PLAYING IRISH JIGS ON THE HAMMERED DULCIMER

Cliff Moses

Jigs are not as prevalent in American traditional music as they are in Irish traditional music, so we don't hear them that often. The jig is the oldest surviving form of Irish dance music, dating back to the later half of the 17^th century. Many of the tunes are thought to have derived from older clan marches. The jig is found in three forms - single jigs written in both 6/8 and 12/8 time, double jigs in 6/8 time, and slip jigs in 9/8 time. The names come from the dance forms and not from the music. The discussion here will center on the double jig, which is the most common, but the basic playing style will apply to single jigs and, for the most part, slip jigs. For simplicity, the term jig will be used instead of double jig.

The basic rhythm form of the jig is illustrated below. There are two beats or pulses per measure with the emphasis coming on the first and fourth notes of each measure:

Rhythm Changes Hands

From the standpoint of a dulcimer player, this means that the beat is alternating between the two hands rather than always being associated with the "lead hand". The exercise below may help to develop this feel of alternating lead for a "right-handed player" because the fourth note of the measure is simply played on the left side of the treble bridge and draws attention to the left hand for the "beat" in the middle of the measure. (This pattern is basically the opening phrase for the jig called The Dancing Master. In American traditional music this tune is known as The Swallowtail Jig, but it is generally played in Em rather than Am.)

A "left-handed player" can use the following exercise, which just reverses the accented notes to draw attention to the right hand in the middle of the measure.

Rhythm and Phrasing of Jigs

A rather unique aspect of Irish traditional music is that the rhythm comes from the way the melody is played, i.e. the timing of the notes and the phrasing of the tune, rather than depending upon rhythm instruments; in American traditional music guitars and bass fiddles quite often serve this function. Moreover, in Irish music, the emphasis comes not so much from playing the "beat" note louder, but from a slight lengthening of the note. Sometimes ornamentation is used for emphasis.

This slight lengthening of some notes is not natural on the dulcimer because notes cannot be sustained longer in the way a fiddle/flute/whistle players can hold a note bit longer before fingering a new note. Instead there must be a slight delay before the following note is played. This delay can be exaggerated when trying to gain the feel, but eventually it should be almost imperceptible except when compared to playing the notes exactly the same. This is best learned by listening to good solo Irish musicians, preferably ones that play in an older more relaxed style rather than the current fast and furious mode. One good way to internalize this sense or feel of the music is to sing the tune with nonsense syllables using longer sounds (e.g., daa) for the accented notes and shorter sounds (e.g., di) for the other notes. Repeated three-syllable words like "pineapple, pineapple..." do not provide the correct sense of the music as will be seen. However, a word must be said about the phrasing of jigs before applying any sort of verbalization.

The phrasing is a subtle but essential part of playing jigs and all other Irish dance music. The major phrase is four measures long, but this is further divided into two halves between which there is a sense of contrast. In classic double jigs this is sometimes described as asking a question (measures 1 & 2) and getting an answer (measures 3 & 4); then the question is asked again (measures 5 & 6) followed by a slightly different answer (measures 7 & 8). This is illustrated in the following which is the first part of The Mist Covered Mountain:

What is not so obvious is that these phrases do not correspond to the measures. The phrases end on the beat in the middle of the measure; the one or two notes after that belong to the next phrase. Actually there is a sense of this in every measure because of the slight lengthening of the second pulse note of each measure; the next notes seem to push into the next measure providing further emphasis to the pulse. It is this phrasing that provides the unique lifting rhythm that is characteristic of Irish traditional music.

Thus, a jig should not be played in sets of three notes as it is written, but more like the following:

Thus, in terms of nonsense syllables, the form is not:

di | Daa-di-di Daa-di-di | Daa-di-di Daa-di-di | Daa-di-di Daa-di-di | Daa-di-di Daa-di-di...etc|

but rather more like the following:

di | Daa-di-di-Daa di-di | Daa-di-di-Daa di-di | Daa-di-di-Daa di-di | Daa-di-di-Daa ...etc

From this it can be seen that the simple application of "pineapple-pineapple..." does not achieve the desired results. If anything it should be applied as:

Pineapple-pie apple | pineapple-pie apple | pineapple-pie apple | pineapple-pie ...

But even this is too mechanical; it does not develop the lyric quality or lilting feel to a jig. A better way to get the feel of a jig might be through the words to a song; for example, from the song Brian O'Lynn:

Brian O'Lynn had no watch for to wear,

So he took an old turnip and scooped it out square;

He put a live cricket right under the skin,

"Sure they'll think it's a tickin'," says Brian O'Lynn.

Consider the first two lines which go with the first four measures of a jig. You wouldn't say this in the following manner:

Brian O' - Lynn had no - watch for to - wear so he - took an old - turnip and - scooped it out - square; he

  1 2  3        4      5   6   |     1     2   3        4   5   6  |    1    2   3      4  5     6  |      1      2    3        45     6

You would say:

There is no real pause between "Lynn" and "had", but there is a sense that "had no" goes with "watch for to wear"; even more so with the words "so he": they are obviously leading words for "took an old turnip" rather than being connected to "...watch for to wear".

This is the way jigs are phrased. Not really a pause between the 4^th and 5^th notes of the first measure, but a sense that they really belong to the notes of the second measure. In the second measure, it is perhaps slightly more pronounced because it is the end of a minor phrase. Then the last two notes lead into the phrase of the next two measures, which again ends with the 4^th note of the fourth measure. And so on.

This verse also provides a sense of the relative timing, or length, of the notes in a jig.  In the verse, notice that the syllables that are on the "beat" take longer to say.  In the first measure, "Bri" takes longer to say than either "an" or "O", and "Lynn" is also a longer syllable.  Similarly, "watch", "wear", "took", "turn", "scooped", and "square" all take longer to say than the other syllables.  This is the same concept as the rhythm notes in the tunes being slightly longer than the other notes.

Here's a simple exercise to help develop the feel of jigs. It is simple so you can concentrate on listening and feeling the rhythm rather than on the notes you are playing. The beats are at the top and bottom of a simple 4-note scale run. At first play it slowly, allowing just a little extra time between the beat and the next note; then gradually pick up the tempo a little. Then think of the last two notes of each measure as pickup notes for the next measure.  If you aren't sure of this, try singing Brian O'Lynn as you play it.

As an experiment, now play all the notes at exactly equal timing and see if you can sense the difference. Even if you keep the timing of the beat the same, it feels slower and more relaxed when play with the little extra time in there. As you increase the tempo, you may find a point at which it seems to go "flat" and lose the lilt we are trying to achieve. At that point you are playing too fast; you are having to concentrate on the notes and no longer feeling/listening to what you are playing. Slow down and gradually work your way up again. Once you have the basic feel, it should come natural whenever you are playing a jig, no matter what the tempo. If it doesn't feel right, go back to the exercise and then play the tune. Over time you will be able to maintain this style of playing at a fairly fast tempo.

When playing a tune, the easiest places to lose the lilting feel is when playing a scale run or an arpeggio. There seems to be tendency to play the notes with more uniform time. The result is that the tempo will increase slightly, especially when playing in a group. If you find that a certain tune always seems to pickup speed when you or your group is playing it, look for a scale run or an arpeggio to see if that's where the tempo is increasing.

Here's a simple expansion of the exercise above so you don't get too bored with it. See if you can get the lilting feel all the way through, especially the long scale run at the end.

Certainly this is not all there is to playing jigs, but perhaps it will help you when listening to jigs to understand what you are listening to and how to apply it to the dulcimer thereby increasing your enjoyment of this wonderful treasure of music.