kicking the leg on last verse?!?!

[jim_n_virginia]

I have been attending this one Celtic Jam for a good while now. When I first saw a dulcimer player stretch her leg out I just thought her leg was cramped and was just stretching it out!

After a while I noticed that most everyone else does it too. When I asked why I was told it was it was to let everyone know the end of the tune is coming up.

Funny thing is I never noticed anyone kicking their leg out because I usually had my face in my fretboard watching my fingers and kind of just zone everything out.

Well now that I know it is jam etiquette to do this I have been trying to do it but for some reason I always forget! I am just so into my tune that I don't remember!

What I wanted to ask is this custom of kicking the leg on the last verse is it world wide or is it just a local custom?

Anyone else do this at their jams?

[fredfrank]

This is a common practice at the Montana Rockies Bluegrass Association jams as well. They also have variations on that to signify different endings. If the leg is extended and the foot is moving in a circular motion, that means a repeat tag of the last line. There are a few other signals, but I'm not really up on them. Maybe Mike Conroy can chime in here and update us.

[Undercover Brother]

We do the leg thing here in Atlanta too.

Chris

[PhilGE]

True in northern Indiana, Chicagoland, central Michigan, and southeast Michigan, from my experience.

[Bob DeVellis]

I've seen it used far and wide. Musicians who play together on a regular basis will sometimes go with what we call the "hairy eyeball." One will make eye contact with each of the others, kind of a glaring look, to indicate that the they're approaching the tune's end. The recipient of the glare will give a slight nod back to acknowledge understanding. But that's a bit too subtle in a larger group, so the leg goes out.

[Bobbie Dier]

We always do the leg kick in old time jams. It works. Most everybody knows the sign.

[John Flynn]

It is a standard here in St. Louis also. The timing varies, but the most correct procedure seems to be that the person who kicked off the tune kicks it out. That person will say "last time" as the last go around starts at the first A part and then do the kick as the last B part starts. Others may repeat the kick if they think someone was too "heads down" to notice the first two warnings. There are lots of variations on this, however. Most of the time we are sitting, but if you are standing at a jam, it can really test your balance!

[earthsave]

Our band leader does it on stage on a tune we either are not quite familiar with or when we just want to end it sooner. I actually raise my mandolin and try and get eye contact as a signal... not sure if everyone catches that all the time, but I dont like raising my leg.

Ever see Karl Shiflett?? Now that feller raises his leg all the time, but not to end a tune. He's a riot to watch.

[David M.]

Yep, seen it in Ky and Iowa. Another practice around here in Iowa is for the tune caller to say "one more", then you know where you are. If he yells this, then no need for the risin of the leg.

[steve V. johnson]

It's standard in Irish and oldtime in southern Indiana, the Cincinnati and Louisville areas, too.

Sometimes the kicker will not be the one who started the tune but someone who has the next tune.

In some places in the south of Ireland, a melody player will play a phrase in a very high octave at the beginning of the last part to signal the end of that tune. That was really cool. The band Sliabh Notes did that on their recordings, too.

I had heard of variations such as fredfrank mentions, but I've never seen them used. That's really cool, a whole 'foot language'!

stv

[fatt-dad]

fatt-dad-in-virginia does it too, 'cause it's just to hard to say, "last time" and play altogether (but the real players do that some times too).

f-d

[withak]

'Round these parts, a loudly-yelled "HUP" is the signal that the tune is changing. Most sessions are in places where there is a table so you can't see anyone's feet. My band uses the leg signal on stage because most of us are pretty bad at keeping track of where we are in a set of tunes and it's a little more low-key than someone yelling over the music.

The bluegrass jam I occasionally go to uses the leg signal as well.

[Paul Hostetter]

The received explanation I have heard for many years for the kick signaling the end of the tune is that it was first done by Jay Ungar, ace fiddler from NY, founder of a famous music camp thereabouts, and composer of at least one very well-known tune. I've never heard that explanation challenged, but I have never asked Jay himself either.

[AlanN]

Sorry, but the whole leg-kicking thing reminds me of an old James Bond movie where he's fighting Lotte Lenya at the end, and she has a knife blade sticking out of her shoe, trying to spear old James http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[danb]

The leg lift seems to happen more in America.. in London sessions there is sort of a wide-eyed or otherwise exaggerated look from the tune starter.. if someone is on another planet or still on the wrong tune you get a "HUP!"

[Dennis Schubert]

That's how the oldtimers do it in Missouri, too.

[iampeterfonda]

In these parts we gennerally use the "HUP" to change the tune and either the leg or a "HHOOOOO!" (or both) to end the set. It is interesting to watch who is and isn't coordinated enough to play and give these singnals at the same time. It's something that a lot of people (myself included) find challenging at first. What really impresses me are those players who can play and hold a conversation at the same time.

[steve V. johnson]

Hey YouArePeterFonda, what parts are those that you are in, eh?

Thanks,

stv

[iampeterfonda]

Cape Cod

[mrbook]

Our fiddler does the same thing at the end of a tune. He does it less when I tell the audience the purpose, and that he hasn't mistaken the microphone stand for a fire hydrnat.