I have been playing whistle for some time now and have only attempted slow numbers. I decided to learn a Jig. I chose the Swallowtail Jig because I had the dots and a couple of MP3s. Here’s my problem I can play the notes but I can’t make them sound the way my MP3s sound. How do I get that rhythm, lilt that I am hearing? The first note in a group of three seems to be emphasized but not tongued. How do I learn to play this Jig properly?
Ron the Bewildered
I suspect one aspect of the problem is that a tune will have a different character played slowly than quickly. Do you have slowdown software that will allow you to slow down the cuts you’re trying to play? It can be very revealing.
You might try a jig that slows down nicely – Morrison’s comes to mind. Also Banish Misfortune; there’s a nice MP3 of that on Michael Eskin’s site.
After all that, I don’t think there’s a magic bullet. Think of the jig as in duple time rather than in six, though, with two beats each divided up into three. A big accent at the beginning of the first note and a small accent on the first part of the second. Beyond that, I think it’s largely a matter of listening and practicing.
You can emphasize the jig notes several ways, obviously tonguing, but doing so on every bar would be overkill. Also by glottal stop, which is softer than tonguing, where you close your throat for a moment so you have a slight burst of air to emphasize. Also by a cut between bars really pops out a note.
Mostly, with wind instruments, though, you lengthen the note. Just a little. Not nearly enough to warrant changing its timing value in the sheet music. String instrument players will say, “No, you just play louder, not longer.” They’re wrong. On the whistle, that’s nearly impossible to do without changing pitch. (With the flute, you can adjust embouchure at the same time, so it’s a bit more reasonable to attempt.)
Also, be sure your timing is absolutely hard onto the lead note in the bar. The other notes might slosh a little, especially as you squeeze ornaments in, but that lead note comes in strong just exactly when your foot/the dancer’s feet/the metronome click comes down.
The best way to get the feel for the subtlety of timing is to play with others, the next best is to play along with recorded music, but you really want to start at slower than full speed. If you don’t have good timing at a slow speed, it’ll fall apart at a high speed.
The most important factor, though, really, is to feel the rhythm inside you when you play. Nobody is thinking about subtle tricks of timing when they’re playing along full tilt at the
local session, they’re just feeling the music. So play with the technical possibilities and know your instrument, but try to get the feeling. If you know how it feels, and you know what your instrument is capable of, you can express the feeling through your instrument.
And good luck. 
–Chris
Hi, Ron. Sorry that I can’t help you out with your problem with jigs – it sounds a lot like the question I was asking about slides. Like you, I’m playing all of the right notes but they just don’t have the right feel. I’m sure that the slow tempo is a factor, but I don’t think it’s the only reason they don’t sound right. I think that listening closely to the mp3s and practice is what it’s going to take for me. Wish I could help you out, but please know that you’re not alone in this struggle.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=26102
Cheers,
Will O’Ban
I’ve been asking the same question lately myself, although I’ve been playing jigs for a couple of years. I’ve taken it upon myself to listen really closely recordings by good players. I don’t have a large collection but I have a few good ones.
Sean Potts and Paddy Molony: Tin Whistles–
They are easy to hear because there is little accompaniment. The only problem is they only play two jigs, I think. They tend to not be cemented into one particular way of playing, and in one tune they might play one measure with the lilting feel and the next one they’ll give all three notes equal value, usually also playing them without any tongueing.
Donncha O Briain
He is really easy to hear because there’e only one of him and very little accompaniment. He plays similarly to Potts/ Maloney in terms of changing it up in each tune. He’s really wonderful.
Planxty
When I asked my teacher about this, he pulled out his Planxty CD and played The Hare in the Corn/The Frost is All Over/The Gander in the Pratie Hole. There is a part where they sing “What’ll you do when the kettle boils over” that he said is the thing he thinks about every time he wants to define a jig rhythm.
There! That one cost me $20. You owe me.
Anyway, I’ve landed at a place where I think that each tune requires different treatment, and even each measure requires different treatment. Good players learn the piece by how it sould (I’ll leave this typo in for Amar) sound, not by how it’s written, and they play it that way.
So, can I play that way? Nope. Not yet. It’s a process. I need to listen to about a bazillion more tunes to begin to feel I’m understanding it. And I need to play a bazillion more hours to even start to move in the right direction.
The whistle seems so damn easy.
I´m in there whith you, so I really can´t help a lot, but I do know from other kinds of music I have played that tempo is indeed a very big deal when it comes to getting the right swing of things.
You just cant make “How high the moon” swing in the same way at 120 as you can playing it at 180. It may swing great at any speed, but not in the same way.
As an example a jazz(bop) drummer will play his cymbal pattern very dotted on slow tunes, and the “same” pattern as even eight´s (what´s its name? Halv of quarter-notes?) on up-tempo tunes (240 +)
I guess I´m trying to say that the relative amount of space (or period of time) between notes change when speed go up or down.
I don´t have any knowledge of ITM at all really, but from trying to learn some reels, I think that if you were to really slow down a reel in “a traditional way” for performance, you would tend do do it more dotted. At least that´s how it ounds to me. But I´m on really thin ice now… 
Thanks for the comments here and the email comments. I have been listening to a lot of jigs yesterday and today. I practiced quite a bit today and it is beginning to sound better. I incorporated a lot of the comments you all have made. This may take a while you know what they say about “old dogs and new tricks”. I am using the SlowDowner software and it helps a lot. Now if I can get above 20 beats per minute it may help.
Ron
After many years of playing and teaching Irish music, I have found that learning the music is much like learning a foreign language. You need to immerse yourself in it if you ever expect to become fluent. You’ll never be able to communicate/play clearly if you merely learn from books and tapes. They are one way to supplement your learning, but they are no substitute for the real thing.
Can you find an instructor of any sort in your area? It is THE best way to learn. A fiddle or box instructor, whoever… Anyone who already has the rhythm will be able to help you.
I think if you can find an instructor you will get much faster results and will be more satisfied with your progress.
Good luck, Kate Dowling
First you must be able to sing it. Even if you can’t carry a tune, use your voice to get the
rhythm down. If you can’t sing a rhythm (freeing yourself from worrying about fingering for a time),
you surely won’t be able to play it.
With swallowtail, I read Brother Steve’s writeup (he uses that jig in his section on jigs that
spittin_in_the_wind posted) and listened to his MP3’s. Then, I went around the house for
days singing: “doo-WAH-dle doo-WAH-dle doo-WAH-dle doo-WAH-dle-la”, until my wife was
ready to kill me.
When I later picked up the whistle, I tried tounguing the third note in every group of three,
and slurring the other notes following that one. This put some emphasis BEFORE the beat,
which gives the tune a “leaning forward” feel.