🎻 What is the difference between a hop jig and a slip jig?

Hi Reader!

I'm going to take a guess that you first heard the term "slip jig" before you heard about hop jigs.

Ironically the first "slip" jig I ever learned (The Butterfly) is technically a hop jig, but that's a video explanation for another day!

In a nutshell, both tunes are in 9/8 time, where a measure is counted by eighth notes, and there are nine total eighth notes in a measure. These can be different combinations of eighths, quarters, dotted quarters -- but they all add up to nine.

Since a lot of traditional Irish tunes are dance music, you could say the difference between the two is the steps that a dancer will do for each tune type.

If you don't have a dancer at hand though, I like to illustrate the difference in two ways:

1. Look at the note value combinations. Do you have more groups of three eighth notes, or are there more quarter-eighth note groups? Slip jigs tend to have more groups of 3 eighths, whereas hop jigs have more quarter-eighths.
2. Listen to the approach. I like to play slip jigs at more of a lope-y, relaxed pace (they make for great warm-up sets), whereas hop jigs for me are more fiery and energetic.

That's not to say you can't play a fiery slip jig (especially our two F# minor favorites: Farewell to Whaley Range + The Cock and the Hen), or a more relaxed hop jig. It's actually fun to try playing a 9/8 tune both as a slip jig and as a hop jig -- great for both tone AND variation practice!

I've written one hop jig thus far in my Irish traditional music journey, and it was definitely inspired by an energetic, playful scene...

My hop jig is called The Dog Who Chased the Ducks, and yes the title is reflective of the scene that inspired the tune as well as the note patterns I went with!

I played this a couple weeks ago at Tune Junkie Weekend along with Randy Clepper (bouzouki) and Andy Kruspe (bodhrán) as part of our set. We also played a set of slip polkas(?!) that I'll post on my YouTube channel soon!

​

​

If you heard the dog leaping through the waves on the shores of Lake Michigan and the flutter of the ducks wings as they scurried to get away from this strange playful snapping creature, then my work here is done, Reader!

Not every hop jig or slip jig will be as obvious in the style, but I'll be curious if you can catch the differences between them when you hear both tune types!

Oh, and I definitely teased this in the video and will be doing a proper announcement next week, but if you made it this far... my second album, At the Core, is officially available on Bandcamp! Physical copies + streaming options coming very soon too!

There are two slip jigs + The Dog Who Chased the Ducks on the album, so you have a listening example ready and waiting for you here. 😉

Happy playing, and happy hop-jigging this week!

~Hannah