Pippa Sandford’s jig

"Will Atkinson: Mouthorgan"
https://thesession.org/recordings/2524

I had a couple of slumps recently and courtesy of a friend made on this site, one Pippa Sandford, bless her soul, I was rescued and pulled out of the shadows by the music of folks I have a long and high appreciation for ~ "The Shepherds" = Willy Taylor on fiddle, Will Atkinson on mouth organ & Joe Hutton on Northumbrian small pipes. What lovely music. Amongst it all was this composition by Will Atkinson, which he plays on a C harmonica, which is obviously a favorite harp of his… I started playing it in the key of C, then took it up a step to D. Later, wanting to put it in the reach of more folk here, I had fun with it in G… The transcription given here includes takes in D & G, with considerable difference in the second take in G. The D version is very close to Will Atkinson’s take for it on his recording "Mouthorgan", the first tune in a set of 3 jigs…

I hope I’ve done it justice in these transcription. If anyone else has another take on it I’d love to see it and give it a try. Thanks Pippa, my ears rejoice, my heart dances and my smile suffers strain whenever I listen to these three lads… 🙂

Here is a simplified take on this tune for winds, avoiding the low drops. The same D fingering could also be used on a C instrument, Will Atkinson’s key as determined by his usual choice of harmonica.

X: 1
T: Pippa Sandford’s
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: D Major
|: A |
DED FEF | BAF EDE | FAB AFD | FED E2 F |
DED FED | FAB AdB | AFD EDB | ADD D2 :|
|: A |
BcB Bcd | cBA AFE | ABA Acd | ecA cBA |
FBB Bcd | cBA Bcd | edB AFD | EDD D2 :|

I enjoy the use of the jig rhythm N>NN (E>DC), as occurs in the playing of this jig. I’ve tried to show in the given transcriptions that it isn’t consistent but used for variation and interest. I particularly like the straight lead up to its use in a penultimate beat, as an example from this tune:

~ BB/c/d | edB AFD | E>DC D2 :|

Swing in jigs, wouldn’t you know, and hinting of that same thing as you find prevalent in slides, single jigs, hop jigs and slip jigs, that good ol’ N2 N…

Not a great fan of inconsistent swing in jigs, meself. I like a little bit of swing but prefer it to be consistent, otherwise it sounds messy and undanceable to my ear.

I’m not for ‘inconsistent’ necessarily either, but what I mainly meant was that it wasn’t N>NN for every beat of the jig, as some notations can suggest, and Will varied it in the repeats so I wanted that to be clear… The smooth NNN and the swing of N>NN can be used with effect, including to help the dance and the dancers by creating a more defined phrasing.

Hey Dow, since when are you dancing? 😏

I let my fingers do the dancing, ‘c’ 😉

Poor little things… 😛

I’ve danced with Dow/Mark, and he ain’t half got the swing. The most important measure to me being whether it’s fun, the craic, he passes that test with flying colours… So he reserves the miserable old git personae just for us here on TheSesh…

Jigging the dance ~

Stop, site back, leave your fingers alone for a moment… Now get up on your feet and lets see where the heart of dancing is in a jig…step-by-step…one A-part of a basic tune’s worth ~

1.) walk (LR / RL), the basics all else is built on, rhythmic, the primary beats, one foot in front of another, an A-parts worth ~

|: N3 N3 | N3 N3 | N3 N3 | N3 N3 |
N3 N3 | N3 N3 | N3 N3 | N3 N3 :|

2.) 3s, down-3s, again basics (LRL / RLR). The association with ‘down’ comes from a basic movement in contact with the floor, not bouncing all over hell like an out of control Tigger, as some tend to do, cruising for an injury, because the concrete and earth underfoot won’t give first something in your anatomy will…

|: N2 N N3 | N2 N N3 | N2 N N3 | N2 N N3 |
N2 N N3 | N2 N N3 | N2 N N3 | N2 N N3 :|

3.) skip-3s / hop-3s (heel-LRL / heel-RLR), though ‘hop’ is not usually what is literally meant. Again, reserve is the usual, at least in the past, just a simple rising and lowering of the heel. Movement is not emphasized as ‘up-and-down’ but moving along the surface, across it, in parallel with it…

|: N | N2 N N2 N | N2 N N2 N | N2 N N2 N | N2 N N2 N |
N2 N N2 N | N2 N N2 N | N2 N N2 N | N2 N N2 :|

So, all those basics and whether or not you play the beat NNN or N>NN has no difference to the ‘basic’ situation what so ever… 🙂

Now where there can be a difference, but let’s just take it as that playful and joyful thing, incidental polyrhythms…

Solo stepping and a basic ~ the shuffle, one measure worth only ~

| NNN NNN | ~ so finally we have a potential conflict? ~ Nah! That middle beat is OK however you take it, so emphasising the first element of a beat with N>NN is no problem… The stepper can choose to hold the treble even, or NNN, or they too can swing it N>NN… Since the primary elements are N2 N, the dance reason for the prevalence of that in jigs, a bit of incidental polyrhythm is alright… Here is polyrhythm in a greater contrast, and the likes of percussionist Tommy Hayes and others, including dancers, have pulled this one off, and again, whether NNN or N>NN or N<NN, no sweat, it is ‘incidental’, something from the good ol’ days of the Galliard ~

| N>NN NNN | N2 N2 N2 | NNN NNN | ~ etc…

Hmm, I see what you’re saying, ‘c’. It might not matter for where your feet are going, but swing always puts spaces in the music, and I like my space always to be there, so I can choose whether or not to fill it, and if I fill it it’ll be with a triplet or something. With consistent swing, you get groove, and with groove you get dance whether or not you’re actually physically realising that dance with your body. But hey, I’m not gonna argue with you on this one. You know I’m clueless about dancing, and I’m aware that by making comments like this, people on this website are going to despise me because I haven’t been playing long enough to have an opinion (you not included of course), but I’ll have to learn to keep my mouth shut 🙁

The ‘shuffle’, I forgot to outline, exactly what I meant for the uninitiated ~ NNN / 123 (or 456) ~ or step-shuf-fle…

1 ~ ‘Step’ ~ is literally meant, given with weight, Left or Right
Depending on ‘style’, this can be flat or on the ball, or on the heel

23 ~ ‘Shuf-Fle ~ generally without weight
There are several ‘types’, which can again depend on style
Two basic forms of one type ~
‘Shuf’ ~ brushing the foot forward (slightly!) and catching either the ball (‘toe’ /front of the foot or pad) or the heel on the ground/floor… It makes enough contact to make some noise…
‘Fle’ ~ brushing the foot back and catching the ball of the foot on the floor again…

Examples ~ | NNN NNN |
L:Step - R:Shuf - R:Fle R:Step - L:Shuf - L:Fle

‘Style’ ~ it comes in a number of flavours… For example, some dancers are ‘toe’ dancers, others are heel-toe… For some the movements of the shuffle tend to predominantly be straight forward and back, others dance it out at an angle, some as much as a full right angle between a shuffle on the R and on the L…

I have a particular appreciation for the ‘neat’ dancer, the one who keeps their moves within a close area, beneath them… That is the Sean Nos style I appreciate most, and I have seen it in many places, if with its own accent ~ Eire, Scotland, England, Wales, North America (Canada & the U.S.A. & definitely including the Canadian Maritimes)… I appreciate the skill and the dedication and sacrafice of the modern forms, but haven’t much patience for how general exaggeration takes away from the music rather than contributing to it… IMO 😏

Are you stalking me? 🙁

You keep your mouth shut? 😀 That’ll be a cold day in hell…and very boring and uninteresting…

Just so you don’t think this is all about you dear friend, here is part of the motivation for the above ~

Discussion: Irish dance videos—reel, jig, slide?
# Posted on May 5th 2007 by mickray
https://thesession.org/discussions/13607

3s & skip-3s are both used in the various dance forms to accompany the jig family of tunes… It can also be a part of individual style as well as regional or tune/dance form… Some dancers prefer one way or the other, to skip or not to skip… Not to usually means a slightly smoother style of dancing…