The Dancing Master
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Dancing Master", in Gaelic "An Muinteoir-Rince" or "An Maigistir-Rinnce" is an<br> Irish double jig in 6/8 time and A Dorian. The parts are played AABB.<br> This tune is an 'A' Dorian setting of the familiar<br> "Swallowtail Jig".<br> Francis O'Neill thought it "a particularly good dancing jig" but did not remember<br> his source for it. Paul de Grae records: "Ryan’s setting [in Ryan's Mammoth Collection,<br> 1883], which is almost identical [to O'Neill's] but in a lower key, is called<br> "Swallow-Tail". If O’Neill did indeed borrow Ryan’s tune there is a possible pun<br> clue in the title, a "swallowtail" coat being the traditional dress of the old dancing<br> masters".<br> According to Brendan Breathnach, itinerant dancing masters in Ireland held territories<br> or districts of ten miles or so in which they plied their trade and had friendly<br> rivalries with neighboring dancing masters. When they met at fairs or<br> sporting events they would vie with each other by dancing in public and the honor<br> of the moment. Often the outcomes of these contests<br> were moot, however, "occasionally the event demanded a victor as when a Kerry<br> dancing master vanquished a Cork dancing master in a contest as to who should 'own'<br> Clonmel".<br> The tune was printed in Krassen's O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1976),<br> O'Neill's Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies (1903) and<br> Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907) and<br> Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883).<br> It was recorded by Josephine Marsh on Josephine Marsh (1996).<br>
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