“Hup!”

The various use of the “Hup!” (or is it “Huh!”) fascinates me.

Sometimes it indicates a tune/ key change and other times it appears to be used to catch the person-playing-the-wrong-tune’s attention in order to glare at them.
And now and then it means “Speed Up”.
Sometimes it seems to be a general expression of appreciation that the tune/ set is “rocking inna groove t’ing, like a banging tune innit.”
You have to be quite confident to become a “Hupper” and the anarchic sessioneer could cause all sorts of mayhem with inappropriate Hupping.
You know you’ve arrived when you are a Hupper…

Much more efficient than “Gwan ye boyo ye!”
or “I say old bean, shall we change the key to A major?”

It’s from the Old Irish word “dhieoppha!”, which roughly translated means
“Who the fack are you gawping at, ye paralysed streak of pish, d’ye want some of this, eh?”
Through the years that meaning has become somewhat ameliorated to mean something like
“I say, chaps don’t you think it might be time we started playing yet another one of those charming little Irish tunes since the one wot have just did has now been did thrice, eh, what?”

Ach! ye beat me to it there Conan - but only just!

No doubt somebody at the University of Limerick has done a detailed study on the range of interjections used (‘Hup!’, ‘Whoa!’, ‘Lovely!’, ‘Up ya boya!’, ‘Gwan ye boyo ye!’, ‘Choon!’, ‘Yahoo!’* etc.), the frequency and postion of their use, how they vary with regard to the geographical origins, occupation, age, sex, height, weight etc. of the interjector.

The most detailed study of this I have come across is in Ciaran Carson’s ’Last Night’s Fun".

*This example appears to be used only by one particular individual.

I think a “hup” is quite sexy. It’s like, hello, I am confident and totally groovin’ out and it’s time to go into another fabulous tune now.

I believe I now that particular individual, spúnog!
Would he, perchance, be a purveyor of fine tunes on the banjo?

Have a listen to Dave Swarbrick on his ‘Live at Jackson’s Lane’ CD - rather than ‘hup’, he yells a drawn-out “chaaaaaaange” - quite amusing to hear, but it works - the changes are seamless.

So as well as learning me bliddy omboshoor, and me fingers goin‘ like fiddlers elbows, and gaspin’ for breath and all that, now I got to find time to bliddy “hup” somewhere in there and all…

Ee this trad music’s ’ard innit? Gie a man a break… 🙂

R

With Some of the sessions ive been to, I thought “hup” was the signal for the music to fizzle out while one person goes into one tune and someone else goes into another at a different speed… (while several others just stop) then it winds down barely through the “A” part of whatever tune to… not a screeching halt but sort of like the last drizzle of blood from a hanging carcass..

Sorry, thought this thread was about horses, what with the Cheltenham Festival being on an’all, but since I’m here…Mairin Fahy is one hell of a hupper- take a look at this
http://www.tg4.ie/Bearla/inte/geantrai/sea.htm
- three hups, not obviously linked to changes?- fantastic, though.

“Hup” is also the name of the new-ish trio of Andrew MacNamara (accordion), Mark Donnellan (fiddle), and Jim Corry (piano).

“Would he, perchance, be a purveyor of fine tunes on the banjo?”

Aye, Conín. That’d be the man - Wandsworth’s own Basil Brush.

“Andrew MacNamara (accordion), Mark Donnellan (fiddle), and Jim Corry (piano).”

Mark Donnellan? The King of Swing? That sounds like a formidable combination.

Hup! to that, I say.

Just done a re-count on Mairin’s ‘hups’- 5 in one set, and actually more ‘yips’ than ‘hups’. Maybe she’s a golfer.

From my experience hups are always used to signal a change of tune. Having said that, Mary Highlander’s post makes the perfect case for playing standard sets (Tarbolton, etc) or at least agreeing the tunes before the music starts! There is also the whoop which is usually involuntary, where the spirit of the session overwhelms a particular musician and this is a way of expressing enthusiasm. If you’ve never experienced this urge personally, then all I can say is “you’re going to the wrong sessions”!

Bannerman, you have probably just derailed this thread into the “Standard Sets Discussion” (627.04.12(c)). Tsk.

My dear husband and general backup guy is always on to me to indicate the change of tune and key with some sort of verbal communication. I can’t do it and still keep the tune going. I can lift my foot, wiggle my eyebrows meaningfully, but speech, even ‘hup’ is beyond me. I guess I could woodshed that a bit. Right now, all that comes out of my mouth when I’m playing is a bit of drool. Danny (nyc nyc nyc), is that a documented brain thing where speech is blocked when you are doing something else?

MH, I have experienced the hup-fizzle phenomena, sometimes brought on by tune disphasia. Last week someone suggested a string of reels at the beginning of the set, but at the change to the second tune, I went barging off into Wind That Shakes the Barley instead of Barrowburn. So even our agreement was disfunctional.

Sometimes I wonder if the hups from the audience aren’t an attempt to show excitement in the same way the musicians do, not realizing that for the players, the hup serves a very practical purpose. I myself am mostly a foot raiser when sitting in a circle, reserving hup for situations where the musicians can’t be counted on to see the foot.

Sorry Batlady I should have qualified my comment about sets as the last thing I wanted to do was to resurrect this topic which to say “has been done to death” would be an understatement! I thought I was the only one who suffered from the inability to speak when playing but I’m glad to hear I’m not unique in this deficiency. On the other side of this coin I’ve heard of musicians playing for Feis dancers who can even hold a conversation while playing or eat a sandwich with their left hand (piano accordionists I should add).

I have a recording where the “Hup!” sounds just like a small dog being kicked across the room. Perhaps that would make a handy alternative for those who find it hard to vocalise while playing? (No animals were harmed in the typing of this post)

Bowburner, I will attach one of the cats to my leg tonight and see what happens.

You could tie a small dog to one leg and a cat to the other and see which gives the best “Hup” sound. You could even do it randomised or double-blind, placebo controlled or whatever so you don’t know which one is which. Don’t know what you’d use as a placebo. A goldfish perhaps?

I see other uses. Black cat=minor keys. White cat=Major keys. It’s going to get complicated if we go to the modal stuff.

As I flute player, I find all this promotion of “hupping” to prejudicial. In fact, disgraceful and offensive. I’m suing for damages to my civil rights.

ITM sessions - the place where “raising a leg” is marking territory, but not taking a p*ss.

I thought it was Natalie Macmaster doing the miaowing in her recording of the Wildcat, but it must be the cat tied to her leg.
I can’t hup or say anything when playing - I can’t even reply to “another pint?” - I can just manage a frantic mad-eyed nodding in the direction of the empty glass. We do have a small dog available that could be tied to a leg (not in the flea season though!!!) http://www.geocities.com/beaconsfieldsession/rosie.jpg

You’ll never shout HUP again, after you watch this video! 🙁
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KpXX_AP7YA

play video

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!!!!!!!!

That was utterly mystifying, Ptarmy.

My daughter’s ski coach uses ‘hup hup’ to indicate that it is time to pick up the pace, particularly on hills. Very unpopular with the kids. I must say that it is less annoying than the cowbell some spectators are so fond of. Hey, maybe I could tie the cowbell onto my leg. That should get some response…

Aye, it has all the class & style of a Eurovision failure, don’t you think! Just think, with competition no better than that, how can Dervish fail? 😉

Because they don’t have the proper visual aids!

Where I used to live in Weardale they shout the word HUP! to hunting dogs , usually Labradors or Spaniels , it means stop pratting around and go and bring back that Pheasant/Grouse/Partridge/Rabbit over there .

Good thing I wasn’t drinking coffee, Ptarm! What dark path of the internet were you travelling when you found that??

But wait, there’s more, and it’s all your fault:
http://www.jacquesherb.nl/landhuphuphol.htm
I think the orange chicken hat is especially fetching.

“Don’t Let Me Down, Gently”, the classic anthem from The Wonder Stuff’s album “Hup” (I believe he lets out with a Hup! about 9 seconds in.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT2cULZx1Wk

play video

And this offering from the smoldering swivel-hipped Turkish heartthrob Tarkan, his hit song Hup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS0FiTAwGIQ&mode=related&search=

play video

And then there’s this:
http://www.amazon.com/Hup-Training-Flushing-Spaniels-American/dp/0876056206

It’s all your fault, I say!

In the barndance/ceilidh field I’m used to the raised leg meaning “End of tune/set.” However SO, who is a flute and whistle player, uses it also as a tune-change signal, as she can’t “Hup!” and blow simultaneously.

A friend of mine was over in Scotland last year, and found a small session. At the tune changes the locals kept shouting words he couldn’t quite catch, although he was sure one of them was ‘a r s e!’. During one of the drink breaks he asked the guy next to him what the score was. It turns out they use the phrases Father Jack shouts in the Father Ted series, to indicate the key of the next tune:

a r s e = A
girls = G
drink = D

You get the gist. I would start the locals here using that system, but none of us know which key we’re in 🙂
Eno

bc - I remember Jim Murray explained the same when he was here last year.

Hup is often used when someone’s set fails, usually when they’ve played only one tune, the next one is coming, coming…
coming…
Nope. No tune. Hup! (As in “well done there lad that went extremely poorly didn’t it”).
Not usually mean, just a sort of l;ight hearted micking you might say.

I’d love to have the confidence to ‘hup’! - nobody does it at any of the sessions that I go to.

Iwas recently playing a cd of some Shetland tunes - after one particularly brilliant ‘hup’ my small son asked ‘is that a real dog?’ - which has now become a bit of a family catchphrase!

The Father Ted key change thing really made me laugh! Might try that!

When he wanted us to move faster, my dad used to say ‘hup hup’ to us while he pumped his fist up and down. I later found out it was some sort of standard infantry signal in the US Army.

For some reason here the “vernacular” was a lift of the leg off the floor. Having never seen it before it always reminded me of a dog cocking his leg against a pole when the tune was about to change.

I first ran into the leg lift (in traditional music, that is) in contradance bands, and it seems to have migrated into ITM from there, much to my distress. I find the music is much better when the musicians are listening to and looking at each other for cues, rather than looking at someone’s foot. Also, while “hup” conveys a sense of excitement and enthusiasm, the foot lift looks like you’ve just stepped in something.

Probably something the small dog left behind just before they kicked it across the room.

My Grandpa in Idaho used to say “Hup!” to get his team of draft horses started.

The late banjo player Eddie Lowe of Low Gap, North Carolina was quite nimble in his advanced age. While sitting, he would signal the coming end of set by lifting his foot above his head. Sometimes every player in the session would try to copy him, but I think he could lift his foot higher than anyone else. At least at age 19 I couldn’t lift my foot as high as he could in his seventies!

I have just read today that
HUP! is -“The Presence of Virtuosity in Irish Traditional Music”,
because I wanted to know exactly what it meant. I have shouted it any times…the source:
https://uncw.edu/csurf/explorations/documents/volume%209%202014/fell.pdf