The Clare Jig

[caedmon]

I figured I would try and learn my first jig. But, what jig to learn? They are all basically the same to me, so I looked at the "classics" list in another thread and picked out Clare Jig. Nice song. I am trying to find someone on YouTube that doesn't play the song at lightspeed to get a better feel for it.

[weedie]

G'day there Chad,good luck on your musical journey...
I just thought I'd point out something to you before someone leaps out from a darkened alley and whacks you over the head with an old whistle ..
Songs are songs and tunes are tunes...What you're talking about here are TUNES That is.....Instruments playing melodies ....Songs are sung by singers...
Its no big deal of course,but ...might as well get the terminology right from the start.
Its a bit daunting when you hear people playing tunes so fast that only dogs can hear it.Thats why The Amazing Slowdowner is such a good learning tool for us.This is computer programme that slows down a tune (using your CD in the computer ) without changing the pitch...you can start at ,say,60% of the normal speed and then work your way up to pace....an excellent thing 'tis .
By the way,the TUNE .......... Over the Oceans is a nice one for starters ..

[Ceili_whistle_man]

Which 'Clare jig' do you mean? There are many tunes that go under that title. 'The Mug of brown ale' is also known as the Clare jig, and I have also heard 'Paddy Wards' refered to as the Clare jig as well. Can you link to midi of the tune you know as the Clare jig?

[plunk111]

Your best bet would be to go to www.thesession.org and check out the tune lists. Just pick the most popular and you're probably on the right track... Go to "Members" and then "Tunebook" and pick the first jig...

Good luck on your journey!

Pat

[pancelticpiper]

The "Clare Jig" that I play is one of the few tunes that goes up to High C. (The highest note usually found in Trad Irish dance music is High B. This is probably because B is the highest note a fiddler can play in 1st position.)

An interesting choice for a beginner's first jig! At least you get a handle on High C from the get-go.

Most trad Irish flute/whistle players I've seen don't do the crossfingered C

oxx oox

that they use for Middle C for High C. Rather, they just play High B and open up the top fingerhole a tad. You'll see that in Trad Irish tunes High C is usually preceeded and followed by B, perhaps for that reason.

[caedmon]

I am too new to know any better. It just seemed like a nice jig to learn.

[apack]

My suggestion is to pick one of the tunes from whistlethis.com to start with. There are numerous advantages to this:

1. They have "mentor examples" from experienced players so you can hear the proper pace and inflection of the tune.

2. There are also a number of submissions from users of different levels of experience, with commentary on them. This lets you hear many versions of the tune done at different paces and with different styles.

3. They have the sheet music for each tune right there. This is good because all of the uploaded recordings start from the same version of the tune (with additional minor variations introduced as ornamentation).

Also, if you haven't done so, take a look at the tinwhistler series of instructional videos by Ryan Duns. They are accessible from the whistlethis website under whistle university, and the sheet music and other stuff can be found on his website, tinwhistler.blogspot.com. He plays a number of jigs as well.

Have fun!

[MTGuru]

Will the real "Clare Jig" please stand up ... ABCs anyone?

[caedmon]

Well, there is apparently more than one Clare Jig. The one I am learning is from Whistle & Squeak.

http://www.geocities.com/whistleandsqueak/ClareJig.pdf

[MTGuru]

Ah, so. That's a setting of The Mug of Brown Ale.

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/888

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/mug_of_brown_ale/

[McHaffie]

Another suggestion I would point out is to make a visit to the 'Clips n Snips' website. There you will find all different levels of playing from beginner to advanced, and a HUGE range of tunes.

Just something for your ear, and I would also suggest that you might perhaps go for a jig or reel that is not quite so finger befuddling right off the bat... however it is entirely your choice and wanting to get a favorite tune just right is what drives many of us to our ends - having our sanity (or more to the point our friends and family having theirs) at that end is the debatable point

Some of the jigs / slip jigs I found easiest to start out with were:
Hardiman the Fiddler (slip jig)
Out On the Ocean (jig)
Buried My Wife and Danced On Her Grave (jig) <- great tune for learning your taps, cuts, and rolls. One of my fav funs.

As I said though - don't let anyone in the thread steer you away from your original goal - just trying to throw out some helpful ideas. With a little digging you should be able to find a good slow-down of the tune you want or plenty of people here I'm betting can do it. I would but I don't know the Clare Jig well enough to do a good job for you lol.

All my best and happy whistling!!
John

[apack]

By all means play what you like! Just don't get discouraged if it takes you a while to learn how to play it.

There's a very nice version of this tune, on whistle, on the Planxty album Live 2004 under the title "The Clare Jig". I like that one so much that I've also been trying to learn to play it.

[caedmon]

If the song proves to be too twisty for my fingers, I will probably slide it to the right in favor of another song that is more approachable.

[plunk111]

Chad:

Just noticed where you live... I'd strongly suggest you go to the Dublin (OH) Irish festival - there are workshops and sessions (and LOTS of other stuff!). I know that Grey Larsen will be there doing his flute/whistle workshop. It's about 2:20 from you according to Google maps. Their website: http://www.dublinirishfestival.org/

Pat

[MTGuru]

If the song proves to be too twisty

tune