Da Full Rigged Ship jig

I got this from the Carp Camp homework. I play it after Charlie Hunter’s Jig (posted a few weeks back) and before the New Rigged Ship (will post it later today or tomorrow).

Brent

Here’s another setting, no doubt warped by time, beer, and memory, learned by a friend of mine from the playing of Aly Bain.

X: 1
T: Da Full Rigged Ship
S: Clay Scott, who learned it from Aly Bain
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
K: Amin
|:eaa egg eaa b2 a|e2 ^f g2 f eag fed|
eaa egg eaa b2 a|ege {g}edB A3 A3:||
|:efe dBG A2 B c2 A|~B3 ~B3 Bcd E3|
efe dBG A2 B c2 d|efe dBG A3 A3:||
|:~E3 ~E3 ~E3 c3|~E3 E2 D E2 F GEC|
~E3 ~E3 ~E3 c2 d|efe dBG A3 A3:||

I suspect The Rakes of Kildare derives from this Shetland jig.

This jig also appears on a recording by Aly Bain & Alle Moller called, appropriately enough, “Fully Rigged.” Its the opening track on the recording , where they play it in a set with a reel called “The New Rigged Ship.”

Lovely tune. Horrifying as a slide though, Will 😛

Best jig in the world

This one, and Da New Rigged Ship are supposed to be played with the fiddle tuned A,EAe. Gives a great ringing sound, similar to a hardingfele.

This tune has set me wondering about the circumstances of its collection, since, when I look at the two versions printed here, the first and second A-sections seem rhythmically different somehow - at least to my ear. The first variant is more melodic, but the second one goes more as one would expect a dance tune to go. The first one’s A section is the right length technically - eight bars - but it seems to start *before* the second version does - it gets into its stride in the wrong place - and then finishes too soon. I shall learn the first one willy-nilly, though, as it’s the one played at my local session. 🙂

Maybe I’m just an Alexander Pope trying to convert Donne’s magnificent rugged rhythms into smooth iambic pentameters! 🙂

Aha! The tune is included in my tutor book, Traditional Scottish Fiddling by Christine Martin, page 96, where she tells us: that the ‘piece … is mostly played today as written but traditionally was played with a free rhythm imitating the motion of a ship at sea.’

Not a dance tune - that explains it then!
The second version has presumably regularised itself in line with prosaic expectations like mine…

I’ve added the chords. Also I think the tune is in Adorian (has the F#) - makes it a little easier to read.

Hi Chris. It’s a pity that the X:1 setting is cluttered with so many slurs, but that is in fact the way I play it, with f naturals in the B and C parts.

As heard at session in Austin, TX.

Very glad to hear that it’s supposed to be played with a free rhythm, because that’s the way I’ve always played it. A very good friend of mine from the Shetland Islands met me on the day I’d bought my new (old) fiddle - she was amazed to hear someone in Australia playing it.

I played it at a session in Galway once and had blank stares until I launched into The New Rigged Ship, which everyone knew - perhaps that tune is more well known thanks to the Altan recording.

Here’s how I play the pair of tunes, but I’m certainly no Shetlander!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjCK_aMGNY

play video

This tune along with Da New Rigged Ship appears on pages 58-59 in Tom Anderson’s 1983 tune book ‘Ringing Strings’. Tom’s setting is very similar to the first setting published here.

The tune’s caption says:
‘Tom learned this descriptive piece from the late Peter Fraser. It describes the motion of a full rigged ship with a nice sailing wind. The changes in tempo try to describe where the ship and sea play a little game’.

The caption for Da New Rigged Ship says:
‘A traditional reel from the playing of the late Peter Fraser of Finnigarth, Waas. The tune celebrates the rigging out with new sails and mast of a fishing boat, which the owner proudly calls a ship’.

The version I learned from Catriona Macdonald in the 1990s was from Tom’s book, and the two tunes are often played as a set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tlLkGZOYCY

play video