"Jig time" and pre-judgement.

[Carl Anderton]

First off, the pre-judgement.

In his introduction to the Mel Bay re-issue of "Ryan's Mammoth
Collection, 1050 Reels and Jigs," Patrick Sky has this to say about
the ol' cremona:

"Many genres in triple or compound time (such as the jig) have all but
disappeared in most parts of the U.S., with the exception of New
England. This is due, in my opinion, at least in part to the
popularity and influence of the five-string banjo. The banjo, played
in the style of early blackface minstrelsy, accommodates duple meters
only. This is evidenced by a number of tunes in "Ryan's Mammoth
Collection" that are called jigs. Instead of being in triple or
compound meter, they are in duple time and are idomatic for the
banjo..."

Perhaps Mr. Sky wrote this before Dr. Bob Winans rediscovered the
original stroke-style of banjo playing. Either way, he is dead wrong-
as evidenced by the significant numbers of "triple or compound meter"
tunes in the early tutors, especially the Converse and Buckley. Joe
Ayers put it rather succinctly in the notes to his Early Banjo
Classics Vol. III recording, "...this original and truly classic banjo
style, maligned by many late-19th century "guitar style" enthusiasts,
has been greatly misjudged in terms of its actual capabilities.
Converse's application of it to Irish jigs, European waltzes and
marches, hornpipes and reels clearly demonstrates no melodic
limitations to its technique..."

Bully for us, girls and boys. We may continue to be maligned by hot-
shot modern banjo players and their sleek, metallic instruments, but
our style "clearly demonstrates no melodic limitations."

I guess that leaves another issue, the use of the term "jig" for duple
and triple meter songs, when the modern concept of the term "jig"
applies only to triple meter. I suspect that has something to do with
the idiosyncrasies of 19th century minstrel dancing, but I really
don't know.