Irish Dance Music

Music was unwritten and musicians played and learned tunes by ear. Their tunes were passed from one generation to the next. They must have had excellent memories as a skilled musician could play any one of several hundred tunes on request.

The majority of Irish jigs are native in origin and were composed by pipers and fiddlers such as Leo Rowsome, Séamus Ennis and Micho Russell. Some of the music was adapted from English and Scottish tunes. A good example of adapation is The Fairy Reel which was composed in Scotland in 1802 and became popular in Ireland a century later. The titles of many dance tunes had no musical connection with the actual tunes. Most musicians looked around them for inspiration when naming a composition or randomly plucked a name out of the air to give a tune a title, e.g. Garden of Daisies, Hurry the Jug and Stack of Barley. There were of course some with a political significance, such as Bonaparte's Retreat. This was written around 1798 when the United Irishmen expected a French invasion and Napoleon's help to overthrow English rule.

From the end of the eighteenth century dancing at wakes was another familiar sight. The mourners would follow each other in a ring around the coffin to the music of the bagpipe. When no instrument was available the lilter provided the music. Lilting, or porta beil, is a unique musical sound produced with the mouth. Music at céilís today is provided by a ceilí band with musicians playing an assortment of instruments including the fiddle, drums, piano and accordion.

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From Irish Dance by Authur Flynn. Illustrated by Anne Farrall.