So is the Hornpipe an instrument, a dance, and a song? Is anyone familiar with the history of the Hornpipe? As far as tunes like “Kid on a Mountain” etc… Were these tunes originally played on an actual Hornpipe? Was it a dance that was originally done to Hornpipe music and the dance stayed and the instrument was replaced? What’s up with this thing? :roll:
Check out this link:
http://www.tyrbwlch.freeserve.co.uk/history.htm
and scroll down to where is talks about the “pibgorn”
This gives info on the Instrument but I’m wondering about the relationship with the instrument and what we call a Hornpipe in Irish Music… ie… a reel, jig, and hornpipe etcc..
I can’t find the thread but I read about this somewhere on the forum. I belive the verdict was no relation.
The Kid on the Mountain is not a hornpipe, but a slip jig ( 9/8 time).
Not sure about the relationship to the instrument pictured above, but I recall reading that the dancing Hornpipe was used in the British Navy as a form of exercise for the Sailors ( in case they didn’t get enough exercise climbing ratlines, pumping out the bilges, keelhauling the bosun’s mates, etc). They would get up on deck and dance to the tune- an early day aerobics class!
I can only give a second hand summary of what Peter Laban posted in an earlier thread (that Eldarion is refering to, I think). The instrument and the dance tunes have nothing to do with each other. Nada. The hornpipe (instrument) was a medieval instrument that loooong ago went into disuse. The hornpipe (dance tune) developped in 18th and 19th century in England & Ireland. The tempo and the dotted feel are not reliable means by which to tell a reel from a hornpipe, since hornpipes are sometimes played fast and straight and reels are sometimes played slow and “dotted”. Hornpipes do typically have three quarter-notes at the end of each part, or variations. Think Rights of Man, Harvest Home, Cuckoo’s Nest, Fisher’s, Wicklow Hornpipe, Stack of Barley, Home Ruler, The Sweeps, Boys of Bluehill, Plains of Boyle. That’s unfortunately all the hornpipes I can hum at my desk right now. For others, like Off to California, it’s not as obvious. The usual | 3(ABA GF G2… is really an embellishment of | A2 G2 G2…
Someone correct me if I got this wrong. 
Thanks for summarising that, Iwasn’t really in the mood to go through the motions again.
Came across a reference to Poll Ha’Penny (another hornpipe to add to the list)in Ciaran Carson’s Last night fun. It would have fit in nicely in your thread about names. (go figure that one out now, boys)
On 2002-02-08 07:32, brewerpaul wrote:
I recall reading that the dancing Hornpipe was used in the British Navy as a form of exercise for the Sailors ( in case they didn’t get enough exercise climbing ratlines, pumping out the bilges, keelhauling the bosun’s mates, etc). They would get up on deck and dance to the tune- an early day aerobics class!
I’ve just finished reading a C.S.Forester “Hornblower” novel set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which our gallant Captain and hero has an Irish fiddler play hornpipes while three of the crew have a competition to see who is best.
This is all in an effort to distract them from the fact that their frigate is being slowly pulled by the ship’s boats into firing range of a larger enemy ship during a dead calm.
It must have worked, as when one dancer is splashed with the innards of a spectator killed by a cannonball, he still doesn’t miss a step.
On 2002-02-08 10:29, Peter Laban wrote:
Thanks for summarising that, Iwasn’t really in the mood to go through the motions again.
Came across a reference to Poll Ha’Penny (another hornpipe to add to the list)in Ciaran Carson’s Last night fun. It would have fit in nicely in your thread about names. (go figure that one out now, boys)
Arrgh, I can’t figure it out, Peter. Poll=Polly, I guess. And a girl with money in her name seems somewhat negotiable. But Ha’Penny seems cheap even for a cheap girl…
It must have worked, as when one dancer is splashed with the innards of a spectator killed by a cannonball, he
still doesn’t miss a step.
Wasn’t the dancer spattered with brains rather than spashed with innards? I seem to remember that part quite distinctly.
Sorry, all. :roll:
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-02-08 15:29 ]
On 2002-02-08 15:28, Bloomfield wrote:
On 2002-02-08 10:29, Peter Laban wrote:
(another hornpipe to add to the list)in Ciaran Carson’s Last night fun. It would have fit in nicely in your thread about names. (go figure that one out now, boys)
Arrgh, I can’t figure it out, Peter. Poll=Polly, I guess. And a girl with money in her name seems somewhat negotiable. But Ha’Penny seems cheap even for a cheap girl…
Poll is the Irish for hole, so it’s in the same sort of league as the Four and Six-penny girl and the Maid at the Fair. Maybe cheaper.