They're all good, and rousing too, depending on how they're played. As you'll know from your travels aroud the world, overplayed in one place may not mean overplayed in another.
Having said that, we get things going with some or all of the following:
Morrison's/Out on the Ocean/Rakes of Kildare/Connaughtman's Rambles/Sliabh Russell/Calliope House/Jerry's Beaver Hat/Donnybrook Fair/Blackthorn Stick/Tripping Upstairs/My Darling Asleep/...
The Southwest Wind
The Humors of Kesh (NOT THE KESH JIG BTW)
Any of Tom Billy Murphy's jigs.
Mickey Callahan's
The Humors of Ballyloughlin
The Eavesdropper
Brian O'Lynn
Sixpenny Money
When Sick Is It Tea You Want?
The Wandering Minstrel
Fasten the Leg In Her
Bimis Ag Ol
The Killavil
Either version of Pipe on the Hob
Tom Hart's
The Battering Ram
The Grouse in the Bog
Any of the non-standard versions of Lark in the Morning
My Former Wife
Sergeant Early's
Fraher's
Tom Busby's
Statia Donnelly
The Tar Road to Sligo
The Bohola
The Irishman's Heart to the Ladies
Sean Bui
The Top of Cork Road
Dr. O'Neill
The Newport Lass
Yellow Wattle
My favourite set of jigs are:
The Rolling Waves (aka. Lonesome jig)/ The Walls of Liscarroll (Edor)/ Jim Ward's
The first one is really simple lovely tune, which is especially easy on flute/whistle. I really don't understand why it's so uncommon in the session anywhere. It's nice to play the first one slowly, shift from Dmajor to Edorian, and finish with relatively popular Gmajor tune. I always play this set in a new place because I can start slowly but it gradually heats up.
And some others:
The Milltimber jig/ The Maid in the Meadow (aka. Green Fields of America)/ Geese in the Bog
The first two tunes are really uncommon but really nice ones. The last one is really well-known but works really well after any Gmajor tune.
Tobbin's Favourite/ Willie Coleman's/ Condon's Frolics
I think all of these are not so overly played anywhere. The last one is the spice for the set.
2. Rousing jigs? Certain tunes probably do lend themselves to a rousing temperment, but really it's more down to the playing of them in a rousing style. Having said that, there are a few tunes mentioned above that I think you are not getting the best out of if you play them rousingly. I'l not go through them all, but The Humors of Ballyloughlin is a good example. This is a very subtle tune. Its modal nature hides its tonal centre beautifuly for the first two parts, only beginning to reveal it in the third. It's one of those tunes where the best accomanying chords should best avoid the major or minor third, in other words, avoid any "rousing" progressions. Also, although I like to play it fast sometimes, it only really shows its true colours when played slower than you'd normally play jigs.
I soppose this discussion harks back to the "Are we playing dance music" of a week or so back. My reaction is that of course it can be played as dance music, but take a closer listen and there is more to it than that.
Thanks for all of the input, everybody! It's helpful to have experienced opinions rather than opening the O'Neill's with closed eyes and a pin--that approach tends to get me tunes of which no one has ever heard!
Michael - how fast do you guys normally play your jigs in Edinburgh? And how do you define "rousing"? You are right to add a note of caution about "rousing" interpretations of certain tunes.
I normally take the meaning of the word "rousing" to be "uplifting and/or cathartic". By that admittedly peculiar and personal definition a tune need not be fast to be rousing. So in my little screwed up piping world The Humors of Ballyloughlin is definitely a rousing tune because I always feel uplifted while playing it than I did before playing it, and when it's over I feel a bit better about life in general. I would never play it so fast I can't put all the crunchy stuff in it like crans, staccato triplets, blue C naturals, etc., while maintaining a steady pace.
but I'm looking inwardly and don't give much of a damn if a crowd of onlookers likes what I'm playing. If they do, great, if they don't, well, they know where the door is.
One thing I do want to share with LeAn:
You don't have to play insanely fast to put a tune under dancers' feet, but you must have rhythmic solidity or they'll be reaching for the portable CD player. Strive for steadiness first, tempo will take care of itself.
Michael - how fast do you guys normally play your jigs in Edinburgh? And how do you define "rousing"? You are right to add a note of caution about "rousing" interpretations of certain tunes, especially since some people think it just means "fast".
I normally take the meaning of the word "rousing" to be "uplifting and/or cathartic". By that admittedly peculiar and personal definition a tune need not be fast to be rousing. Thus in my little screwed up piper's world The Humors of Ballyloughlin is definitely a rousing tune because I always feel uplifted while playing it, and when it's over I feel a bit better about life in general. I would never play it so fast I can't put all the crunchy piping stuff in it that I love, like crans, double crans, staccato triplets, blue C naturals, etc., while maintaining a steady pace.
but I'm looking inward and don't give much of a damn if a crowd of onlookers likes what I'm playing. If they do, great, if they don't, well, they know where the door is.
One thing I do want to share with LeAn:
You don't have to play insanely fast to put a tune under dancers' feet, but you must have rhythmic solidity or they'll be reaching for the portable CD player. Strive for steadiness first, tempo will take care of itself.
How fast? Specifically? Dunno, never put a stop watch on anything in particular, but I do know we play outside the range of say The Bothy Band. By that I meen sometimes we play slower than The Bothy Band and sometimes we play faster.
But the original question didn't actually ask for rousing, that description was just applied to "get-people-on-their-feet". So I agree that such a great tune as The Humours of Ballyloughlin will certainly rouse me, at any tempo, while I'm glad that, at any tempo, it would fail to get-people-on-their-feet.
Ah ha, specifically? I think Liam O'Flynn has recorded this tune twice, once with Planxty on his concert set and again on his flat set on a solo album (I forget which). I adore both versions and like to play the tune at either tempo. I also like to play it after the kid on the mountain at a more Bothy Band speed, but steady is best.
oh jmh how funny! as if the listeners could know the names of those jigs!!haha no, it's the melodies themselves that rouse! and what a mystery that is. Do the players play rousingly, as if to inject the Title itself into the tune,or did the tune itself once have a lyric, no lost, like
I am an aulde hag
I've a knife in my bag
jiggedy jig
jaggedy jag
Didn't Einstein have something to say about that? Like if you play Music in the Glen faster than the Bothy Band you age twenty years immediately, and suck in the bodhran player next to you because of your enormously increased gravitational force. Or something like that.
You shouldn't mess with the natural boundaries like that. No good can come of it.
Actually I don't tell very many "listeners" those titles, vboyd100. But I always get a few smiles or a laugh from my music mates when I start such a set of tunes
Ah yes Grego, but it's all relative you see. From your standpoint and the stand point of others trvalling at your speed, all seems normal. But when you look outside, all is strangly distorted (like the slow motion bits in Space 1999) and the clock above the bar wuill always stay at the same time it was the last time you visited it
I suppose any jig can be "lively" if you play it that way, but some seem better suited than others. In this respect, The Kinnegad Slashers can't be beat. (Best recorded on Dog Big Dog Little.)
Good, rousing jigs
Good, rousing jigs
Any suggestions out there for a set of not-overplayed, get-people-on-their-feet jigs? Thanks!
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by LeAnn
Re: Good, rousing jigs
They're all good, and rousing too, depending on how they're played. As you'll know from your travels aroud the world, overplayed in one place may not mean overplayed in another.
Having said that, we get things going with some or all of the following:
Morrison's/Out on the Ocean/Rakes of Kildare/Connaughtman's Rambles/Sliabh Russell/Calliope House/Jerry's Beaver Hat/Donnybrook Fair/Blackthorn Stick/Tripping Upstairs/My Darling Asleep/...
and many more.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by grego
(of course, we prefer people to stay off their feet lest drink get spilled.)
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by grego
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Leitrim Fancy
Up Leitrim
Sarsfield's Jig
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by jdave
Re: Good, rousing jigs
The Southwest Wind
The Humors of Kesh (NOT THE KESH JIG BTW)
Any of Tom Billy Murphy's jigs.
Mickey Callahan's
The Humors of Ballyloughlin
The Eavesdropper
Brian O'Lynn
Sixpenny Money
When Sick Is It Tea You Want?
The Wandering Minstrel
Fasten the Leg In Her
Bimis Ag Ol
The Killavil
Either version of Pipe on the Hob
Tom Hart's
The Battering Ram
The Grouse in the Bog
Any of the non-standard versions of Lark in the Morning
My Former Wife
Sergeant Early's
Fraher's
Tom Busby's
Statia Donnelly
The Tar Road to Sligo
The Bohola
The Irishman's Heart to the Ladies
Sean Bui
The Top of Cork Road
Dr. O'Neill
The Newport Lass
Yellow Wattle
Need more?
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by Hanley
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Behind the Haystack/Cordal Jig/Kitty's Rambles is one of my favorite jig sets. Rakes of Clonmel/White Petticoat/Trip to Athlone is another.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Good, rousing jigs
My favourite set of jigs are:
The Rolling Waves (aka. Lonesome jig)/ The Walls of Liscarroll (Edor)/ Jim Ward's
The first one is really simple lovely tune, which is especially easy on flute/whistle. I really don't understand why it's so uncommon in the session anywhere. It's nice to play the first one slowly, shift from Dmajor to Edorian, and finish with relatively popular Gmajor tune. I always play this set in a new place because I can start slowly but it gradually heats up.
And some others:
The Milltimber jig/ The Maid in the Meadow (aka. Green Fields of America)/ Geese in the Bog
The first two tunes are really uncommon but really nice ones. The last one is really well-known but works really well after any Gmajor tune.
Tobbin's Favourite/ Willie Coleman's/ Condon's Frolics
I think all of these are not so overly played anywhere. The last one is the spice for the set.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by slainte
Re: Good, rousing jigs
The Cook In the Kitchen followed by Skip Parente's - great set.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by violynnsey
Re: Good, rousing jigs
We do Lilting Banshee followed by Up in the air. Good change from Aminor to B minor.
Agree with violynnsey's choice too re. Cook in the Kitchen, which we follow with The Luck Penny.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Odd question this, or really it's two questions:
1. Good jigs? Why would you play a bad jig?
2. Rousing jigs? Certain tunes probably do lend themselves to a rousing temperment, but really it's more down to the playing of them in a rousing style. Having said that, there are a few tunes mentioned above that I think you are not getting the best out of if you play them rousingly. I'l not go through them all, but The Humors of Ballyloughlin is a good example. This is a very subtle tune. Its modal nature hides its tonal centre beautifuly for the first two parts, only beginning to reveal it in the third. It's one of those tunes where the best accomanying chords should best avoid the major or minor third, in other words, avoid any "rousing" progressions. Also, although I like to play it fast sometimes, it only really shows its true colours when played slower than you'd normally play jigs.
I soppose this discussion harks back to the "Are we playing dance music" of a week or so back. My reaction is that of course it can be played as dance music, but take a closer listen and there is more to it than that.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: Good, rousing jigs
There's nothing more to it. It's just simple diddly.
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by Dow
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Hey Mark. Could you add a little more information to you profile, so that we all know a litle more about you?
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by Back for a while
Re: Good, rousing jigs
dow
concertina and mandola
sydney
cynic
# Posted on May 26th 2004 by Dow
Re: Good, rousing jigs
I've gotten a few laughs from playing this set:
I Burried My Wife and danced on her grave/ Old Hag You've Killed Me / Pull the Knife and Stick it Again.
Joyce
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by JMH
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Thanks for all of the input, everybody! It's helpful to have experienced opinions rather than opening the O'Neill's with closed eyes and a pin--that approach tends to get me tunes of which no one has ever heard!
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by LeAnn
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Some jig sets that I enjoy playing:
The Leitrim Jig / The Mill Pond / Andy McGann's Fancy
Carraroe Jig / Out on the Ocean / Ship at Full Sail (three part)
My Darling Asleep / My Love in the Morning / The Bride's Favourite
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by browndog
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Michael - how fast do you guys normally play your jigs in Edinburgh? And how do you define "rousing"? You are right to add a note of caution about "rousing" interpretations of certain tunes.
I normally take the meaning of the word "rousing" to be "uplifting and/or cathartic". By that admittedly peculiar and personal definition a tune need not be fast to be rousing. So in my little screwed up piping world The Humors of Ballyloughlin is definitely a rousing tune because I always feel uplifted while playing it than I did before playing it, and when it's over I feel a bit better about life in general. I would never play it so fast I can't put all the crunchy stuff in it like crans, staccato triplets, blue C naturals, etc., while maintaining a steady pace.
but I'm looking inwardly and don't give much of a damn if a crowd of onlookers likes what I'm playing. If they do, great, if they don't, well, they know where the door is.
One thing I do want to share with LeAn:
You don't have to play insanely fast to put a tune under dancers' feet, but you must have rhythmic solidity or they'll be reaching for the portable CD player. Strive for steadiness first, tempo will take care of itself.
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by Hanley
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Michael - how fast do you guys normally play your jigs in Edinburgh? And how do you define "rousing"? You are right to add a note of caution about "rousing" interpretations of certain tunes, especially since some people think it just means "fast".
I normally take the meaning of the word "rousing" to be "uplifting and/or cathartic". By that admittedly peculiar and personal definition a tune need not be fast to be rousing. Thus in my little screwed up piper's world The Humors of Ballyloughlin is definitely a rousing tune because I always feel uplifted while playing it, and when it's over I feel a bit better about life in general. I would never play it so fast I can't put all the crunchy piping stuff in it that I love, like crans, double crans, staccato triplets, blue C naturals, etc., while maintaining a steady pace.
but I'm looking inward and don't give much of a damn if a crowd of onlookers likes what I'm playing. If they do, great, if they don't, well, they know where the door is.
One thing I do want to share with LeAn:
You don't have to play insanely fast to put a tune under dancers' feet, but you must have rhythmic solidity or they'll be reaching for the portable CD player. Strive for steadiness first, tempo will take care of itself.
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by Hanley
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Oops sorry for the double post. How the blazes did that happen?
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by Hanley
Re: Good, rousing jigs
It was just such a rousing post it came 'round twice
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: Good, rousing jigs
gotta quit drinking in the mid afternoon, I guess
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by Hanley
Re: Good, rousing jigs
How fast? Specifically? Dunno, never put a stop watch on anything in particular, but I do know we play outside the range of say The Bothy Band. By that I meen sometimes we play slower than The Bothy Band and sometimes we play faster.
But the original question didn't actually ask for rousing, that description was just applied to "get-people-on-their-feet". So I agree that such a great tune as The Humours of Ballyloughlin will certainly rouse me, at any tempo, while I'm glad that, at any tempo, it would fail to get-people-on-their-feet.
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Ah ha, specifically? I think Liam O'Flynn has recorded this tune twice, once with Planxty on his concert set and again on his flat set on a solo album (I forget which). I adore both versions and like to play the tune at either tempo. I also like to play it after the kid on the mountain at a more Bothy Band speed, but steady is best.
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: Good, rousing jigs
oh jmh how funny! as if the listeners could know the names of those jigs!!haha no, it's the melodies themselves that rouse! and what a mystery that is. Do the players play rousingly, as if to inject the Title itself into the tune,or did the tune itself once have a lyric, no lost, like
I am an aulde hag
I've a knife in my bag
jiggedy jig
jaggedy jag
# Posted on May 27th 2004 by vboyd100
Re: Good, rousing jigs
"Faster than the Bothy Band"????
Didn't Einstein have something to say about that? Like if you play Music in the Glen faster than the Bothy Band you age twenty years immediately, and suck in the bodhran player next to you because of your enormously increased gravitational force. Or something like that.
You shouldn't mess with the natural boundaries like that. No good can come of it.
# Posted on May 28th 2004 by grego
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Actually I don't tell very many "listeners" those titles, vboyd100. But I always get a few smiles or a laugh from my music mates when I start such a set of tunes
# Posted on May 28th 2004 by JMH
Re: Good, rousing jigs
Ah yes Grego, but it's all relative you see. From your standpoint and the stand point of others trvalling at your speed, all seems normal. But when you look outside, all is strangly distorted (like the slow motion bits in Space 1999) and the clock above the bar wuill always stay at the same time it was the last time you visited it
# Posted on May 28th 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: Good, rousing jigs
I suppose any jig can be "lively" if you play it that way, but some seem better suited than others. In this respect, The Kinnegad Slashers can't be beat. (Best recorded on Dog Big Dog Little.)
# Posted on May 28th 2004 by Chris McGrath