Slippery Slip Jig Tracks For Practising Bodhrán

by MichelleStewart on October 29, 2015

 

Slip jigs (9/8) are one of my favourite tune types to play on the bodhrán, but many who are new to them can find it difficult to tell the difference between 9/8 and 6/8 jigs. The best solution for this is to listen to lots of great tracks to get more familiar with them.

However, many album tracks don’t specify if the tune is 9/8 (slip) or 6/8 jig. What makes deciphering the difference even trickier is the fact that many artists are known to play around with arrangements by adding extra beats, taking some out, or changing back and forth between time signatures.

So be warned, a track may say ‘xyz Slip Jig’, but it might not be played in 9/8 straight through, or even played in 9/8 time at all. As fun as it is for those of us who can easily hear time changes, it can make it quite confusing for someone trying to figure out whether it’s a slip jig or not.

In an attempt to help you broaden your understanding of slip jigs I have created a Resource List to guide you along some great tracks. It’s kind of like Slip Jig Listening School. 

For each album I’ll recommend a track to practice along with and point out if and where the tune changes timing.

Those of you confident with your slip jigs – you’re going to eat these tracks right up, especially when a few of them cross over to 5/4 time.

Thanks to everyone who shared their favourite slip tracks with me on social media. Your contributions make up a good part of this list.

Drum On!

MIchelle

 

The first tune, The Kesh Jig, is in 6/8 time. The 9/8 (slip) jig, Give Us A Drink Of Water, starts at the 1:50 minute mark of the track. At 2:56 minutes they then change into reel time for the last tune, The Famous Ballymote.

The first two tunes are in 6/8 jig time. Give Us A Drink Of Water (9/8) starts at the 2:25 minute mark. 

The Swaggering Jig, in 9/8 time, doesn’t start until the 3:13 minute mark of the track. The previous three jigs are in 6/8 time.

All three tunes are in 9/8 time. 

The first tune is in 9/8 time, but also has an extra beat thrown in every once in a while. Simply add an extra three 8th notes/quavers at the end of Part 1 the first three times through and on Part 2 the third time through the tune. The second tune switches into 6/8 and starts at 1:55 min. 

The first jig, Gingerhog’s No. 2, is in 9/8 time with Double Rise changing to 6/8 time at 1:05 minutes.
The third tune, Crossing The Mince, is in 6/8, and starts at 2:08 mins.
The last tune, Give Us A Drink Of Water, is in 9/8 time and starts at 3:11 mins. 

Chloe’s Passion is a great 9/8 jig. The 6/8 jig, The Snuff Wife, starts at the 1:43 minute mark. The last tune, Merrily Danced The Quaker’s Wife, is actually at 12/8 (slide) jig and starts at 2:39 mins.

The Full Booner set starts out in 9/8 time, but pleasantly surprises by switching to 5/4 time (aka 10/8)  at 1:57 mins.

Leppadumdowledum (Port Lúascaigh) is a brilliant 9/8 jig that’s easy to get lost in. I first heard it from Donal Lunny (below), but enjoy Bully’s Acre version as well.

The first tune, I Have A House With A Chimney On Top Of It, is a slip jig. Faith Aaliyah is in 6/8 and 9/8 time and starts at the 1:37 minute mark (after a 4 bar 6/8 bridge). Chrissy plays around with the timing of this second tune by only playing 15 beats of 6/8 time in Part 1 before repeating (instead of the typical 16 beats/8 bars of jig). Then she breaks into 9/8 time for Part 2, but changes the last bar to 6/8 time. She doesn’t repeat Part 2, but goes directly back to playing Part 1 twice more and then Part 2 once more. The third tune, Skylark’s Ascension Jig, starts at 2:26 mins and is in 6/8 time.

  • Artist: Coig
  • Album: Five
  • Track: Bad Day At The Beach (Sunburn, Man-flu and The S#!+s/Craig’s Pipes/Ann Lacey’s/Mickey The Pipes)
  • Track: D Jigs (Bathroom, Bar and the Parking Meter/Nora Crionna/ Muineira de Casu/Ellen O’Grady)
  • https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/five/id896879549

Bad Day At The Beach – The first tune, Sunburn, Man-flu and The S#!+s, starts at 0:16 mins and is in 9/8 time. They break into reel time at 1:54 mins and continue with reels until the end of the track.

D Jigs – The first three tunes are all 6/8 jigs, but the last tune, Ellen O’Grady, is a slip jig. It start at the 3:21 minute mark. 

The entire track is in 9/8 time.

This is perhaps my favourite album of all time. I have the original cd, but I couldn’t find it on iTunes or anywhere online for you to purchase the track. The above link is a YouTube video of the recording. If anyone knows where this can be purchased please let me know so I can add the link here. 

This is a very pretty track that stays in 9/8 jig time throughout and it’s not too fast either.

Starts in 9/8 time, but switches to 6/8 time at the 2:05 minute mark until the end.

Starts out with The Butterfly in 9/8 jig time until changing into an unknown 6/8 jig, (or possibly a 12/8 jig) at 2:41mins, before switching back to The Butterfly in 9/8 time at 5:06 mins.

 Starts in 9/8 time with The Butterfly, but breaks into reels at the 1:20 minute mark and continues in reel time until the end. 

This track is really clever and a buffet to the ears. It starts out with the song Sheffield Park in 5/4 time, but what’s really special about it is that when they break into Polly’s Bishop’s Slip Jig at 3:47 mins the backing percussion and bass stay playing 5/4 time. It’s not until they head into Roger De Coverly at 6:01 mins that they backing support comes over to a more slip jig accompaniment.

The entire track entitled ‘Slip Jig/ Jig Gan Aimn’ is actually played in 6/8 time.
The ‘Slip Jig / The Humours Of Glendart’ track starts out in 9/8 time, but switches to 6/8 at 0:52 and stays in 6/8 for the remainder of the track.

  • 0:00 mins – Starts out in 9/8 time.
  • 1:46 mins – Switch to 6/8 time (When the vocals break into ‘. . . Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie you’re welcome home to me’ at 1:46 minute mark they switch to 6/8 time and stay there for the following instrumental bridge.)
  • 1:58 mins – Switch to 9/8 time (When the singing starts up again at 1:58 mins they go back to 9/8 time.)
  • 2:06 mins – Switch to 6/8 time (When they get to ‘ . . . many a man today’ at 2:06 minutes they are back into 6/8 time and stay there until singing resumes.)
  • 2:25 mins – Switch to 9/8 time (Back in to 9/8 time at 2:25 minutes for the next vocal part.
  • 2:33 mins – Switch to 6/8 time (At 2:33 mins, on the words ‘. . . Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie you’re welcome home to me’, they break into 6/8 time for just a few seconds.
  • 2:38 mins – Switch to 9/8 time (Once they hit the next instrumental section at 2:38 mins they’re back into 9/8 time.  They stay there into the next vocal section)
  • 3:08 mins – Switch to 6/8 time (At the vocal ‘ . . . Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie you’re welcome home to me’ at 3:08 mins the briefly switch to 6/8 time for just a few seconds)
  • 3:12 mins – Switch to 9/8 time (They quickly switch back to 9/8 time as they repeat the chorus at 3:12 mins.)
  • 3:21 mins – Switch to 6/8 time and stay there (The last time they sing ‘ . . . Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie you’re welcome home to me’ they switch to 6/8 time and stay in that time signature for the remainder of the track.

The Barra MacNeils also did this tune on one of their earlier albums ‘Rock In The Stream’, but the timings above are taken from their Racket In The Attic version.

It would be impossible to include absolutely every slip jig track here, but please feel free to leave a comment below to share a slip jig track you like.

 

Drum On!

Michelle

ps. Follow me on Instagram @MickeyStewartOfficial for positive, fun and musical posts. http://www.Instagram.com/MichelleStewartOfficial

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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

Joe Glynn December 2, 2015 at 10:38 am

Michele,

… thank you for sharing yourself & your family all these years …

Gary Levvis December 2, 2015 at 3:04 pm

this is a great resource. Thank you1

Gary Levvis December 2, 2015 at 3:04 pm

This is a great resource. Thank you!

Jim Becker December 2, 2015 at 5:39 pm

May I suggest…

Artist: The Baltimore Consort
Album: The Mad Buckgoat
Track: Bugga Fee Hoosa (Bogadh Faoi Shusa)
https://youtu.be/mBHbUU4mI30

The whole album is fun, from a group that generally covers the music of the 15th-18th centuries.

MichelleStewart December 3, 2015 at 3:40 am

ooh, that’s a fantastic track, Jim. Thanks for the suggestion. ~ Michelle

MichelleStewart December 3, 2015 at 3:40 am

You are more than welcome, Gary. It was really fun to put together. – Michelle

dave hutton December 11, 2015 at 4:49 pm

Did you know that Donal Lunny, as well as being a great bouzouki player is a mean bodhran drummer as well.
Next year (2016) at the Craiceann summer school on Innis Oirr, Galway Bay, Donal will be one of the bodhran instructors.

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