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 29,892. 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 64 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, FidCase2, 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	13,418	13	44.9%
Double jig	6,105	6	20.4%
Hornpipe	2,274	2	7.6%
Song	1,687	2	5.6%
Polka	1,355	1	4.5%
Slide	853	1	2.9%
Air	812	1	2.7%
Slip jig	780	1	2.6%
Piece	453	0	1.5%
Barn dance	318	0	1.1%
March	308	0	1.0%
Waltz	291	0	1.0%
Set dance	263	0	0.9%
Single jig	252	0	0.8%
Fling	222	0	0.7%
Highland	186	0	0.6%
Strathspey	93	0	0.3%
Mazurka	88	0	0.3%
Schottisch	66	0	0.2%
Other	41	0	0.1%
Single reel	27	0	0.1%