Rhythm Distribution in Recordings
(In Fully Irish Traditional Albums)

This list ranks rhythms by their relative frequency among all tune instances on all fully-indexed, commercial recordings of primarily Irish traditional music in my entire database. The total number of such tune instances is 29,367. Since it ignores whether a tune recording is a 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 illustrates the distribution of tune types in commercial albums of Irish traditional music. Since it ignores whether a tune recording is distinct or not, and excludes incomplete albums, it can present the average rhythm distribution per album. The following 63 album codes are excluded from this report: 4MD 2, AKG 2, Arc 1, Barde 1, BBSW, BIABH 3, BF, Boys 12, Boys 13, Boys 23, Ch AIE, Ch BIH, Ch DOPR, CFF 1, CFF 2, CFF 3, CFF 4, CFF 6, CMcAn, CMr 2, CnORa 1, COLry, CTL 12, DD 8, DD 9, Di, DSLM, ECoyKD, FFH, Gdwr 2, GOMra, HatW, InTndm, JMcC, JOS 2, KBoyle, KCs, LMcK 1, MMcG 3, NKndy 1, Nms 2, NP, NVall 1, OMcA, OHs 2, OHs 3, Plx 7, Scglen 2, SkHly 3, Socks 2, Srnd, StGrmm 2, Stpkt, StWing 9, SS 2, StWing 3, SW, THayes, THny 1, TitK 1, TitK 4, Trpsw, TW.

This report, since it excludes some recordings, is slightly different from the report Rhythm Distribution in Recordings (All). Compare also Rhythm Distribution of tune types among all distinct tunes, as well as Rhythm Distribution in Session Tunes.

Rhythm	Count	Average per album	% of total	Bar graph
Reel	13,152	13	44.8%
Double jig	5,981	6	20.4%
Hornpipe	2,255	2	7.7%
Song	1,674	2	5.7%
Polka	1,345	1	4.6%
Slide	849	1	2.9%
Air	806	1	2.7%
Slip jig	762	1	2.6%
Piece	439	0	1.5%
Barn dance	315	0	1.1%
March	302	0	1.0%
Waltz	281	0	1.0%
Set dance	258	0	0.9%
Single jig	242	0	0.8%
Fling	217	0	0.7%
Highland	181	0	0.6%
Strathspey	90	0	0.3%
Mazurka	88	0	0.3%
Schottisch	66	0	0.2%
Other	39	0	0.1%
Single reel	25	0	0.1%