I’m fairly new to the music world, started playing in January of '04. With that said, I haven’t the greatest knowledge on sheet music. Some, but not a whole lot. Anyways, I was wondering what the difference is between a Jig and Slip-jig. Thanks,
Eric
Hmmmm. Just to get the ball rolling…
It seems there are single jigs, double jigs, and slip jigs. They’re all triple rhythms. Generally, notes are grouped in threes, giving you “jiggedy-jiggedy” each measure. Tap your foot every “j.”
Frankly, I’m not that clear on the difference between the first two–they’re both written 6/8.
Reels, written as 4/4 or 2/2, generally go racing off in a quadruple rhythm–watermelon-watermelon. Tap on the “w.”
Slip jigs, written 9/8, are a triple squared–jiggedy-jiggedy-jiggedy.
That said, it’s more than a matter of how many notes there are in a measure and where you tap your foot. Slip jigs have a different feel to them. I think the extra jiggedy to every measure is a little like using longer words to express your thought. Everything gets said, but the cadence is different somehow.
To keep the rhythms apart, you can stay with fruit, if you like (as you started with watermelons… 
).
A jig (6/8 time) would then be: apples and oranges, apples and oranges, …
A slipjig (9/8 time) would be: apples and oranges fill you up, apples and oranges fill you up, …
A good training for fast speech on top of that… 
“Oranges” only works if you pronounce it with three syllables, which personally I don’t in my crazy mixed up accent. I’ve always used apricots for jigs.
It’s not just an extra jiggedy stuck in there; the character is very different. Think of waltz time with triplets instead of two eighth notes in each beat. Slips jigs more flow than bounce.
A slip jig is also a step dance form, danced only by women in soft shoes. Very elegant – it’s how one imagines fairies would dance.
If you want to get a good feel for the differences in dance forms, get this CD – http://www.culkinschool.com/music.htm ; it’s a training CD for dancers, but it’s got good tunes, too.
A double jig has the basic rythmic pattern of six eighth notes in a row, like your “jiggedy jiggedy whatever” example. A single jig, on the other hand, uses a variation of the pattern 12 3 45 6…that is to say, a quarter note, then an eighth note twice in a row…at least, I think.. 
Double Jigs: 6/8 time “diddly-diddly diddly-diddly” sounding, 2 sets of triplets of 8th notes per measure
Slip Jigs: 9/8 time “pineapple, pineapple, pineapple” sounding, 3 sets of triplets per measure.
Slides: 12/8 time sometimes called single jigs and sometimes written in 6/8 time. Slides are played very quickly and I’ve heard some say that single jigs are played a little slower. Slides have a humpty dumpty sound, like…“Dum, die diddly, Dum, dee dum”
Hi Avanutria,
I see you are still travelling arround…must be great fun.
I’m curious. How do you pronounce the word “oranges” if not with three syllables? I grew up in Orange County, CA, and had an orange tree in the back yard. We drank lots of orange juice. I also used to shoot the oranges with my BB gun. But we always pronounced it o-ran-ges. I’d love to learn another way to pronounce it.
Take care
John Palmer
My grandmother pronounces it ORN-JEZ
Around here it approaches one syllable. I don’t know quite how to write it but something like: ornj.
Ron