Jig

From Free net encyclopedia

This article is about the folk dance; for other meanings, see Jig (disambiguation).

The jig (sometimes seen in its French language or Italian language forms gigue or giga) is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type, popular in Ireland and Scotland.

It is a popular tune-type within the traditions of Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music, second only to the reel. It is transcribed compound meter. Double jigs are always transcribed in 6/8; slip jigs are always written in 9/8. Single jigs are most commonly transcribed in 6/8, but sometimes also in 12/8. Slides are transcribed in both 12/8 and 6/8.

The most common structure is two eight-bar parts, each of which is repeated (AABB). There are a number of tunes with three or more parts, and some in which the length of one or more parts varies from eight bars. As with most other types of dance tunes in Irish music, at a session or a dance it is common for two or more jigs to be strung together, flowing on without interruption.

In Cotswold morris, a jig is a dance performed by a single dancer, or sometimes two. Its music is not usually a jig in the sense given above.

Origins and etymology

While it is often stated that the jig is of Irish origin, it is more than likely that this dance-type originated in the Germanic countries. A closer look at the etymology of this word reveals that Gig (g[i^]g) in its several variant forms describes a certain type of (repetitive) motion. Examples such as Icelandic "geiga" (which means to "rove at random" or "take a sudden unexpected direction"), the High German "Geigen" (a "back and forth motion") to the Low German dialects such as that spoken in the Swiss Canton of Bern (where "gyg-ampfe" is called a reel when it is in fact a jig).

References

• {{cite web

 |url=http://www.irishtune.info/rhythm/
 |title=irishtune.info Rhythm Definitions
 |author=Alan Ng
 |accessdate=2006-02-23}}Template:Dance-stub

Template:Ireland-stub Template:Scotland-stub

be:Джыга de:Gigue fr:Gigue it:Jigs nl:Gigue ja:ジグ (音楽) pl:Gigue ru:Жига