There are no stupid questions, only stupid people right?
Hey all, I’m still enjoying all the friendly folks on this board. Now here’s for my stupid check.
I think I have airs, ballads and polkas figured out. But for someone with little musical terminology, could someone explain the difference between reels, jigs and hornpipes for me?
Thanks for not pointing and laughing 
jd
Hornpipes are in 2/4 or 4/4 time played more slowly than a reel and with a different rhythm…many are played AS reels.
Jigs - 6/8 or 9/8 time..can be single, double or slip. In a single 6/8 is the time signature and every eighth note is missed out, in a double every eighth note is played. Slip jigs are in 9/8 time. 12/8 sometimes found in jigs too.
Reels - 2/4 and 4/4 time. Lots of styles and a binary form.
Haven’t a clue how to write the rhythms - someone else will know though..and I KNOW time sigs aren’t written as fractions - but you’ll know what I mean.
Trisha
Others will do a much better job than this, but I’ll try.
Jigs are onnne two-three, onnne two-three, etc.
Hornpipes are one-two, one-two, etc.
Reels are one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four.
OK, this is simplistic but…if you do a web search, there are numrous sites that explain it much better.
Ummm…no.
Hornpipes- written in 4/4 time but generally played with a slow duple feel (60-70 = half note). They should not be played as a reel, particularly if one is playing for dancers.
Reels- 4/4 time signature but always played in cut time (same as 2/2). This means that the half note receives one beat (80-120, depending on the reel and the player) and that there are two beats in one bar.
Double jigs-Always written and played in fast 6/8. What this means in English- dotted quarter note receives one beat (each representing three eighth notes, which is why fast six has a triple feel),two beats per bar. If you pat your foot once for every three eighth notes you will get the correct “feel.” Again, tempo will vary depending on the tune and the player but generally the dotted quarted note = 65-80.
Slip jigs- same as for double jigs, but three beats per bar instead of two.
Slides-actually a jig in one, so the tempo ends up being quite fast…
Sorry Blackhawk, I was responding to Trisha’s post (not yours) while you posted 
.
Yes. I agree… but different books write out reels in different time signatures. Coles’s 1000 writes them in 2/4 sometimes. This means that the smallest note value is a 16th note and eight of them appear in a measure. Also, some accompanists play a four-to-the-bar style on reels. I’m usually not to fond of it but some people can make it work. Tich Richardson of the original Boys of the Lough usually played a sort of swing style four beat style. Also Brian Pickell plays this way so that the feel of the tune is 4/4. I was just listening to the Wrigley Sisters at the Kennedy Center (July 4-in between a banjo player and some African musicians). In the first set of of reels the amazing guitar sister breaks into a definite jazz style backup in 4/4. For a more standard approach to reels check out the program on Dec 26 2002. I have it on now.
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/archive_index.html
Steve
No problem, Janice! 
Yes, you are correct Steve. I should have qualified my statement and said “generally.” There’s always an exception to the rule and sometimes there are two or five!!
Janice - I have quite a few book versions of reels written with a 2/4 time signature…eg a version of The Fairy Dance, La Basringue, and Archie Menzies. So are you still disagreeing with my original statement:-? 
Re the jigs-played-as-reels, Rickett’s Hornpipe is an example. Named as hornpipes, often they aren’t. Scottish and Cape Breton fiddlers make a total distinction, some others do not.
Trisha
No-as mentioned, I said generally. Most often, reels are written in 4/4 but it is assumed that they will be played in cut (2/2) time. Which means that they will have the exact same feel as a reel written in 2/4 (as one sees occasionally)…here’s further explanation-
4/4 and 2/2 (cut time) look the same but are played differently because of the subdivision. This means that in 4/4 the quarter note = one beat, the eighth note is the subdivision and there are four beats in one measure. When one plays in 4/4 all four beats in the measure are felt or pulsed.
In 2/2 the half note = one beat, therefore the quarter note is the subdivision. Thus there are only two beats per bar, and only two beats are felt or pulsed. So- anything written in 4/4 can also be played in cut time.
The converse is true regarding 2/4 and 2/2 (cut time). They look different but are played exactly the same. In 2/4 quarter note = one beat, eighth note is the subdivision, and there are two beats per bar.
So- the feel is two, the same as 2/2 time. Listen to a performer play a piece written in both cut time and 2/4 time and you can not tell just by listening which time signature he/she is playing unless you are looking directly at the music.
This is then why one sees reels occasionally written in 2/4…music publishers prefer however to print them in 4/4 (which they assume will be interpreteted as 2/2) because it saves lots of printer’s ink…it costs more to print lots of sixteenth notes…
Sorry-I still disagree with your original statement. In Irish trad, hornpipes are played as hornpipes and not as reels (and as far as I know there are no exceptions to this). I play with Cape Breton fiddlers and I have, as yet, to hear them play a hornpipe as a reel…but again, there are always exceptions…
Just to add to the confusion: The approach to playing a hornpipe can be varied. I have heard different Irish musicians, blooded in the tradition, play the same hornpipe quite differently: with pronounced syncopation (which a local piper friend terms “pointy”), smoothed-out and legato, not unlike a reel (which same piper friend terms “round”), and somewhere in between, as if with a slight limp. Another piper/multi-instrumentalist friend tells me that there is a trad term, “the gimp”, among the geezers for this last approach. For me, it depends on the tune, but I lean toward the middle ground.
Hmmm…well, I’d like to know this: are Flowers of Edinburgh and King of the Fairies hornpipes or reels? I’m really not sure…
I must apologize. I, acting the part of the lazy partial thread reader, did not examine Janice’s last post carefully.
Anyway, I think the above quote is incorrect. This may be a correct technical interpretation of the meaning of cut time, but usually four beats are marked in reels, with an extra emphasis on the third beat.
Jig: BUMBLEBEE BUMBLEBEE BUMBLEBEE BUMBLEBEE
Reel: Rutabaga rutabaga rutabaga rutabaga
Hornpipe: Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty
Reels are often played with some hornpipey syncopation, but they are generally faster than hornpipes and with two strong beats per measure. Hornpipes are leisurely and tend to have closer to 4 beats per measure.
Beats me all that stuff about writing reels as 4/4 vs 2/4. Nor do I know what color ink is supposed to be used when the tunes are written on a staff.
Caj [tho I usually see 4/4, in black ink]
Sorry Energy, but anything written in 4/4 can also be played in cut time (2/2) .
Reread my post regarding subdivisions and you’ll understand why.
4/4 and 2/2 look the same but are played (and felt) differently because in 4/4 the quarter = one beat and in 2/2 the half note = one beat.
Concert and field (military) marches are a good example of this; the time signature is often denoted as being in 4/4 OR cut time. Again, this is the reason why reels written in 4/4 can be played in 2/2. They are played in 2/2 because it is assumed that the players ‘know’ to play them in 2/2 instead of 4/4.
I agree, Janice, you’re completely correct. I guess my point was more about the actual rhythmic nature of reels. A lot of the good, traditional musicians play a reel more like ONE-two ONE-two ONE-two ONE-two, in contrast to true cut time which would be ONE-two-three-four-ONE-two-three-four. However, there is also usually a strong emphasis on the third beat in the former rhythmic style, so there is a strong cut time element as well; it’s sort of a combination of the two.
Sorry Energy, but cut time is cut time. Cut time is the same as 2/2, thus no one, two, three four. There are still only two beats per bar, not four. 
Well, then perhaps reels aren’t in true cut time? The shortcomings of sheet music are oft spoken of, and especially when it comes to accurately portraying rhythm.
Why do I get the feeling that the majority of this thread has probably totally confused Guthrum?
~Larry
Which is precisely what I said - that Cape Breton fiddlers make the distinction clearly.
Also if you had read my mail as it is written, you would have seen that I am referring to pieces of music NAMED as hornpipes ie do not take something as a dyed-in-the-wool hornpipe just because it is named as such. NAMES CAN BE DECEPTIVE TOO.
Trisha