From The Dancing Master — Jig
- Learn a compound-meter jig from Playford's collection.
- Feel 6/8 as two-to-the-bar rather than six-to-the-bar.
About This Piece
Source: John Playford, The Dancing Master (first published 1651, many subsequent editions)
Time Signature: 6/8
Key: G Major
Full Piece
A representative jig in the Playford manner — sprightly, two-to-the-bar, a real dance.
Practice Tips
- Tempo: Dotted quarter = 80. Feel the dotted-quarter pulse, not the eighth.
- Articulation: Slur the first two of each three-eighth group, tongue the third. Standard jig pattern.
- Lift: The dance should never feel heavy. If it does, slow down and find the pulse.
Historical Context
John Playford published The Dancing Master in 1651 and revised it through eighteen editions over the next century. The collection contains hundreds of tunes for English country dancing — jigs, reels, hornpipes, hays. The pieces are all simple by design: amateur dancers and amateur fiddlers needed to be able to learn them quickly. The recorder works as well as the fiddle for the upper line.
Performance Goal: A dance pulse that would actually start dancers moving.
Next Steps
- Try other Playford dances in chapter 6.
- Apply the same jig pulse to the Loeillet D minor sonata's Giga (Lesson 59).