Abstract
Mead once heard a radio announcer list the movements of a French suite, becoming flustered as he attempted to pronounce the final one. After some hesitation, he sputtered out "GIG-you" and quickly started the recording to cover his embarrassment. If only someone had told him it was just a jig with a French accent. The gigue seems to have taken its name from a lively dance of the British Isles. The name "jig" was used for a variety of tunes, but--like its cousins, the hornpipe and the reel-suggested a hearty, leaping dance with possibly bawdy undertones. By the time it was adopted by the French court in the mid-seventeenth century, it had become somewhat more demure, though it kept its quick pace and light-hearted character. The pattern was so commonly used in this type of dance that people often refer to it today as "gigue rhythm."