Adam Sweet: double jigs

Showing posts with label double jigs. Show all posts

Brostuig Go Dti an Posad aka Haste To The Wedding (Double Jig)

Haste To The Wedding

HASTE TO THE WEDDING [1] (Brostuig Go Dti an Posad). AKA and see "Carrick Fergus," "Carrickfergus (1)," "Come Haste to the Wedding," "Croagh Patrick," "Rural Felicity (1)," "Long Eight (The)," "Perry's Victory (2)" (American), "Footprints," "Granny Plays the Fiddle," "Quadrille Canadien (Boulay) 3ème partie," "Quadrille des seigneurs 1ère partie," "Trip to the Dargle (A)," "Trip to the Gargle (A)," "Let Brainspinning Swains," "Small Pin Cushion (The)." Ireland, Britain, New England, American, Canadian; Jig, Country Dance, Long Dance (Irish), Morris Dance Tune, or Quadrille (meaning 6/8 tunes from Midwestern USA). D Major (most versions): C Major (Harding's, Robbins, Sharp): F Major (Bacon-Adderbury): G Major (Bacon-Brackley): A Major (Cranford). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Bacon-Adderbury, Bayard, Harding, Kerr): ABB, x4 (Bacon, Mallinson): AABB (most versions): AA'BB' (Cranford): ABCD (Bayard {Marr}).

The tune "Come, Haste to the Wedding" was introduced in the pantomime, The Elopement, staged in London in 1767. The first stanzas to the song from the production begin:

Come haste to the wedding, ye friends and ye neighbours,

The lovers their bliss can no longer delay;

Forget all your sorrows, your care, and your labours,

And let ev'ry heart beat with rapture to-day:

Ye votaries all, attend to my call,

Come revel in pleasures that never can cloy:

Come, see rural felicity,

Which love and innocence ever enjoy.

Let envy, let pride, let hate and ambition,

Still crowd to, and beat at the breast of the great;

To such wretched passions we give no admission,

But leave them laone to the wise-ones of state;

We boast of no wealth, but contentment and health,

In mirth and in friendship our moments employ.

Come see ruraly felicity, &c.

This version was sometimes known as the Manx tune and was printed by the Percy Society in 1846, but it appears as well in numerous songsters of the late 18th and 19th centuries, including The Jovial Songster (1800), The Nightingale (1802) and Charles Wilson's The Myrtle and Vine; or, Complete Vocal Library (1803). It is the basis of the Manx ballad, 'The Capture of Carrickfergusby,' written by Thurot in 1760 (Linscott, 1939). Samuel Bayard (1944, 1981) comments on the popularity of the air over the past two centuries as well as the tenacity of the main title to stick with the tune. When Chappell printed his well-known set in National English Airs (1840, I, No. 163; notes, II, 129; reprinted in JEFDSS, III, 210), he traced the tune to the year 1767, when it was used in pantomime, to a song beginning 'Come, haste to the wedding, ye friends and ye neighbors!' This version of the air, continues Bayard, is still the earliest known, and it may be that the popularity of the song occasioned the fixed quality of the title. In his 1944 work Bayard poses the question as to whether the words were included in the original pantomime as a result of its associations, or whether the later uses of the tune secured it. However, the tune's appearance under the title "Small Pin Cushion (The)" in cellist-composer James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 10 (London, 1760), and the Manx "Capture of Carrickferusby" both predate the pantomime. At best, the provenance of the tune is yet to be discovered although it would appear to have Gaelic origins, and it may even be that it was Oswald's composition.

If the tune at first achieved popularity as a stage piece, it was soon after quickly disseminated, entering folk tradition. Chappell noted that the tune was "more frequently to be heard upon the chimes of country churches than any other, and usually played when a wedding is about to take place." Caoimhin Mac Aoidh (1994) reports that in County Donegal tradition a bride was 'hauled' (marched) from her house to the chapel along with her family and guests, led by a fiddler playing this tune. An early manuscript appears ance of the jig is in Lincoln fiddler William Clark's c. 1770 music copybook (No. 25). Morris dancers picked up the melody and morris dance versions have been collected from the villages of Adderbury (Oxfordshiere), Brackley (Northamptonshire), and Headington (Oxfordshire) in England's Cotswolds. The author of English Folk-Song and Dance found the melody in the repertoire of fiddler William Tilbury (who lived at Pitch Place, midway between Churt and Tilbury in Surrey), who used, in younger days, to play at village dances. Tilbury learned his repertoire from an uncle, Fiddler Hammond, who died around 1870 and who had been the village fiddler before him. The conclusion was that "Haste to the Wedding" and other country dance tune of similar type had survived in English tradition (at least in southwest Surrey) well into the second half of the 19th century. In northern Ireland "Haste" is often the first tune played in a set (along with "Leslie's Hornpipe" and "German Beau (The)") for the set dance The Three Tunes, which dates to the ceili dance revival of the 1930's. Dance instructions are printed by Keegan (2002).

In North America the piece also has a long history. "Haste" appears in late 18th century music copybooks such as those of Captain George Bush and Henry Livingston. The latter purchased the estate of Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1771 at the age of 23. In 1775 he was a Major in the 3rd New York Regiment, which participated in Montgomery's invasion of Canada in a failed attempt to wrest Montreal from British control. An important land-owner in the Hudson Valley, and a member of the powerful Livingston family, Henry was also a surveyor and real estate speculator, an illustrator and map-maker, and a Justice of the Peace for Dutchess County. He was also a poet and musician, and presumably a dancer, as he was elected a Manager for the New York Assembly's dancing season of 1774–1775, along with his 3rd cousin, John Jay, later U.S. Chief Justice of Governor of New York. It was printed by Howe in his Musician's Omnibus of 1850, and in his School for the Fife in 1851. "Come Haste to the Wedding" was entered into the music copybook of American musician M.E. Eames, 1859 (p. 73). Burchenal published it under the title "Green Mountain Volunteers" along with a New England contra dance by the same name. It was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's, and also was recorded by Herbert Halpert for the same institution in 1939 from the playing of a Lauderdale County, Mississippi, fiddler named Stephen B. Tucker. The title appears in a list of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham's repertoire (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's) and it was a favorite dance tune in western New York at the turn of the century (according to Bronner's source, Milo Kouf). As "Hasten to the Wedding" it was mentioned in an account of a fiddlers' convention at the Pike County Fairgrounds in the Troy Herald of July 6th, 1926. Winston Wilkinson ("Virginia Dance Tunes," Southern Folklore Quarterly, VI, 1, March, 1942) calls it "one of the best-loved tunes in Virginia." He collected it from Albermarle County fiddler James H. "Uncle Jim" Chisholm, who had played it and other tunes in the 1930's at the White House for President and Mrs. Roosevelt. Fiddlers in the Appalachians seldom knew or played 6/8 time tunes--when they did, however, this "Haste to the Wedding" was one of the most frequently played.

Canadian renditions of the jig were recorded early in the 78 RPM era. Fiddler Arthur Joseph Boulay (1883-1948) recorded a faithful solo version in November, 1923, for Victor Records under the title "Quadrille Canadien (Boulay) 3ème partie," and in 1929 Montreal fiddler J.O. LaMadeleine recorded an interesting 'crooked' (irregular meter) version as the first figure in a quadrille set entitled "Quadrille des seigneurs 1ère partie" (Quadrille of the Lords).

The following passage is from A Contribution to the History of the Huguenots of South Carolina (1887) by Samuel Dubose and Frederick Porcher. It describes a country dance in Craven County, South Carolina in the early 1800's:

Nothing can be imagined more simple or more fascinating that those Pineville balls. Bear in mind, reader, that we are discussing old Pineville as it existed prior to 1836. No love of display governed the preparations; no vain attempt to outshine a competitor in the world of fashion. Refreshments were provided of the simplest character, such only as the unusual exercise, and sitting beyond the usual hours of repose, would fairly warrant. Nothing to tempt the pampered appetite. Cards were usually provided to keep the elderly gentlemen quite, and the music was only that which the gentlemen's servants could produce. The company assembled early. No one ever though of waiting until bedtime to dress for the ball; a country-dance always commenced the entertainment. The lady who stood at the head of the dancers was entitled to call for the figure, and the old airs, Ca Ira, Moneymusk, Haste to the Wedding, and La Belle Catharine were popular and familiar in Pineville long after they had been forgotten, as dances, everywhere else.

An odd alternate title called "Trip to the Gargle (A)" appears in O'Neill's 1001 Gems (probably a corruption of "Trip to the Dargle (A)") while as "Carrickfergus (1)" it appears in Brysson's A Curious Selection of Favourite Tunes with Variations to which is appended Fifty Favourite Irish Airs (Edinburgh, 1790). The classical composer Camille Saint Saens used "Haste to the Wedding" in his opera Henry VIII, and John Powell employed a variant he collected from Mrs. John Hunter, a Virginia fiddler, in the last movement of his symphonic composition Set of Three (Wilkinson). The English novelist Thomas Hardy, himself an accordion player and fiddler, mentions "Haste to the Wedding" in Under the Greenwood Tree as one of the tunes the wedding-guests danced to after the marriage of Dick and Fancy

Brostuig Go Dti an Posad aka Haste To The Wedding (Double Jig)

Haste To The Wedding

The tune "Come, Haste to the Wedding" was introduced in the pantomime, The Elopement, staged in London in 1767. The first stanzas to the song from the production begin:

Come haste to the wedding, ye friends and ye neighbours,

The lovers their bliss can no longer delay;

Forget all your sorrows, your care, and your labours,

And let ev'ry heart beat with rapture to-day:

Ye votaries all, attend to my call,

Come revel in pleasures that never can cloy:

Come, see rural felicity,

Which love and innocence ever enjoy.

Let envy, let pride, let hate and ambition,

Still crowd to, and beat at the breast of the great;

To such wretched passions we give no admission,

But leave them laone to the wise-ones of state;

We boast of no wealth, but contentment and health,

In mirth and in friendship our moments employ.

Come see ruraly felicity, &c.

Dance Forms: What are Jigs?

Jigs are dance forms that are comprised of 6 eighth notes per measure, 9 eighth notes per measure or 12 eighth notes per measure:

6/8
9/8
12/8

The Coleraine - Single Jig

Single Jigs usually emphasize the 1 and the 4 beats per measure and the pattern is usually some form of quarter note, eighth note pattern. Here are some of my own versions of single jigs

Clumsy Lover Jig

Double Jigs usually de-emphasize the 1 and 4 beats, allowing all 6 notes to be played in the measure

Here are some of my own versions of Double Jigs

The Butterfly/Kid on the Mountain

Slip Jigs are in 9/8, which means they have an "extra" beat like a "hop", which is why they are often called Hop Jigs. They can vary between the quarter note/eighth note pattern of single jigs. Here are some of my own versions of my favorite slip jigs.

Merrily Kissed The Quaker

Slides are in 12/8 and can sound like the double jig (6/8) or single jig, but never like the slip jig (9/8) Examples:

Dance Forms: What are Jigs?

Jigs are dance forms that are comprised of 6 eighth notes per measure, 9 eighth notes per measure or 12 eighth notes per measure:

6/8
9/8
12/8

The Coleraine - Single Jig

Single Jigs usually emphasize the 1 and the 4 beats per measure and the pattern is usually some form of quarter note, eighth note pattern. Here are some of my own versions of single jigs

Clumsy Lover Jig

Double Jigs usually de-emphasize the 1 and 4 beats, allowing all 6 notes to be played in the measure

Here are some of my own versions of Double Jigs

The Butterfly/Kid on the Mountain

Merrily Kissed The Quaker

Slides are in 12/8 and can sound like the double jig (6/8) or single jig, but never like the slip jig (9/8) Examples:

Ab Gabhal siúlach aka The Rambling Pitchfork, also Baxter's Big, Fisherman's Jig, The Friendly Neighbor, Roland's Return

RAMBLING PITCHFORK, THE (Ab Gabhal siúlach). AKA and see “Baxter's Big,” “Fisherman's Jig,” "Fisherman's Widow (The),” “Friendly Neighbor (The),” "Guertin Boys," "Píce Fánach (An)," "Roland's Return," “St. Patrick's Day in the Evening, "Wedding Trip.” Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). D Minor (Goodman, Levey): D Major (most versions): G Major (Kerr). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Kerr): AABB (Cranitch, Levey, Mallinson, Taylor/Tweed): AABB' (Allens): AA'BB' (Alewine). The title “Rambling Pitchfork” refers to an itinerant farm laborer, in the same sense that ‘hired gun’ refers to a mercenary—-in other words, the main implement of one's occupation stands for the individual. An early recording of the tune, under the title “Lambert's (Jig),” was by the Ballinakill (Co. Galway) Traditional Dance Players, in London, 1931. The renowned County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman recorded it in New York in 1921 in the 78 RPM era, as did accordion player Michael J. Conlon a few years later. Piper Tom Ennis, with fiddler James Morrison, recorded "Rambling Pitchfork" for Columbia Records in 1922, albeit under the title "Wedding Trip." Fiddler Paddy Killoran also recorded the tune in New York in 1937, but called it "Guertin Boys" after a small town in his native south County Sligo. The jig appears in the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork uilleann piper and Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman [1], set in the key of D minor, and was nearly identically reproduced under the title "Roland's Return" in Frank Roche's Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1 (1912). First strain cognates can also be found in "Humors of Castlelyons (The)" and "Patrick Maloney's Favorite."

The tune was famously paired with “Sporting Pitchfork (The)” on the 1978 Paddy Glackin/Paddy Keenan album (Doublin’), the medley being known as The Pitchforks. Kilmaley, County Clare, fiddler, flute player and uilleann piper Peader O’Loughlin remembers that the famous Milltown Malbay, County Clare, piper Willie Clancy loved to dance the “Rambling Pitchfork.” “Willie was one of them, Willie Clancy that could do the step great.” Clancy played the tune “in his mouth” (i.e. by mouth-music) as he danced it, and always incorporated the rolls and triplets which corresponded to the dance steps. “Peader understood that when Clancy played the “Rambling Pitchfork” on the pipes that he imagined himself dancing out the steps simultaneously” (Charlie Piggott, Blooming Meadows, 1998, p. 170).

Printed sources : - Alewine (Maid that Cut Off the Chicken’s Lips), 1987; p. 30. Cranitch (Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; p. 56. Giblin (Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music), 1928; 69. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; No. 38, p. 39. R.M. Levey (First Collection of the Dance Music of Ireland), 1858; No. 21, p. 9. Mallinson (100 Enduring), 1995; No. 45, p. 19. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler) c. 1920’s, No. 22, p. 6. Songer (Portland Collection, vol. 2), 2005; p. 164. Taylor (Traditional Irish Music: Karen Tweed’s Irish Choice), 1994; p. 6.

Recorded sources : - Capelhouse Records, James Kelly – “Traditional Irish Music” (1996). Columbia A3773 (78 RPM), Tom Ennis & James Morrison (1922. Appears as "Wedding Trip", the last tune in a medley with "Maid on the Green" and "Trip to the Cottage"). Copley 9-194-A (78 RPM), Felix Doran (c. 1950's). Decca 12095 (78 RPM), Paddy Killoran (1937 as "Guertin Boys"). Folktrax FTX-154, Michael Coleman - "Stack of Barley & Wheat." Gael-Linn CEF 045, “Paddy Keenan” (1975). Great Meadow Music GMM 2003, “Rodney Miller’s Airdance” (2000). Green Linnet SIF 3018, Matt Molloy, Sean Keane & Tommy Peoples – “Molloy, Keane & Peoples.” Shanachie 79093, Paddy Glackin & Robbie Hannan – “The Whirlwind” (1995. Learned from the McLaughlin brothers, piper Joe and fiddler Dermot, of Derry). Tara 2007, Paddy Glackin & Paddy Keenan - “Doublin’” (1978). Mary Custy – “After 10:30.” Topic TSCD 602, Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players – “Irish Dance Music” (1995. A reissue of the 1931 original, titled “Lambert’s” on the recording). Viva Voce CEFCD 161, "Michael Coleman 1891-1945" (1992. Reissue recordings). Vocalion 14492A (78 RPM), Michael Coleman (1921).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [3]
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [4]
Hear the 1949 Copley Records recording by piper Felix Doran at the Internet Archive [5] [6]
Hear the 1937 Decca Records recording by fiddler Paddy Killoran at the Internet Archive (2nd tune, "Guertin Boys," following "Leitrim Jig") [7] [8]

Ab Gabhal siúlach aka The Rambling Pitchfork, also Baxter's Big, Fisherman's Jig, The Friendly Neighbor, Roland's Return

The Jig of Slurs by Pipe Major George Stewart MacLennan of Aberdeen, Scotland

JIG OF SLURS. Scottish (originally), Irish; Jig. Ireland, County Donegal. D Major ('A' and 'B' parts) & G Major ('C' and 'D' parts). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. Composed by the great Highland bagpiper Pipe Major G. S. (George Stewart) MacLennan (1883-1927) of Aberdeen, who knew a good composition when it occurred to him. He wrote in 1910:

My Jig o' Slurs I'm extremely proud of, not of course as a tune with a fine melody but for its grand execution. I do not know of a tune which is nearly as difficult or requires such a nimble finger to play. The person who can play it through two or three times without missing a slur has no cause to be ashamed of his fingers.

The melody is played on the bagpipes with a series of roles, with the title "Jig o' Slurs" descriptive of its almost nonstop series of these rolls separating two melody notes. The tune has been a staple of Scottish music sessions, and many Irish as well, so much so that it occasionally has been called, by session wags, the "Jar of Slugs." It is often paired in sessions with "Atholl Highlanders (The)." The has also been used as a vehicle for American contra dancing. Words have been written the tune by Andy Hunter for a song called "Up and Awa' Wi' the Laverock" (the laverock is a skylark), referencing the holiday of an angler. The refrain, set to the fourth part of the tune, goes:

Up and awa' and awa' wi' the laverock

Up and awa' and awa' in the mornin'

Up and awa' and awa' wi' the laverock

Up and awa' tae the hills wi' me.

"Jig of Slurs" is occasionally played with a fifth strain, the first six bars of which are shared with Scottish accordion player Bobby MacLeod's 2/4 march "Seamus MacNeil." This is a modern migration (as MacLeod composed his tune in the middle of the 20th century), and not generally part of "Jig of Slurs" in Scottish piping tradition.

Additional notes
Printed sources : - Martin (Ceol na Fidhle, vol. 1), 1991; p. 42. Songer (Portland Collection, vol. 2), 2005; p. 101.

Recorded sources: -Nimbus NI 5320, Ciaran Tourish et al - "Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal" (1991). Plant Life Records PLR-017, "The Tannahill Weavers" (1979). Wild Asparagus 003, Wild Asparagus - "Tone Roads" (1990). Janet Russell & Christine Kydd - "Dancin' Chantin'" (song, "Up and Awa' Wi' the Laverock").

The Jig of Slurs by Pipe Major George Stewart MacLennan of Aberdeen, Scotland

Up and awa' and awa' wi' the laverock

Up and awa' and awa' in the mornin'

Up and awa' and awa' wi' the laverock

Up and awa' tae the hills wi' me.

Additional notes
Printed sources : - Martin (Ceol na Fidhle, vol. 1), 1991; p. 42. Songer (Portland Collection, vol. 2), 2005; p. 101.

Mo muirnin 'sa codlad aka My Darling Asleep (double jig)

MY DARLING ASLEEP (Mo muirnin 'sa codlad). Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (most versions): AABBCC (Harker/Rafferty). A popular Irish session tune; so much so, in fact, that it is sometimes seen as hackneyed, leading some wags to call it "My Darling's a Sheep." Chief Francis O'Neill originally collected the tune from Abram Beamish as "My Darling in Bed," but amended the title when he included it in MOI so as to preclude any suggestive connotations. In a letter[1] to Bernard Bogue (5/28/1917) O'Neill wrote:

A rare tune unknown to all of us named “My darling in bed” was noted down from the playing of Abram S. Beamish (born within 5 miles of my birthplace in West Cork). For obvious reasons the title was modified to "My Darling Asleep."

Robin Williamson's source for the tune, Leo Rowsome, died in 1970 after establishing himself as a key figure in Irish piping, both as a player and maker of pipes. Rowsome recorded the jig in 1948, but the first sound recording of "My Darling's Asleep" was by Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band, in 1929. Sullivan's band recorded some 106 sides in the 78 RPM era, a prolific output. Personnel included Sullivan on piano, Murty Rabbett on piccolo, Neil Nolan on banjo, and George Tapley on accordion.

Some see similarities in "Wink of Her Eye (2) (The)," "Bold John O'Leary."

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - piper Leo Rowsome (Ireland) [Williamson]; Abram Sweetman Beamish, a native of the adjoining parish to that of Caheragh, County Cork, where Francis O'Neill was born--although O'Neill got seven tunes from Beamish, only the "Fairhaired Boy (1) (The)" and "Tie the Bonnet" were previously known to him despite their common place of origin [O'Neill]; set dance music recorded at Na Píobairí Uilleann in the late 1980's [Taylor]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926, who had his unusual three-part version from fiddler Aggie Whyte [Harker].

Printed sources : - Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 244, p. 141. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 220, p. 68. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 6: Jigs), 1982 (revised 1989, 2001); p. 11. Jordan (Whistle and Sing), 1975; 47. Mallinson (100 Essential), 1995; No. 87, p. 38. O'Brien (Jerry O'Brien's Accordion Instructor), 1949. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 43. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 925, p. 172. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 159, p. 41. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 145. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Blue Book), 1995; p. 1. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; p. 36. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 78.

Recorded sources : - Claddagh Records, CC11, Rowsome on "The Drones and the Chanters." Green Linnett SIF3012, Martin O'Connor - "The Connachtman's Rambles" (1979). Topic Records TSCD471, Leo Rowsome - "Classics of Irish Piping." Victor V 29046 (78 RPM), Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band (1929).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
Hear Leo Rowsome's 1948 recording on youtube.com [3]
Hear Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band's 1929 recording at the Comhaltas Archive [4]

Mo muirnin 'sa codlad aka My Darling Asleep (double jig)

After The Fall - A Jig

I wrote this jig in September, 2014 after a wonderful summer filled with glorious hikes, a wonderful trip to Maine and multiple excursions with my youngest child on our bikes.

To download, right-click and "save as" to your desktop, or hold down CTRL + P to print

A great description of Irish Jigs from Chief O'Neill

Most Irish jigs in six-eight time are “Double Jigs,” commonly termed “Doubles” in Leimster and some other parts of Ireland. Such jigs are also popularly known, at least in Munster, by the appellation of Moinin or Moneen jigs, a term derived from the Irish word moin - a bog, grassy sod, or green turf - because at the fairs, races, hurling matches, and other holiday assemblages, it was always danced on the choicest green spot or moinin that could be selected in the neighborhood. A separate classification of “Single Jigs,” and the first ever made in a printed volume, was initiated in O’Neill’s Dance Music of Ireland.

The following description of that variety is taken from The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, published in 1855. Like the common or “Double Jig,” the “Single Jig” is a tune in six-eight time, and having eight bars or measures in each of its two parts. But it differs from the former in this, that the bars do not generally present, as in the “Double Jig,” a succession of triplets, but rather of alternate long and short, or crochet and quaver notes. “Battering,” as applied to this variety of jig, is called “single battering.” The floor is struck only twice - once by the foot on which the body leans, and once by the foot thrown forward.

In considering Hop Jigs or Slip Jigs, as they are called, according to locality, a quotation from Wilson’s Companion to the Ballroom may not be out of place. The author, who styles himself “Dancing Master from the King’s Theatre Opera House, London,” was not handicapped by any shrinking modesty which would restrain him from criticising others in his profession, says in his preface: “In the progress of this work a number of tunes have been collected together in nine-eight, as they require in their application to the figures, either in country dances or reels, what are technically termed Irish Steps. Few tunes of this measure are to be found in collections of Country Dances; and the reason is, those who are but indifferent dancers are not acquainted with proper steps.

“Some are apt to imagine that an Irish tune must be uniformly danced with Irish steps. This, however, is a mistake. It is to the tune, and not the nationality of the tune to which the steps in question are applied, and tunes in nine-eight always require Irish steps, whatever may be their origin; while Irish tunes of six-eight or common time are danced like others. This variety of Irish time has little or no recognition in modern music, and some persons appeared incredulous when arrangement in nine-eight time was mentioned.”

“The Rocky Road to Dublin,” probably the most widely known of Hop or Slip Jigs, is not one of the oldest. The earliest printed versions which we have found are in The Citizen magazine, published in Dublin, in 1841. The musical editor, Dr. Hudson, says it is a “modern Irish dance.” It is said the name is taken from a road so called in the neighborhood of Clommel. It is the air which is sung by the nurses for their children in a great portion of the southern parts of Munster, and they frequently put forward as one of their recommendations that “They can sing and dance the baby to `The Rocky Road’.” Under the above name a version of it was printed without comment in Petrie’s Complete Collection of [risk Music, and a variant also appears as “Black Rock,” a Mayo jig. As “Black Burke” it was found in a publication the name of which is forgotten. Our setting of this famous tune, obtained from John McFadden, consists of three instead of the ordinary version of two strains.

An uncommonly fine tune of this class, in three strains, obtained from John Ennis, is “Will You Come Down to Limerick?” Simpler versions are known to old-time musicians of Munster and Connacht, and in Chicago. Ennis had no monopoly of it, for it was well known to Delaney, Early, and McFadden. As an old-time Slip Jig it seems to have been called “The Munster Gimlet,” a singularly inapt title; but when it came into vogue by its song name, we are unable to say.

It would be too tedious to discuss in detail the many excellent and hitherto unpublished Hop Jigs gathered and printed through patient and persistent efforts maintained from year to year, so we will conclude the discussion of Jigs by a brief allusion to “The Kid on the Mountain.”

This unpublished tune in six strains was introduced among our experts by the “only” Patsy Touhey, the genial, obliging and unaffected wizard of the Irish pipes. A version of this tune, with the puzzling title, “Bugga Fee Hoosa,” I find is included among the numbers in Dr. Joyce’s Old Irish Folk Music and Songs.

To hear Touhey play this jig as he got it from his ancestors was “worth a day in the garden” to any one interested in the Dance Music of Ireland.

“Oft have I heard of music such as thine,

Immortal strains that made my soul rejoice,

Of wedded melody from reed and pipe, the voice,

And woke to inner harmonies divine.”

Pages