Beginners’ Guides:
English Instrumental Folk Music

Slip-jigs

Tunes in 9/8 time (or sometimes historically notated as 9/4)

Less common in English folk music than the 6/8 jig, the slip jig has longer bars which usually means only 4 bars per A or B section. The term ‘slip jig’ comes from Irish music but tunes in 9/8 can be found in tune collections from England dating back as far as the 17th century.

Used for dances such as:

• The morris dance Beaux of London
• The ceilidh dance Strip the Willow
• The Stoke Golding Country Dance

Some examples of slip jigs:

• Bishop of Chester’s Jig
• Peacock Followed the Hen
• Beaux of London

Below, you can find an audio recording of Peacock Followed the Hen, an example of a slip-jig, performed on melodeon by Hazel Askew.