Mark Evans

So I was correct. The ABC system gives only the letter name of the notes and I assume a grouping as to measure or meter. What the actual rhythmic value assigned to each note within that measure must be gleened from someone who knows the tune and can play it for you, a recording or resorting to the midi player. You know, I've played a few of those midi files. What is played vs. what is written can be...divergent. Okay, it works I suppose, but reminds me of the beehived hairdo lady...without the givin' of the hell or the overwhelming Shalimar perfume, and that is something to be grateful for.

Standard notation is not such a big deal, really. As a kid I had real trouble cleaving to written notation. My ear was faster, so if I could get my teacher to play the piece through for me, measure by measure...we were good to go, until that dear beehived hair do lady discovered I was "cheating" a year into the piano lessons and gave me hell. Through out all the choirs I served in, it was strength in numbers hanging off the few hot readers. Then came college and my system broke down, as the literature I was working on had to be note for note, beat for beat as written. It wasn't so bad. I still listened to recordings to help me out but sometimes the artists were doing things not written in the score. I learned. The feeling of being able to competently read for myself a score was nothing short of freedom. For most folk music, the ear in the long run is all one needs, but I've found the transcriptions on Session. org, here, different printed sources fascinating. The variation in pitches, keys and the clincher...rhythm and meter are a real eye opener. Someone's version of a particular folk tune is written out in a universal language, to be mulled over and mucked about with and compared to versions learned by ear. If an ole fat cracker like myself can learn this and actually scratch out what passes for a living reading and playing music....well then? You have no idea how freakin' clueless I am on most technical issues. What folks like Miss LDT do with compurter technology....now that's past my understanding P.S. I've looked at those abc files and it seems to me you need to hear the tune to have a clue as to rhythm.

Except in ear training, I would propose. One would think so....but my ear is my ear. All my dot reading from piano lessons started at age 7 on and my ear is still the stronger.

I hear you sir...but the "you played that wrong" has been said to me 10 to 1 by someone who cannot read the dots, has learned a version by ear and accepted it to be the one and only holy grail. If one keeps their ear open, many different credible versions of tunes come across. As my Prostestant Great Grandmother said to me "moderation in all things Mark."

I was down with everything but this bit. It dosen't pass the smell test unless you are thinking of ornaments as played on the Anglo and expecting that to be the baseline goal of the English concertinist. It has been my experience that ornaments can be beautifully accomplished on the English. English is the focus of this particular thread, nicht war?

Rob, I learn by ear and by the dots. Knocking about at session regularly is a way to pick up a lot of tunes by ear. Some I get quickly, others require my digital recorder and I steal away that week and knock it out. Comhaltas web site has a good number of tunes you can click on and I expanded my repertoire there as well.

That's not strictly correct, I should think. A triplet is just three notes played in the space of two - and ascending or descending triplets are very common - e.g. Bcd, efg etc. What's described in above description, I've heard described as a 'short roll' in terms of accordion playing and might be used as such - i.e. instead of playing long high e on B/C box, play ege etc. Clear as mud! I agree though Mark, it's much better to hear examples of these and just follow the sound. Yes, that is what I know a triplet as (nicely done by the way). I often find it confusing to read a tune in the "corrected" O'Neils, in this case Crabs in the Skillet (who could not stop at such a title). I asked our dear tune-smith Connie Patten to play it for me. My Dominique and I then put the two together throwing out the bits that didn't fit from the O'Neils with the exception of the delightful f natural vs. F#s that occured at such odd intervals. It seemed so crab-like to me. Connie's version we felt overused the F#s. After mixing in her twiddles and twaddles, by Jove, a tune has developed under the fingers that we're really enjoying. Makes me kinda hungry for butter sauteed soft-shelled crabs right now!...and a good lager as well .

Thought as much..... Thank you for the clarity. I find it better for me to hear a particular trad-type ornament without assigning a term that has a different function in standard notation. They are all twiddles and twaddles for my poor brain. It allows me to just let them happen as a pint or dram directs me.

Dick, could you define a triplet please, and while at it a roll as well? I've run into trad definition problems before and these two have me scratchin' the back of me noggin as discussed here.

Yup, that's what it comes down to ain't it. My Morse has had the hell played out of it every day since I drove out to Amherst in April 2004 and brought it home. A few minor repairs:the g reed above the staff went off two years ago (only I could hear it), two pads came loose this year and now the low b natural on the left side has a flapping valve on the push. That is nothing compaired to the messing around I had to contend with on my old Wheatstone whose reeds were always getting blocked with microscopic bits. Having the Button Box just an email or phone call away has been great. Bob Snopes was very patient with me on that reed thing, and I was given clear advise on how to deal with the pads since taking the plunge and opening the box up for the first time ever last year, not to mention the wrist straps I installed. Well built, strudy instrument that plays beautifully, sounds good and somebody to come to the rescue should there be a problem...works for me.

As the very un-talented Gershwin boys once dabbled: you say po-tay-toh, I say po-tah-toh.....let's call the whole thing off.....while on the way to the river Styx P.S.- True: Jesus, Nazis... all we need is the "H"-word. But it would be a shame to eradicate an otherwise benign thread.. But then, what is a discussion about "talent" without invoking the aforementioned entities? Hmmm, okay! We now have a complete trifecta! Nicely done.

Mon Deu! What was agreed to and who agreed to it? I've agreed to nothing. It's all I can do to agree with one of my session colleagues on a tempo for the Congress Reel. If she starts it, off to the races on a beast from the wrong side of the river Styx. If I beat her to it and then solidly block the road, it's a pleasant ride in a two-wheeled cart pulled by a nimble footed pony. P.S. Just saw that bit about Jesus. We've almost got a trifecta going here. Someone please step into the steaming pile of politics so we can bury this damn thread. Ayiee!

Blessings on you and your family in this coming year Al!

Luly Al! I played along and worked out some harmony and a bit of a counter melody on the last time 'round on the B part. Just one question...Who is Abigail? Cheers, Mark

Sorry....a Boston sports team. Baseball. A local funeral home is now offering caskets with a Red Socks or Patriots (American football) theme and logo . It's true and very, very odd.

Ah yes, the Floggin' Mollys....my son came home from school a few years back with one of their CD's. We put it on the Bose in the kitchen and Obi the bulldog who is always lurking there waiting for hand outs, freaked at the wail of the pipes and the general volume level. He tried to get the hell outta there, but his toe nails couldn't get any traction on the floor. Claude and I were doubled over and couldn't breathe. We did have to go find dear Obi when we recovered and tell him it was alright. Dropkick Murphys are the big punk rock Irish band here at the moment. A very big deal with Red Socks fans . Obi hates them as well. He prefers his Irish Trad.

Ecumenical...indeed. First Church is Unitarian. God love them they embrace many things, so a pagan solstice with Christian elements is right up their alley. This was the 7th Winter Solstice they have celebrated. The poetry was a nice mix: The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, Wolf Moon by Mary Oliver and Counting to Twelve by Pablo Neruda. Along with the meditations and light ceremony and then the Bleak Mid-Winter and Dona Nobis Pacem a nice event. Lovely speakers and readers (an art form in danger of passing from our world I fear). Our trad got them a little on the wild side, and they liked it. We've been booked for next year to our great suprise and delight!

We were just on the line Wendy. It rained here in Milford. My next door neighbor still has her sump pump running, I't made a little creek in our shared yard with over a foot of snow. Luckily my basement has an ancient gravity French drain. I'm drinking my coffee and watching the Blue Jays try and cram more than one whole peanut in their mouths at a time. Beautiful creatures and so astoundingly greedy! My lone red headed wood pecker darts in fast, nicks one peanut and off. Now to another coffee before hitting that snow shovel.

A group of us Stoners had a lovely experience last night, a Winter Solstice service at First Church in Boston. My colleague Paul Ceinnewa at the job site is our new Choral Director and Music Minister at First Church. He asked me if I would be interested in putting together a group of me chums to play at their Winter Solstice service. Sally McKnight (hammered dulcimer), Jim Buchanan (fiddle), George Arata (bouzouki, bones), and Pelham Norville (uilleann pipes, tin whistle) agreed, met with me for a rehearsal and by Jove went to Boston last night and had a wonderful, wonderful time. I had sung there for many years as a "classical" singer and was in a sense comming home. This time however I was coming home with the music and tradition that is closest to my heart with musicians that I have been honored to make music with so long that we damn near read each other's mind. The congregation had never gone completely "native" still keeping their feet on the classical shore while paying homage to the celtic tradition. This was a bold move for them and I tip my hat and say 'Welcome ta' club'. Our prelude was a couple of jig sets dealing with nature... The Nightingale/Geese in the Bog/Pipe on the Hob. you get the idea. The space was very dark and as the candles of the four directions were lit and they started passing the light to the congregation we played a very transparent version of the Butterfly led off with Dulcimer (sounded like snow flakes filling the air around us), then fiddle, bouzouki, me coming is as softly as my Morse can go (thanks be to Richard Morse and Bob Snope for that instrument's superior action and what has broken into a pliant set of bellows), and Pelham on whistle. Wow! I had to take hold of myself not to sob. Between readings we did Sheebeg Sheemore, a solo slow air by Pelham on the uilleann pipes, one of George's compositions on solo bouzouki and O'Carolan's Draught. The mixture of textures were just right and picked to complement the poems we were given. We accompanied the congregation on "In the Beak Mid-Winter." I served as cantor as me chums played what to me was the most beautiful version I think I've ever heard. On the last verse, Pelham picked up those pipes and roared to life. Lord have mercy it was akin to last time 'round when the organist pulls out all the stops and shakes it but good. The congregation and I responded with matching volume. Whew! We Stoners played Dona Nobis Pacem in round with the congregation. It really was a lovely momnet and my face could not stop what I'm sure was an insane grin. Our postlude was two sets of reels Christmas Eve/The Gravel Walks (Geroge pulled out the bones for the first one), followed by Pelham's tour de force Speed the Plough/the Mountain Road and then we went into his show stopping jig set Austrailian Waters/When sick is it tea you want. The congregation broke into a warm applause and asked for another one...we obliged with Sligo Maid/Star of Munster (I think, for I was pretty far gone with emotion by that time). We gave something of substance to those gentle folk there in that storied space and they to us. I encounted my past, made peace with it and embraced my present. As we brace for the snowstorm coming today, I'm fully ready for Christmas. P.S. Fiddlin' Jim just let me know our ancore was Maid behind the bar/Silver Spear. Well, in my defense they're both maids, an' luvly ones at that...

So there you go; progress! A couple of months ago, she would have said "Not long enough!". It was followed by the phrase 'Can't you go watch TV or something instead?' Why not do both! Isak Perlman once said in a T.V. interview that he enjoyed practicing while watching soap operas (with the sound turned down). Ugh...

I moved to EC in 1976 because the "umpa" German beer garden quality of what I was capable of pissed me off. There was this EC player in Chapel Hill I met at a street fair playing Irish tunes. That was the sound I was looking for! Such a versitale instrument that doesn't have to come across like a tin lizzy in need of a set if shocks, ring job and muffler! At session I like being able to accompany singers who because their voices may not be comfortable in acceptable folk keys have sung a cappella when they really wanted someone to support their efforts. The grins and bright eyes have been well worth any loss of bounce, bang and dominating honk I may have lost by my choice.

I'm on facebook for a couple of days now. Mark Douglas Evans One nice feature is that Dominique and I can chat on line at the end of the day without running up the phone bill. I wish we had discovered that before last month's bill came. Most places in Europe a 8 1/2 cents a minute, but Iceland was a whopping 47 cents and minute . Maybe it's silly, but I'm enjoying myself.

I had a nice suprise going to pick up the kids from school: Dave Townsend was playing live with the Revels folks at WGBH here in Boston. The lad was smokin' hot. Don't remember the name of the hornpipe, but it was certainly pickin' em up and puttin' down. What a funky ensemble. It's wild and almost out of control. Bravo Mr. Townsend!

I can't speak to any of the other questions you ask, but I can run on about this bit. ITM: been around for awhile. All sorts of political points of view, which most keep to themselves. Popularity has grown but some would say it has more to do with the success of things like Riverdance. Most of the folks in my circle are left of center, but then so am I. We have a token right wingnut, but he's a love and politics are by consent off the table when he is at session. Morris: Always been around in my awareness back to the 1970's. Mostly leftys looking for as you suggest "something perceived as more authentic". Old Time: A lot of variety as to politics. Around here (New England) we list to mostly port, but elsewhere they be starboard, say like North Carolina (outside of Chapel Hill), Virginia, West Virginia. They are looking back to their roots and on that a lefty bastard like meself gets on well with them. My little trio Appalachian Travelers is a two leftys to one committable conservative (sorry Terry if you've snuck over here to take a look, 'cause you know you are). He has a gentile manner on both open back and bluegrass banjos and in musical matters we are of an accord. In general, all the folks involved in the musical genre I knock about with it tend to shy away from overt political statements. Perhaps the lack of hope we (I) felt during the long rein of George the Dunce? Music was and is our safe harbor. At Stone's I personally decline to sing Boulavogue, even though a certain patron often asks. It disturbs me. I beg off saying the words aren't memorized and we do him an instrumental version on flute and concertina at a laguid tempo. I don't burden him with whatever problems I have with the imagery. The Minstrel Boy is another matter. Bluegrass: which you didn't ask about is a real mixed bag and the big gorilla in the room no one talks about except in hushed tones. .

Let's not naw that old bone again .