A bit of help with terminology.

[Kuranes]

I've been practicing the whistle on and off for the last few months with practice tunes (I got the Walton's Book/Cd/Whistle set, as well as one or two other beginner's books, I also have, umm, about 6 whistles so far...), and I've lately been trying to hunt down ABC tunes on the web.

The problem is that I'm missing a seriously large chunk of music theory here, so I don't understand what it implies when something says "Rhythm: Reel", or Jig, or whatever. I've even seen something labelled "Rhythm: scottish", which makes even less sense to me.

Is there a good link for music theory basics, or maybe someone could explain a few of these things -- like, something I never understood in music class was what the functional difference between 2/2 and 4/4 time was?

[TonyHiggins]

what the functional difference between 2/2 and 4/4 time was?

Good question. I've never figured that out. Never felt a strong need to. To figure out jigs versus slides or reels vs hornpipes, which may look identical in print, listen to cd's with examples.
Tony

[serpent]

Tony has a very good idea. Actually, the rhythm they're speaking of is the placement of and emphasis on, the downbeat. For example, jigs are mostly in 6/8 time with a beat like this:
123456123456(etc...) while a reel in 2/4 would place emphasis like 1212121212121212

Listening to the music is the best way to "get it". Play along, and you'll see how easy it really is!
Cheers,
serpent

[Nanohedron]

This may be of some help:

Reel rhythm=Bustamante Bustamante Bustamante Bustamante.

Double jig rhythm=Huffington Huffington Huffington Huffington.

Hornpipe rhythm=Ahnold Ahnold Ahnold Ahnold. This works for polkas, too.

[Redwolf]

This may be of some help:

Reel rhythm=Bustamante Bustamante Bustamante Bustamante.

Double jig rhythm=Huffington Huffington Huffington Huffington.

Hornpipe rhythm=Ahnold Ahnold Ahnold Ahnold. This works for polkas, too.

That is absolutely brilliant! I'm rolling around laughing my...er...head off as I type (which is quite a feat, when you think about it). The California Recall school of music theory!

From a strictly functional standpoint, 2/4 is faster than 4/4. If you take something written in 4/4 and play it in 2/4, you're halving the meter. A reel actually played in 4/4 would be awfully slow.

It may also help to remember that jigs are always played in triple meter (6/8, 9/8 or 12/8, the latter two also being known respectively as slip jigs and slides), while hornpipes and reels are duple meter (4/4 and 2/4).

Redwolf

[Nanohedron]

Come to think of it, if you repeat the name "Arnold Schwarzenegger" over and over, I believe you have a mazurka!

[Sandy Jasper]

Let me see if I can help a bit.

The top number tells you how many counts there are in a bar. The bottom number tells you what kind of note gets a full count.

For example.

4/4 time. The top number tells you there are 4 counts per bar.
The bottom number tells you that a 1/4 notes gets a full count. So, in a bar in 4/4 time can hold the equvilant of 4 1/4 notes. You would count it 1,2,3,4

6/8 time. The top number tells you there are 6 counts per bar.
The bottom number tells you that an 1/8th note gets a full count. Therefor in 6/8 time, each bar can hold the equvilant of 6 1/8 notes. This can be somewhat confusing as a 1/4 note in 6/8 time is actually worth 2 counts!

The difference between 2/4 and 4/4 time.

You would notice this difference more significantly if you were a drummer as it is about accents. When playing music, we use accents but drummers especially pipe drummers need to know if a song is 2/4 or 4/4 so that they can do the right patterns.

In 4/4 time, the accents are generally done like this. 1st beat the strongest, 2nd beat light, 3rd beat medium, 4th beat light.

In 2/4 time, the first beat is strong, the second beat light.

So the difference is that music in 2/4 has beats accented: Strong, light, Strong, Light, Strong, Light, all through the song. In 4/4 you have Strong, light, medium, light, Strong, Light, Medium, Light.

Some people will write 2/4 music in 4/4 so that the faster notes don't look so cluttered and you may actually find that a song in 4/4 was originally in 2/4 but unless you are doing some really serious drum work, I wound not worry about that too much!

An interesting note is that 6/8 music is closer to 2/4 music than 3/4. That is because 6/8 music is often played with groupings of 3 notes. 123 456 etc. These notes grouped together form 1 beat, so while there are 6 counts per bar, there are really only 2 beats. 123 & 456. If you like to tap your foot while playing, you would tap on Beats 1 & 4.

Music that divides up into even groups of notes, ie:
2/4 = 1&2&
3/4 = 1&2&3&
4/4 = 1&2&3&4& etc
are refered to as SIMPLE TIME

Music that divides up into groups of 3 notes:
6/8 = 123 456
9/8 = 123 456 789 etc
are refered to as COMPOUND TIME

As for what are different kinds of music?

Much of the Celtic terms we use for tune types refer to dances.

Horn pipes, jigs and reels are all dances.

A great way to see the differences between these different kinds of tunes is to watch Irish or highland dancing. Another good way is to take out 4 tunes of each type and look for the simularity. Jigs for instance are written in Compound time, they are done in groups of three notes. 6/8, 9/8 etc. Reels, marches & Hornpipes are in Simple time.

Hope that helps some!!!

Sandy

[colomon]

like, something I never understood in music class was what the functional difference between 2/2 and 4/4 time was?

In theory, the difference is where the beats are. Printed out, the measures look the same, but you count four beats (each a quarter note long) in 4/4 time, and two beats (each a half note long) in 2/2 time.

In practice, because they both read the same, you can play something written in 4/4 like it is 2/2, and vice versa, and sometimes the written music gets it backwards.

Reels are properly notated with two beats in a measure, so either 2/2 or 2/4 (with all the note durations halfed). Writing them in 2/2 is a pretty universal standard these days, but sometimes you'll run into older sources that use 2/4. (Having said that, it occurs to me that I should check my own tunes, and indeed, I screwed up the notation and used 4/4. Sigh.)

[LeeMarsh]

Tony has a very good idea. Actually, the rhythm they're speaking of is the placement of and emphasis on, the downbeat. For example, jigs are mostly in 6/8 time with a beat like this:
123456123456(etc...) ...

Listening to the music is the best way to "get it". Play along, and you'll see how easy it really is!
Cheers,
serpent

To add to Serpent's example, in classical and folk styles, 6/8 time might look like the following:
123456123456
or
123456123456..

But Irish Jigs often have the following feel.
123456123456..

Like Serpent said listen to a bunch of tunes in each form and listen for the accents both major and minor.

Two books I found helpfull for learning more about rythyms is Hannigan's book on learning Bodhran, and Chris Smith's book on Celtic Backup for the Instrumentalist. Both come with CD's with exercises that help you hear the various forms.

[Zubivka]

The drummer reference is THE shortcut.

May a suggest taking a workshop of bodhrán?
In a few hours, you may not master but surely will get a feel for this ITM beats.

Also a bodhrán tutorial with CD or video could be of a great help, if a class/workshop is not available nearby.

PS: it's a strange thing that they are many electronic metronomes available, but none I know are programmable to accent downbeat and not only the quaver tick...
Such a background beat could be so useful for practice: I just can't hum "oom-pah-pah-OOM-pah-pah" while whistling at the same time

______
Native Armorican Paul "chokes-in-plastic" Zoobrovkah*

* Tatanka Fodder

[OutOfBreath]

The drummer reference is THE shortcut.
PS: it's a strange thing that they are many electronic metronomes available, but none I know are programmable to accent downbeat and not only the quaver tick...
Such a background beat could be so useful for practice: I just can't hum "oom-pah-pah-OOM-pah-pah" while whistling at the same time

Two words - "drum machine." You can pick up a used drum machine pretty cheap and they make great "enhanced metronomes." You can program it for any beat pattern you like. I also recall seeing freeware drum machine software for computers...

John

[Kuranes]

Thanks alot everyone You're all a great help.

Now if I can only stop succumbing to WhOA... I bought 3 whistles (Gen C, Sweetone C and Feadog D) this morning, my wife is going to kill me....