Pip - you are right that I should rely on more than just half heard utterances so I will retract that point and offer something else instead.

I have just been to oxford music online (the new name for the online new grove dictionary of music and musicians) and would provide a link to the relevant pages but for the fact that you must have a password to view it, so I hope it proves useful and not annoying that I am cutting and pasting onto this page instead.

Perhaps Joe or Mick would like to check the legality of this so Max doesn't get in trouble.

Here is the first instalment.

"Jig.

Term used for several types of dance originating in the British Isles. The origin of the word is problematic; when used in connection with dance it may derive from Old French giguer ('to leap' or 'to gambol'). It contains the idea of a vigorous up and down movement, of which the dance is expressive. This is particularly true of the male solo dance; thus the English during the time of Elizabeth I described a Scottish jig as 'full of leapings' (J. Florio: A Worlde of Words, London, 1598) after the performance of the Scottish lords. This aristocratic form is distinct from the form resembling the hornpipe (see Hornpipe (ii)) and is a variety of 'stepping': beating out intricate movements with the feet (usually, but not always, without movement of the body and arms). Although prevalent in the north of England the form of stepping identified in the jig has become associated particularly with Ireland, and has spread from both countries, through traders and immigrants, to the USA and Canada. Differing from this form of stepping, but somewhat resembling the Scottish form popularly regarded as 'highland dancing', are the 'pater-o-pee' and the morris jig. A fourth type is the scurrilous song and dance act or farce-jig developed in the late 16th century (see Jigg). Country dances called jigs in Playford's Dancing Master are figured dances of geometrical form but their tunes may, in some instances, derive from farce-jigs: for instance Nobody's Jig is the tune of the farce-jig Pickelherring, and Kemp's Jig is a variant of Rowland, the most famous of all farce-jigs performed by Will Kemp and the Earl of Leicester's players.

Until the early 19th century the terms jig, hornpipe and reel were used interchangeably, as none of them was a distinct form in either style or rhythm. The Scottish association continued in what was known as 'Scots measure' (2/4 as distinct from 3/2); similar dances for two male soloists were known as jigs in central Scotland, as strathspeys in northern Scotland and as Cumberlands south of the Scottish border where, as in Ireland, the two soloists were often of opposite sex, the woman's performance being the more subdued. By the end of the 17th century, however, the jig, although undefined, was associated with Ireland; and Tom d'Urfey's Choice New Songs (London, 1684) contains A Scotch Song made to the Irish Jigg. With the invention of infinite steps and tunes the jig (again, like the hornpipe) was taken up by the dancing schools in the 18th and 19th centuries and fostered by competitions and championships, evolving into a distinct form of stepping and acquiring the terminology of single and double jig, hop jig, slip jig and set-dance, each having its own measures.

Irish jig tunes, sometimes known as 'ports', can be either regular or irregular in structure and are played in 'double time': that is, each section is repeated. Regular jigs consist of two eight-bar sections; irregular tunes have sections of unequal length and are employed in set-dances, each dance having its own name and movement figures. Single and double jigs are in 6/8 time, the single jig containing two crotchet-quaver groups in each bar, the double jig containing two groups of triplets. Slip (or hop) jigs are in 9/8 time, each bar consisting of three groups of triplets. Single and double jigs are danced solo or with a partner of the opposite sex, as in those dances called Cumberlands; slip jigs, in which stepping is alternated with a promenade, as in the reel, are performed by couples dancing independently of other couples. Country dances ('long-dances' or 'rounds') for mixed couples are not termed step-dances, although they may employ jig steps and tunes in jig (or hornpipe, or reel) time. Music is usually provided by the union pipes or fiddle, but tunes called jigs (in 6/8 time in two regular eight-bar sections) are found among harp compositions by Carolan (1670–1738) and are regarded by some as imitations of Corelli's gigas (see Ireland, §II, 5 and exx.1–3).

A similar but less elaborate form of stepping is found in the northern counties of England in solo clog dancing, of which tap-dancing is a stage variant. It is most commonly performed solo, and more often by men than by women. The posture of the body differs from the Irish rigidity, the arms being somewhat raised and the head and body tilted forward to preserve balance. Stepping in a stationary position is also executed in the 'rapper' sword dances of Durham and Northumberland. In rural areas of the Midlands and southern counties of England there is a form of jig sometimes called 'pater-o-pee' (a word, possibly 'franglais', descriptive of the light patting of the foot on the ground) which has some resemblance to the Scottish broad-sword dance. The rhythm is stepped over crossed whips, flails, sticks or churchwarden pipes, a feat of dexterity in which the dancer must preserve his own balance and the position of the objects laid on the ground. Another form is the morris jig performed with the usual steps of the morris dance accompanied by a counter-rhythm of arm and hand movements, sometimes emphasized by handkerchiefs held in each hand or a stick passed from hand to hand. Favourite jigs are Jockie to the Fair, Shepherd's Hey, Bacca-pipes and The Fool's Jig. These tunes are in 4/4, 2/2 or 6/8 time, usually consisting of two or three eight-bar sections repeated as required. In many jigs the time of one section will be augmented to permit the 'capers' or leaps which alternate with the figures and conclude the dance. Morris jigs are performed solo or by a number of soloists: three abreast successively repeating the figure, or four facing inwards. To perform the jig the dancer leaves the 'side' of six men and doffs the hat worn for set-dances and processional dances. Music was traditionally provided by the pipe and tabor until well into the 19th century, when the fiddle or concertina replaced them.

Pieces entitled 'jig', 'jigg' or 'gigge', although of no definite character, are found in early instrumental methods and were used as themes for keyboard variations. For example, in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book are A Gigge by Byrd (no.181); A Gigge, My Selfe and A Gigge both by Bull (nos.189, 190); and A Gigge by Farnaby (no.267). Others are derived from songs in farce-jigs: in the same collection are Farnaby's Nobody's Gigge (no.149) and Rowland or Rolandston, which also appears in My Lady Nevell's Book, Will Forster's Virginal Book, Robinson's Schoole and elsewhere up to Bach's Choralgesänge (no.371, 'Keinen hat Gott verlassen') of 1765. The majority of such identifiable jigs, however, are in Dutch collections such as J.J. Starter's Friesche Lust-hof (Amsterdam, 1621). The jig was also accepted into the dance suite, finding its place as the final movement (see R. Cotgrave: A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London, 1611, under 'Farce')."