Irish Dance Tune Basics...

Whistle
1

I typed this for another thread, but figured I didn’t want to detract too much from it, so decided to start another. This is meant to be a quick primer for beginners, in layman’s terms, and not a full education.

Irish dance tunes have a pulse or beat that you feel inclined to tap your foot to. I think of tunes as having two parts to the rhythm, the first is the pulse, and the second is the actual rhythm of the notes themselves (including rests).

When we refer to jigs, we usually mean double jigs. Double jigs are generally two sets (pulse) of three notes (individual notes). Thus:

| 123 123 | 123 123 |

Note: I bolded the pulse.

A slip jig is made up of THREE sets of three notes, rather than two. In my mind, it’s almost like combining a jig and a waltz. You still have the same 3-note sets, but the pulse feels more like waltz time (like 3/4 time). So it would be like this:

| 123 123 123 | 123 123 123 |

Reels are generally two sets of four notes. So:

| 1234 1234 | 1234 1234 |

Note: The second bolded note in the measure is actually slightly weaker than the first, but still plays a role in making up the pulse.

So, basically find the pulse first. Then listen to the rhythm of the notes themselves. If you hear sets of three notes together, it’s a double jig. If you hear sets of four notes together it’s a reel - unless it’s a hornpipe. :smiley:

A hornpipe is generally similar to a reel on paper, but they are played differently. A reel generally has sort of a driving pulse, where a hornpipe has more of a springy lilt to it.

Examples of each:

Jig - Irish Washerwoman
Slip Jig - A Fig for a Kiss (not consistently 8th notes, but you’ll get the feel)
Reel - The Silver Spear
Hornpipe - Off to California

These are just quick examples that I thought would be fairly easy to find.

Hope that helps!

Feel free to clarify what I’m saying. This is harder to explain with text than I could in person, so maybe someone else can be clearer.

Jason

2

You do a good job explaining the rhythms but a rhythm as written is not the tune, in other words 6/8 as you explain it doesn’t yet make a jig.

You’re dealing with tunes by the bar:

Double jigs are generally two sets (pulse) of three notes (individual notes). Thus:

A good player will deal with a tune by the phrase, which doesn’t quite synchronise with the bar lines.

I am not a great fan of this approach to be honest, and it is put forward here over and over in different forms: watermelon watermelon and the like for example, but in each form it confuses issues of rhythm, beat and pulse and explaining a jig as 123 123 doesn’t help create a clear structure when playing.

The best treatment of the subject was given by Pat Mitchell in his ‘Rhythm and Structure in Irish Dance music’ vol 1 and 2 both published in the Journal of the Sean Reid society. The journal can be had from Na Piobairi Uilleann (it was written with pipers in mind)

3

Thanks Peter - I did the best I could in text. :slight_smile:

And although I didn’t think to mention it, I was actually coming at it from the other direction - as a listener rather than as a player. I was really trying to help beginners identify the types of tunes when listening, and I know I didn’t make that clear in my post. Sorry if I caused any confusion.

I know we’re mostly players here, but to be a good player you have to be a good listener first.

Jason

4

I think there’s truth on both sides here. There’s both an underlying, mental pulse that defines the basic rhythm, and a phrasal punctuation that defines the tune. And it’s the playing off of the one against the other in complex counter-rhythms that can really lift and separate.

Here’s an example from Peter himself of what he’s talking about:
http://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/shandonbellsnf.html

5

This is frequently said but only part of the story. A good player is also a good imitator. Try imitating a bird call or impersonating a well known personality and you’ll find yourself going much further than simply restating the basic melody or the words (e.g., tone, dynamics, improvisation). Now apply some of that approach to your playing.

Pulse, rhythm, watermelons, jiggities, dots, and call-response phrasing are all useful constructs, especially for musical analyses and discussion purposes. But the goal, after achieving the basic mechanics of the instrument, is in fact imitation.

(It goes without saying that a great player is more than an imitator.)

6

Hello Peter. Could you please point us to a link? Is it available in the library? I tried a search at NPU site but couldn’t find it. :confused:

Thanks

7

This will probably get me slagged by Peter but for Irish reels I find that this basic rhythm is the more prevalent.

|1234 1234|

David

edited to make the 3s show up better

8

watermelons???

and back when I used to dance, we’d count the bars as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
I think thats how long each foot of a step took

annnd how are you counting with 1 2 3 4??

9

| anaCONda anaCONda | anaCONda anaCONda |


10

How true ! On so many levels ! :slight_smile: