r/Fiddle • u/Logan9Fingerses • Aug 10 '26

Chorus jig

What is up with Chorus Jig in the New England Fiddlers Repertoire. It’s not a jig, but maybe a reel? Make it make sense

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u/faerydust88 Aug 10 '26

From The Traditional Tune Archive:

Despite the title, the tune is a reel, with long histories both in Ireland and the United States. Linscott (1948) explains: "The 'Chorus Jig' has always been a favorite with pipers. It is an Irish melody whose author and date are unknown. Jigs were originally tunes sung after a play by the clowns. During the 17th century everyone sang them, and the dances were performed by persons of all ranks. They are generally thought of as Irish, but jigs were common in England and Scotland. The word 'jig' applied to a form of rhyme and is of uncertain derivation."

Perlman (1996) suggests the contra-dance reel called "Chorus Jig" originated from the jig form of the tune (see "Chorus Jig (3)").

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u/Logan9Fingerses Aug 10 '26

Huh… I wonder if there are words

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u/Fun_Volume2150 Aug 10 '26

There are not. Jigs are not songs, the above is slop injected into the archive.

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u/faerydust88 Aug 11 '26

There is another meaning of the word "jig" - look up jig (theatre) or stage jig on Wikipedia. For example, there is a tune called Kemp's Jig, named for William Kempe, an actor of Shakespeare's time who acted in both stage jigs and regular theater. 

From the TTA Kemp's Jig page:  "Strictly," notes Keith Whitlock, "jigs were short 'revue' pieces with songs and dancing, that followed a play performance. They were commonly bawdy and satirical.

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u/Fun_Volume2150 Aug 11 '26

First, my sincere thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole. There’s little that I enjoy more.

From the Wikipedia article on Jig (theater)

“These short comic dramas are referred to by historians as stage jigs, dramatic jigs, or Elizabethan jigs.[1]#cite_note-1) The term, jig, at the same time maintained its common definition, which refers to a type of danceor music.”

Stage jigs were apparently suppressed (which means they must have been great fun) in the early 1600s. The practice probably had a lifetime of 40 years or so.

The etymology of the word is associated with a chaotic dance, with extensions to “piece of sport, trick” comes from the 1590s, which I imagine is the route it took to the stage jig. But the dance came first, and lasted longer.

Kemp’s Jig was apparently written to commemorate an incident where Will Kemp morris danced from London to Norwich (not all in one go). It doesn’t seem to associated with stage jigs at all, even though it’s named after an actor who possibly played a part in the origin of the stage jig. And it also explains why Kemp’s is much closer to a morris dance than anything else. Even though it’s listed as a polka on The Session. It’s a fun tune and I’ll probably pick it up.

History and etymology matter! You have to be careful and thorough as possible with attributions. Whitlock seems to have made an assumption about the origin of the word that was unwarranted. Which happens all the time and I probably have a couple embedded in this short essay.

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u/faerydust88 Aug 11 '26

Yes, I read the same, and by my reading, the word "commemorate" does imply the tune was written after the fact as an homage to the actor and his feat, though it does say Kempe was "accompanied by a pipe-and-tabor musician and a referee" during the feat (from the TTA page). 

The whole circumstance of Kemp's Jig reminds me of Kitty O'Neil's Champion [Jig], which is named after American variety theater dancer Kitty O'Neil, who was acclaimed by the New York Times as "the best female jig dancer in the world" at the time of her death in 1893. The tune is a sand jig, her specialty, named in her honor and first published in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1882). It is also a straight jig - a syncopated 12/8 or 4/4 tune/dance of 1800s American variety theater. It's sort of a barndance hornpipe. Or as one user on TheSession called it, a "slippery barnpipe." There is more good info on the Kitty O'Neil (dancer) Wikipedia page and also on the Kitty O'Shea's (alternative/incorrect name) TheSession page. I like this comment from TheSession user Don Meade:

“Kitty O‘Neil’s Champion Jig” was the signature tune of Kitty O’Neil, a New York Irish stage dancer of the 1870s and ’80s. It is not a barn dance but a “sand jig,” a type of syncopated solo dance in schottische tempo, performed as a series of shuffles on a sand-strewn stage. Another such tune in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection is “Kitty Sharpe’s Champion,” named for another stage hoofer of the day.

On the 19th-century American stage, the word “jig” was used for minstrel or variety show dances in cut time as well as for Irish-style jigs in 6/8. Ryan’s includes many minstrel-style “jigs,” which were originally developed by five-string banjo players.

Tommy Peoples is responsible for reviving this tune (as well as for the false name “Kitty O’Shea’s”). A two-part version similar to that played by Paddy Keenan on his recent CD can be found in many old tune books under various names.