Tripping Up the Stairs

Jig, D, traditional Irish
Also known as: Sackow’s; Sackow’s Jig; Tripping Upstairs

A cheerful tune with a lighthearted name.

Recordings

• Video – Comhaltas: Sackow’s Jig – session recording from the album Foinn Seisiún 1: Traditional Irish Session Tunes, published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
• Audio – Govannen: Tripping Upstairs – from the album As I Roved Out. (The second tune in this track is Kitty Lie Over.)
• Video – Pat Barton Accordion: Tripping Up The Stairs – Irish traditional jig on button accordion – solo on diatonic button accordion

Sheet Music

As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Up the Stairs Jig Set: My Darling Asleep (D) / Donnybrook Fair (G) / Tripping Up the Stairs (D)
• The Tar Road To Sligo / Behind The Haystack / Tripping Up The Stairs
• My Darling Asleep / Smash the Windows / Tripping up the Stairs
• Tripping Up the Stairs / The Old Favorite / Jerry’s Beaver Hat
• Tripping Up the Stairs / Kitty Lie Over
• My Darling Asleep / Tripping up the Stairs

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• More Recordings
  • Audio – Alistair Brown: My Darling Asleep / Tripping Upstairs – from the album No Idle Jest. Played on Castagnari melodeon. (Tripping Upstairs starts at time 1:00 in this recording.)
  • Video – Shane Farrell: Tripping up the Stairs Jig – played on solo tenor banjo
• Books
  • Book & Audio – Grey Larsen: Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle (also available from the author’s website)
  • Book & Audio – Tom Morley: Learn to Play Irish Trad Fiddle
  • Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
  • Book – James Finnegan: The Banjo Buddy Tune Book – 365 Traditional Irish Tunes
  • Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. By Susan Songer with Clyde Curley.
• Lessons
  • Lesson – James Finnegan (TheBanjoBuddy): Learn Tripping Up the Stairs – Trad Tutorial – video tutorial for tenor banjo with on-screen sheet music and tab, and phrase-by-phrase instruction. Printed sheet music is available in The Banjo Buddy Tune Book.
  • Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): Tin Whistle Lesson – Tripping up the Stairs (Jig) – video lesson with suggestions for ornamentation and variation.
  • Lesson – Daoiri Farrell: How to back the jig ‘Tripping Up The Stairs’ on bouzouki – video lesson
• Additional Resources
  • Webpage – The Session: Tripping Up the Stairs (Jig) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and more
  • Webpage – irishtune.info: Tripping up the Stairs – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng