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Irish Dance Music makes up the largest part of the traditional repertoire. While it began as purely functional, it is nowadays played for its own sake. The main types of dances are reels, jigs and hornpipes.
Reel
- 4/4 time, usually made up of 2 groups of 4 quavers per bar
Sample Bar
- Fast and flowing
- Can be traced back to 18th and 19th Century Scotland
- AABB Form
- Examples “Bonnie Kate” and “Flogging Reel”
To determine if a dance is a reel during Aural Skills:
- Count 1234/5678
- Count Black-and-Decker/Black-and-Decker
Jig
There are three types of jig: Single, Double, Slip
Double Jig
- Most common type of jig
- 6/8 time, usually 2 groups of 3 quavers
Sample Bar
- Fast and lively
- AABB form
- Emphasis is on 1st and 4th beats of bar
- Example “The Wandering Minstrel”
How to determine if the dance is a jig in Aural Skills:
- Count 123/456
- Count e-le-phant/e-le-phant
Slip Jig`
- Graceful
- 9/8 time, usually 3 groups of 3 quavers
Sample Bar
- ABAB Form
- “Hardiman the Fiddler”
Single Jig
- 12/8 time, usually a ctochet and a quaver
Sample Bar
- Related to the slide, a fast version of a slip jig
- Slide sounds rushed, with emphasis on 1st beat of the bar
- “Lonsome Road to Dingle”
Hornpipe
- 4/4 time
- Lilted rhythm
- Dotted Rhythm, emphasis on 1st and 3rd beats of the bar
Sample Bar
- AABB Form
- Played much slower when it is danced to
- “Harvest Home”
Other dances include:
- Polka (2/4 time, popular in Sliabh Luachra area)
- Mazurka (3/4 time, popular in Donegal)
- Scottische (4/4 time, popular in Donegal)
- Strathspey (4/4 time, slow reel)
