THE RHYTHM
Compound time
The English Folk Dance and Song Society says jigs are tunes in 6/8 time, a compound time where the pulse divides into groups of three. That rhythm makes people want to skip.
Count the beatsWHAT THE FOLK ARCHIVES SAY
Count it
in threes.
A jig is a tune you can hear skipping.
Count a jig
6/8two beats, each of three
Jigs are dance tunes in compound time: each beat divides into three, not two. That lilt runs through English ceilidh and morris music, Irish sessions and Scottish country dancing, and it is the easiest way to tell a jig from a reel.
At a glance
- Beats split in three
- Two parts, eight bars each
- Played in sets
- From ceilidh hall to session table
365 of 1,001
Double jigs among the 1,001 tunes in a 1907 collection of Irish dance music
Double jigs were the largest group in The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. Reels came second, with 350 tunes.
TUNE COLLECTION · DIGITAL CHICAGO
8 bars
Bars in each part of a typical folk tune
A typical tune has an 8-bar A part that repeats, then an 8-bar B part that repeats, with plenty of exceptions: extra parts, longer parts or unusual repeats.
TUNE SHAPE · EFDSS
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Jigs lead the pack,
eight bars at a time.
One figure from a classic tune collection,
one from how folk tunes are usually built.
Digital Chicago notes that each 8-bar part matches a set of dance steps, danced first leading with the right leg and then repeated leading with the left.
A QUICK BEAT CHECK
How many beats
in each bar?
Pick a type of jig to see its time signature and how it feels. The bar shows how many main beats each bar holds, each one split into three.
Based on the English Folk Dance and Song Society's beginners' guides and Digital Chicago's guide to Irish dance tunes.
THE SHORT ANSWER
It is all
in the time signature.
Folk tunes are grouped by rhythm.
Each type usually goes with its own kind of dance.
THE TYPES
Double, single, slip
Double jigs run in even groups of three quavers. Single jigs share the 6/8 metre but lean on a long-short pattern. Slip jigs stretch to 9/8, three beats of three.
See the numbers
THE SHAPE
A part, B part, repeat
A typical folk tune is an 8-bar A part played twice, then an 8-bar B part played twice, AABB, and the whole tune goes round a few times.
How tunes are built
FOUR WAYS TO HEAR A JIG
Tap along,
then count.
You do not need to read music to spot a jig. These listening habits follow how the folk guides describe the tunes.
Tap the main beat
In a 6/8 jig you will tap twice per bar. Now count three quick notes inside each tap: one-two-three, one-two-three.
Listen for the skip
A long-short, long-short pattern points to a single jig. Even, rolling triplets point to a double jig.
Hear the A and B parts
Notice the first 8-bar phrase repeat, then a new phrase repeat. That is the AABB shape.
Catch the change of tune
Players often string two or three tunes together in a set, sometimes with a sudden change of key between them.
WHERE THE WORD COMES FROM
To leap,
to jump, to dance.
EFDSS says 'jig' may come from the old French 'giguer', to leap or gambol, or from 'giga', meaning old dance in Old English and to jump in Italian. In Shakespeare's time a jig was the dance performed at the end of a play.
Today jigs carry English ceilidh dances such as the Circassian Circle, morris dances, and most rapper sword dances. The Irish Traditional Music Archive lists jig, single jig, slip jig and hop jig among the tune types in its collection.
Questions
Questions people ask
What makes a tune a jig?
Its rhythm. EFDSS describes jigs as tunes in 6/8 time, a compound time signature where the pulse divides into groups of three. Some jigs are in 9/8 or 12/8.
What is the difference between a jig and a reel?
Both are fast dance tunes, but a jig is in compound time, with each beat split into three, while a reel is a duple-metered dance with fast-flowing quavers, according to Digital Chicago's guide to Irish dance tunes.
What is a slip jig?
A jig in 9/8 time, with three beats of three in each bar. EFDSS says the term comes from Irish music, though 9/8 tunes appear in English collections from the 17th century.
What is the difference between a single and a double jig?
Both are in 6/8. Double jigs are mostly even quavers, three to each beat. Single jigs mostly use a crotchet followed by a quaver, a long-short pattern.
Why are folk tunes played in sets?
It is a playing tradition: one tune is played a few times, then a second complementary tune follows. Digital Chicago notes sets of two or three tunes, sometimes with a sudden key change.
Sources
Where the facts come from
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