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This list ranks rhythms by how often they occur on commercial recordings of Irish traditional music. The total number of individual tune recordings considered here is 29,573. Since it ignores whether a tune recording is distinct tune or not, it reveals how often each tune type has been recorded. For example, even if one particular reel was recorded by ten different musicians over time, it still counts that as ten "votes" for the reel rhythm.
This report, since it considers all indexed recordings, is slightly different from the report Rhythm Distribution in Recordings (In Fully Irish Albums). Compare also Rhythm Distribution of tune types among all distinct tunes, as well as Rhythm Distribution in Session Tunes.
Rhythm | Number of instances | % of total | Bar graph |
---|---|---|---|
Reel | 13,251 | 44.8% | ![]() |
Double jig | 5,983 | 20.2% | ![]() |
Hornpipe | 2,248 | 7.6% | ![]() |
Song | 1,732 | 5.9% | ![]() |
Polka | 1,352 | 4.6% | ![]() |
Slide | 848 | 2.9% | ![]() |
Air | 826 | 2.8% | ![]() |
Slip jig | 759 | 2.6% | ![]() |
Piece | 449 | 1.5% | ![]() |
Barn dance | 318 | 1.1% | ![]() |
March | 308 | 1.0% | ![]() |
Waltz | 287 | 1.0% | ![]() |
Set dance | 254 | 0.9% | ![]() |
Single jig | 234 | 0.8% | ![]() |
Fling | 221 | 0.7% | ![]() |
Highland | 182 | 0.6% | ![]() |
Strathspey | 95 | 0.3% | ![]() |
Mazurka | 88 | 0.3% | ![]() |
Schottisch | 68 | 0.2% | ![]() |
Other | 44 | 0.1% | ![]() |
Single reel | 26 | 0.1% | ![]() |