OK…so if you ask me to define a single jig, a double jig, a slip jig or a slide, I can pretty much tell you what those mean in musical terms, and even play you an example of each . What I haven’t been able to figure out, however, is what makes a reel a reel and what makes a hornpipe a hornpipe.
I went to my trusty music dictionary, but it wasn’t much help, as it defined those words only in terms of the dances traditionally done to them (if anyone’s curious, a “reel” is a dance in which two lines of dancers face each other and couples take turns dancing down the middle. A “hornpipe” is any number of country dances traditionally accompanied by an apparently extinct single-reed instrument called…tah dah! A hornpipe. So much for that). There’s nothing about the meter or note pattern that distinguishes reel tunes and hornpipe tunes from any other tune, other than the caveat that reels are often “played very fast.”
I then went to Clips ‘n’ Snips, hoping I could figure it out myself if I listened to enough of each. That only confused matters further…especially as at least one of the tunes on the “Reels” page is actually a double jig (Swallowtail)!
So, can someone out there tell me in musical terms what makes a reel a reel and a hornpipe a hornpipe?
Well, like most definitions where Irish music is concerned, these only approximate the truth, but here goes:
A reel is played quickly with a strong accent on 1 and a weak accent on 3, if any. The rhythm is straight or has only a slight swing.
A hornpipe is played at a moderatly fast tempo, with an accent on 1 and a stronger accent on 3. The rhythm has more of a swing (although I have heard some big names play them straight, go figure), and there is a characteristic pattern of 3 quarter notes (or some subdivision of that) at each cadence.
This is my understanding only. If any of this is incorrect or incomplete, please post corrections here, to the benefit of us all.
This has come up a few times in the past, and I remember one thread in particular in which I learned from Peter L’s posts that speed and lilt aren’t reliable means by which to really tell a reel from a hornpipe: Reels may be slow and lilted, Hornpipes (pretty) straight and fast.
The closest you can get to a distinguishing mark is the stylistic feature of hornpipes of ending on three quarter notes (or variations). Think of the end of Rights of Man: e2E2E2z2. Or the Homeruler, Delahunty’s (Wicklow), any number of them. If you think about it, I think you’ll agree that it’s characteristic for hornpipes not for reels, even if there are exceptions.
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-10-25 19:54 ]
reels- 8 bars per part
hornpipe- 16 bars per part
That’s from piping/drumming school, Brian Yates’s class
I remember him also saying that a hornpipe makes imagine a jump up and down movement.Reels don’t.
Does this make any sense at all to you? It sure sounded logical at the time.
–quote–
I remember him also saying that a hornpipe makes imagine a jump up and down movement.Reels don’t. Does this make any sense at all to you? It sure sounded logical at the time.
–endquote–
That makes perfect sense, and it servers to remind me of one of the most important differences I forgot to mention:
Movement in reels is more stepwise; movement in hornpipes is more in thirds.
It is true, however, that the lines blur, and you can certainly make some reels sound much like a hornpipe and some hornpipes sound much like a reel.
. What I haven’t been able to figure out, however, is what makes a reel a reel and what makes a hornpipe a hornpipe.
