It usually takes a while (sometimes several years) for a beginner Irish dancer to be able to tell the difference between reels, jigs, hornpipes, and slip jigs. The differences are very hard to pinpoint and sometimes depend on something as subtle as whether or not there is “swing” in the beat.
Reels and Jigs
Reels and jigs are songs/dances whose rhythm and meter is the same whether they are used for softshoe—in which case they are just called either “reel” or jig”—or hardshoe—in which case they are called “treble reel” or “treble jig” for the sound the hardshoe makes.
Both kinds of dances have a 4/4 time signature, and both only have 8 beats per foot. The only difference is that the jig has a swing, whereas the reel has an even rhythm. A dancer will find himself/herself counting an even “1 2 3 and 2 2 3 and 3 2 3” for reels, but counting long 1’s, short 2’s, and long 3’s for jigs. Jigs often have the classic footwork beat ending of a fast “1-2-3-4,” or “hop-back-2-3-4,” typically done in small steps.
Because of the swing, softshoe jigs usually have smaller, faster footwork than the reel or slip jig. They tend to have more stepping, points, and small back hops than leaps and front hops. Softshoe reels, on the other hand, tend to have less stepping and more leaps, back-to-back hops, pivoting, and pick-up moves like skips or switches.
The difference between treble jigs and treble reels is also in the “swing” of the treble jig. Treble reels tend to have more stomps and treble hop-backs, whereas treble jigs tend to have more movement and toe-hops.
Of course, these are only tendancies; jigs, reels, treble jigs, and treble reels may have whatever moves the creator of the step decides to place in them as long as they fit the rhythm and meter.
Hornpipes
Hornpipes are always hardshoe, so there is no need to specify “treble hornpipe.” They also have a 4/4 time signature, but the difference between them and treble reels or treble jigs is that they are twice as long; they have 16 beats per foot before the dance is finished. So to tell between a treble jig and a hornpipe, try to feel out the musical phrase and see if it completes itself in 8 or 16 beats.
Hornpipes can be (reasonably) slow or fast, as can treble jigs. But treble reels are usually always fast. Hornpipes also tend to have more treble leaps than treble hops, whereas treble reels tend to have more treble hops than treble leaps, but again, the steps depend on what the teacher wants.
Slip Jigs
Slips jigs are typically in ¾ time. Dancers will often find themselves counting to five, however, within the three beats of a measure, because three beats is too slow to dance to. Thus, the 1, 3, and 5 counts (which happen on the 1, 2, and 3 beats) are long, and 2 and 4 are short.
Slip jigs are softshoe dances, and are typically graceful with lots of legwork, leaps, and turns. “The Countess Cathleen,” for example, is a famous slip jig from Riverdance.
It is difficult to tell between various styles of Irish dance and music because the time signature is only different for one type of dance. But determining whether or not there is a swing and then finding the end of the musical phrase will help a dancer distinguish what music to do what steps to.
Elisabeth Sharber - Elisabeth Sharber is a Messiah College graduate with a BA in English, and minors in politics and psychology. She is currently job ...
