Three Irish Dances: A St. Patrick's Day Rhythm Challenge

In Minnesota, we are fortunate to have access to many opportunities to experience  traditional Irish music. When my children were younger, they participated in Irish dance lessons.  During performances, it was hard to miss the rhythmic entrainment of not only the dancers, but  everyone in the audience. From a young age, dancers are taught to recognize and differentiate rhythmic meter, or beat patterns for specific dances. For example, dancers learn that repeating  the word “piccadilly” represents the 4/4 meter of a reel. Repeating the word “galloping”  represents the 6/8 meter of a jig.  

Toader et al. (2023) define beat perception as “the ability to discern a steady pulse underlying a rhythmic stimulus” (p 2). The following intervention incorporates Irish dance tunes, rhythmic mnemonics, movement, and the opportunity to match beat patterns to corresponding  rhythmic meters. This intervention could easily be adapted to meet the needs of individual clients and may be used to address cognitive, sensory, motor, and speech/communication goals.  

Irish Music Rhythmic Mnemonic Intervention 

1. Listen to the chosen dance music to promote movement (dancing, marching,  swaying, clapping, tapping body, or playing an instrument) 

2. Introduce the rhythmic mnemonic for specific dances by speaking each pattern

3. Continue speaking rhythmic mnemonic and reinforce learning/memory by adding drumming or body tapping to each mnemonic pattern 

4. Listen to the dance music and try out different rhythmic mnemonic options to match  the music to the corresponding dance (reel, jig, hornpipe) 

Dance	Rhythmic Mnemonic	Meter	Music Suggestions
Reel	Piccadilly	4/4	Brennan's Reel  Martin Hayes Quartet  Cooley’s Reel/The Dawn/The Mullingar Races The Dubliners, John Sheahan, Barney McKenna
Jig	Galloping, Galloping	6/8	The Swallowtail Jig  The Woodhouse Band  Kesh Jig  Le Ceoltoiri Culturlainne
Hornpipe	Humpty Dumpty	2/4	Harvest Home/Galways Hornpipe  Philip Boulding  Open Hornpipes (113)  Sean Softley

Reference: 

Toader, C., Tataru, C. P., Florian, I. A., Covache-Busuioc, R. A., Bratu, B. G., Glavan, L. A., Bordeianu, A., Dumitrascu, D. I., & Ciurea, A. V. (2023). Cognitive Crescendo: How Music Shapes the Brain's Structure and Function. Brain sciences, 13(10), 1390., https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13101390