Hey I know you have heard this question probably 200 times by now. But what is the difference between a jig and a reel? Is it a rythym thing? Is a jig a song that is in 6/8?
Thanks
But what is the difference between a jig and a reel?
Irish traditional music is an aural (not written) tradition. Why not just listen to some jigs and reels and discover the difference for yourself? (If you can’t hear the difference, then it doesn’t matter.)
Spend an hour or three browsing about in Clips & Snips.
All will be revealed.
Slan,
D.
http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/index.htm
Best wishes,
Jerry
Of course, listening to Clip & Snips it becomes painfully obvious that not everybody represented there knows the difference between a jig and a reel. 
Therefore it would be best to listen only to those who do understand the distinction. In this respect Tony Higgins comes to mind, although he is by no means the only knowledgeable as well as accomplished player.
Ouch!
Mick Woodruff is excellent too. http://fingertrip.net/
Also Azalin, Peter Laban, Teri Kessler, and several others. Unfortunately I’ve heard a few jigs in Clips & Snips which are just one note after another, played expressionless as if they had been learned from a MIDI, with no indication whatsoever of the characteristic rhythm.
Here are some tune types, their meters, and the ways they can be distinguished:
Double jig – fast 6/8 time, with a majority of measures having 6 8th-notes in two groups of three; has a “DUM-de-dum dum-de-dum” feel.
Single Jig – fast 6/8 time, with a recurring pattern of a quarter-note followed by an eighth-note; has a “RONK-de dum-de-dum RONK-de dum-de-dum” feel.
Slip (or Hop) JIg – fast 9/8 time, three groups of three eighth-notes per measure.
Slide – fast 12/9 time, four groups of three eighth-notes per measure.
Reel – 4/4 time, played very fast (1 strongly accented beat per measure). Usually played straight or with only a moderate amount of swing.
Hornipie – 4/4 time, played at a more moderate tempo, 1 strongly and 1 weakly accented beat per measure, usually played with a moderate to heavy amount of swing.
Waltz – 3/4 time, played at a moderate to quick tempo, with a strong accent on the first beat of each measure.
Mazurka – 3/4 time, played at a moderate tempo, with a strong accent on the 2nd beat of each measure.
Polka-- 2/4 time, played at a quick tempo, with 1 strongly accented beat per measure.
These are some of the basic tune-types; there are many others.
–James
Sometime ago, I learned a reel and then I saw several websites saying it’s a jig and others classified it as something else. Now I don’t care anymore. (which is probably bad)
I doubt that anyone is confusing reels and jigs. But there are several reels that share the names of jigs, and vice versa. That gets confusing.
IMO this is a bit misleading. Even though it’s common to write reels in 4/4 (I notice I do it all the time without thinking about it) they are very clearly in 2/2, with two beats per measure. The first beat is accented a bit more than the second, but not terribly so – maybe like 25% more.
Actually, in the wider world of trad music, it’s not that uncommon to mix-up the tune types. The example that comes to mind is “Farewell’s Reel”, which is a jig by Emile Benoit, but I’m pretty sure there are quite a few similar examples out there.
You are exactly correct on this; I stand corrected.
The first beat is accented a bit more than the second, but not terribly so – maybe like 25% more.
This depends both on the reel and the player, but you are again correct, and I do play them that way.
–James
James: “RONK”???
As for 4/4 or 2/2 for reels, it’s all in the playing. You can play a reel “one two THREE four”, too, which is something I like to do because the flute allows it. Varying the emphases in the course of playing a tune isn’t out of the question, which is perhaps why the 4/4 designation serves well.
Edited to add that reels are not necessarily played very fast; in fact, the slow reel is a valid form in itself.
Once upon a time, someone special to me heard me playing “A Fig for a Kiss”–names are omitted to avoid embarassing anyone like for instance my sweet wife 
--and started imitating the slip jig with a kind of impromptu solfegio: “RONK-ti-tonk, a-Rugged-a RONK-ti-tonk…” 
So now that is just a natural syllable for me to think of. Also she called the piece “The Dinosaur & the Butterfly,” which stuck; about half the time now I refer to it as that without thinking of it. 
Edited to add that reels are not necessarily played very fast; in fact, the slow reel is a valid form in itself.
True, but even a “slow” reel moves along at a pretty decent moderato. I think a lot of the relaxed feel of a slow reel has as much to do with the way you feel it and play it as with the actual tempo.
–James
I stand corrected. I also remember that there are hornpipes that are played with a lilt and those that are played straight, like a rell. This is confusing too.
The bottom line is, there is no guideline or roadmap or shortcut mnemonic. It takes years to learn it, one wonderful tune at a time.
if you can hear a rhythm going :
1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4..etc, then it’s a reel.
if you can hear a rhythm going:
JigedyJigedyJigedy…well, then it’s a Jig.
Pace make the reel fast or slow. Not wanting to nitpick, but take, for example, L. Nugent’s playing of The Windy Gap (which is also known as Far from Home) followed by Lady Anne Montgomery (track 9 on his 3rd album The Windy Gap). I don’t know if that’s moderato or not, but, to credit your point, it’s WAY relaxed for sure! Slow, even. Same thing with track 4 on the same album, Cuz Tehan’s/The Old Grand Spey. On the other hand, Marcas Ó Murchú also played Fir an Ghuail (The Coal Miners) as a slow reel on his album Ó Bhéal go Béal, but at a slightly faster clip than the abovementioned, and the feel was more deliberate and even jaunty despite the pace. I don’t know from moderato. Maybe these reels are such. In any case, they’re slow to me.
2/2 versus 4/4 doesn’t really have anything to do with emphasis; it’s about where the pulse of the music is. Heck, it’s pretty common for Sligo flute players to play “one AND two AND” – but I guarantee you if you counted out “one two three four” to start a reel, they’d think you just counted two measures of music. Reels have two beats to a measure, it’s as simple as that.
(Okay, being the picky bastard that I am, I feel obliged to point out that there are occasional exceptions – there’s a great Emile Benoit reel whose B part is in 3/2, for instance, and some nice French-Canadian tunes that drop a beat.)
Only for those grounded in standard Western music theory. I’m not. See, if you’re thinking “one-and-two-and”, what you’re saying makes sense especially since you specified that angle of thinking. Without that, any number of people might have misunderstood. It’s not something that’s self-evident; not all musicians have theory. It doesn’t make them lesser ones for it, just not on the same page when it comes to talking shop. For me, every note’s a beat. It’s for me to emphasise it or not. Every now and then I have to remember to think differently when I’m dealing with formally trained musicians for communication’s sake. The job gets done all the same, in any case.