaver) tends to predominate. Which gives you the typical DUM ti-DUM ti-DUM ti-DUM rhythm. Similar to a single jig, but with the phrases twice as long, and only 4 measures per part (A part, B part, etc.).
Here’s Ryan Duns playing “Road to Lisdoonvarna” on a … on a … Peruvian thingy:
I recently read someplace where the writer described a slide by saying something along the lines of a slide compares to a jig as a polka does to a reel.
What does that even mean? 
Comparisons like that are not very helpful. Each dance type has its own characteristics, and needs to be played on its own terms.
Of course, you’re quite right, it doesn’t mean much and I’m not even sure it’s actually right, it was just a quote I remembered from someone, forget who, prolly someplace on thesession. But I must have remembered (possibly even misremembered it someway) because it made some sort sense part of the way.
sweet thank you both!
Well, the ti-DUM ti-DUM syncopated fee?
Otherwise, apart from how it gets written down, are the differences between jigs and slides so big? For instance Kathleen Hehir’s and Dingle Regatta sound quite similar to me, and go well together. Just curious.
I had to look up Kathleen Hehir’s on the session because I didn’t know I knew the tune (from hearing it) and it’s listed as a slide. There’s another cool tune that I do play called The Old Favourite and that’s written out in 6/8 as well but the flute player I got it from said it was a slide. I seem to remember something from reading or hearing from my teacher that way back when they didn’t discriminate between jigs and slides in notating them.
As for what makes the jig-slide / reel-polka comparison make sense I think it’s that, the syncopated feel.
The comparison between polkas and reels doesn’t make sense to me either.
There is no syncopation in polkas or slides, unless they’re played wrong!
Slides (and singles jigs) are in 4, where double jigs are in 2. I think some single jigs can be more easily heard to be in 2, but tunes like Dinnie Delaney’s and Ask My Father are single jigs that are definitely in 4. Slides are a subset of single jigs, and while I can hear the difference, I also don’t know how I’d put it into words. Listen to good Sliabh Luachra musicians playing slides and double jigs to hear the difference!
If you have access to it, read a bit more about it in the Johnny O’Leary book. A far better comparison, and one I never thought about before reading that book, is polka compared to hornpipe. I’d say double jigs to slides is similar to polkas to hornpipes… Just like how there are some jigs that feel like they are doubley slides or slidey jigs, there are some polkas that can veer towards hornpipeyness and some hornpipes that veer towards polkas…
A lot of it is how you play it, so listen listen listen.
Tell me more about the book, if you could. I did an author search & couldn’t find anything.
I just typed Johnny O’Leary into Google and found this: http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/jol.htm which gives a nice overview of the musician.
The book I’m referring to is this: http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781874675426/Johnny-OLeary-of-Sliabh-Luachra
So, a jig and a slide are actually the same “length” but each A/B part of a jig has 8 measures with two pulses per measure (6/8 time) and a slide has 4 measures with 4 pulses per measure (12/8 time). This difference in structure makes a difference in the phrasing.
The other difference would be that the slide, with the quarter+eighth pattern has a different feel (DUM ti - DUM ti) than a jig with predominately a three eigth notes pattern (deedle-dee deedle-dee, or your own favorite jig mnemonic).
Did I get that right?
My copy of “Road to Lisdoonvarna” is exactly the version Ryan is playing on the Peruvian thingy but is annotated in 6/8 time. Someone just split the 12/8 measures in two. Sorry, don’t know where I got it but the “sheet music is only an approximation of the actual tune” effect is apparently still in play.
My own 2 cents worth, I love playing slides. I’m not much on the written music stuff i.e. 12/8 etc., but from playing lots and loving slides I have taught them to friends and I explain slides like this. A slide is a jig that plays like a hornpipe. I play the 4 sets of 3[12 devided by 4] and phrase it like a hornpipe. I hope this helps. I may be completely wrong but it works for me. Happy tooting!
Slides are kind of lopey-skippy, and double jigs put roughly twice the notes into the same jittery space. How’m I doin’ so far?
One thing I noticed when building sets and listening to others’ sets was that one cannot always change from a double jig to a slide with impunity; sometimes there’s a sense of the brakes being slammed and an imminent danger of the airbags deploying. In large part this effect or its lack depends on the construction of both tunes, but sometimes you (or rather I, at any rate) indeed get whiplash. That’s a good indicator as to when a slide comes up. On the other hand, some slides make great conclusions to double jig sets, or a double jig can conclude a slide with a lot of tastiness. You never know the fit until you try individual tunes together and take them for a spin, hands-on.
That being said, if there’s ever any doubt when it comes to making sets, it’s easiest and most foolproof to keep double jigs with double jigs, and slides with slides. Just my $0.02USD…
Kathleen O’Hehir’s is a gorgeous tune, IMO. It’s one of those that’s lovely at any speed, although it’s not an easy tune.
One other note, regarding speed, from the Johnny O’Leary book (and please note that this book is not at all prescriptive, but completely descriptive!), he played his jigs between 128 and 148 beats per minute, with the average at 140bpm and his slides between 138bpm and 168bpm, with the average at 152 beats per minute. So his slides are indeed quite a bit faster than jigs.
While this is completely descriptive, it is indeed a description of a man completely steeped in the music of Sliabh Luachra, and so if one wanted to play that music in the same way, one would do well to follow those ranges.
I’ll quote from the book, with some fadas dropped and with my edits in ():
“Breandan Breathnach’s rule-of-thum was that jigs and slides could be distinguished by their endings. A three-quaver (eighth note) followed by a crochet (quarter note) or dotted crochet marked a tune as a jig, while an ending of two dotted crochets indicated that it was a slide. I have followed this prescription (notating slides in 12/8 and jigs in 6/8) here unless the tune in question is obviously not the type so indicated. It really isn’t that important. Some jigs can be speeded up and played along with slides or used as slides, and some slides are deliberately played at the slower jig pace.”
There is more, but basically the key to understanding slides and jigs won’t be found in the sheet music or in rules found online. They key is only found in listening listening listening.
well I became very confused and then…it all became clear..mostly
thank you for that quote, by given actual things to look for is slightly easier to help distinguish between the two then what they sound like, so thank you muchly nicomoreno!
You’re welcome, but do keep in mind that the point of the quote is that it’s what they sound like that ultimately distinguishes them! Some slides don’t follow that rule, and some jigs don’t either. And some of each can be played as the other…