Guest (01 Aug 17 - 05:36 AM ) wrote:-
I was actually wondering recently whether perhaps the slip jig was initially an English development – perhaps evolving out of the old 9/4 hornpipes that you find in the older tune collections (e.g. Marsden, Playford, Daniel Wright). I was pondering whether perhaps those old 9/4 English hornpipes got sped-up and 'jiggified' over the years, turning into slip jigs...

A very interesting and entirely plausible thought. Dance tunes are often have their rhythms altered to suit different functions as dance tunes.

....or session tunes. Decades ago when Vic Gammon used to live in Sussex and we often played in folk clubs and sessions together and one of his favourites was to play Hunt The Squirrel first as a schottishe, then a polka, then a jig as a set. Not all tunes are as adaptable but that one is. Actually, at one of those sessions I started to play it as a waltz, but people just laughed so I stopped!