Jack of all trades master of none?

[LDT]

So which is better learn lots of tunes in a just about presentable fashion or just concentrate on being really good at a handful?

[Lawrence Reeves]

My vote is learn a small number of tunes very well. The proper technique and style will almost naturally transfer to all new tunes learned.

[hjcjones]

Better for what? There are pros and cons to both, and it depends in part on your personality. The best approach is one which encourages you to play. Which do you find more frustrating, not being able to play many tunes, or making mistakes in the ones you do know? Some people can shrug off mistakes, while others take them to heart.

 

Concentrating on playing a few tunes well will certainly develop your technique, at least for those tunes, and as Lawrence says that will then transfer to any new tunes you may learn. If you are not confident about playing a tune you don't know very well, it will also give you a repertoire, albeit a small one, you feel you can play and you may find this acts as an incentive. Playing more tunes will give you a broader repertoire, and if you are prepared to risk making a few mistakes this too might be an incentive since it would increase the opportunities to play with others. But if you're a perfectionist then you might find this approach unrewarding.

 

Also, learning more tunes will develop the skill of learning tunes - whether from notation or by ear. I suspect at the moment for you "learning a tune" means picking out note by note and trying to remember each fingering pattern. With time and practice, as you become more familiar with the instrument, you will start to build up that relationship between note and fingering, so that it involves less conscious thought - you will be able to read the note off the page and play it, or play the tune you can hear in your head, without having to think "that's an A so it must be 2nd button pull".

 

Of course, learning more tunes doesn't mean you should stop practising and improving the ones you already know.

[drbones]

I have around 55 tunes that I "practice". Only around 6 or 8 that I can "play" with no or almost no mistakes. If I limited myself to those few tunes, I'd quickly get bored with the thing. I'm always listening for tunes I think I could learn. I believe I haven't yet found the one I play best...or at least I hope I haven't. Of course, if other people are around, I always go to the ones I know best for their sanity and my personal safety.

[Chris Drinkwater]

I agree with Lawrence that it is best to concentrate on learning a small number of tunes very well. If you try to learn too many tunes in a short space of time, my experience is that you tend to forget them or parts of them, especially the earlier learned tunes. Also, some tunes are easier to learn than others. This could be because they are 'catchy' and stick in your head, or because they have phrases in them which are similar to phrases in other tunes. I find that the more I play and practice, the more familiar I become with the layout and fingering and my fingers now often know exactly where to go to play a certain note without me having to think about it and this makes playing tunes composed of notes mainly in the more familiar mid-range of the concertina, easier to pick up and play. It is more pleasing from a listener's point of view to hear someone play a few tunes well, than a lot of tunes so so or even badly. So, hone your playing skills on a few popular sessions tunes that you can join in on and once you have built up the confidence in your playing and playing ability, you can expand your repertoire and learn a few more popular tunes. And when you get really good, you can learn one or two really nice but obscure tunes that no one else knows and play them as party pieces to knock 'em down dead with!

 

Chris

[Hup]

There are two parts to learning tunes:

1. 
    
   
2. getting the tune in your head
   
3. getting the tune in your fingers
   

 

The first does not require using an instrument. You

can learn your tunes on the bus, in the car, etc.

 

For the second one, on any instrument the more patterns

you have in your muscle memory, the easier it is work

up new tunes to the playable stage. If you keep going

over and over the same stuff, you'll not learn many new

patterns. It will take too long to get a decent repertoire

for playing along in sessions.

 

So I'd say you have to work on breadth and depth

at the same time. Try to play through as many different tunes

as you can by ear (having learned them "in your head" first).

They don't have to be "perfect", whatever that means.

 

But also pick a few to polish up; keep grinding away at

some of them. Then drop those ones and polish other ones.

I'm a beginner myself on the 'tina, but I've gone far down

that road on fiddle and flute.

[bill_mchale]

My general thoughts on the matter is that it is better to play a few tunes well than many tunes poorly. Speaking from personal experience, if you decide to take your tunes out to a session, you will be appreciated more by the musicians and the listeners if you only play three tunes all night but play them really well than if you play fifty tunes poorly. The one time I impressed Billy McComiskey with my playing (I don't think he was impressed in an absolute sense, just in how far I had come on the concertina) it was with a tune I play often and which I had learned different ways to ornament it. Nothing makes you feel better than when a really good player gives you a smile and a nod while you are playing a tune with them.

 

--

Bill

[Woody]

I have a small number (about 20) tunes that I play more or less regularly. Some I keep as the Morris side dance to them, others may get replaced if I find a tunes I really want to play. The advantage of this is that if a tune really bores me it gets dropped but otherwise I get the time to play around with how I play the tune and try to explore different harmonies, emphasis, chords etc. I'm currently going through the tunes I know in Dan Worrals Kimber book seeing how he played them. It works for me but YMMV.

[LDT]

What would be the top 5 tunes essential to memorise/learn for an english session?

I somehow think nursary rhymes won't feature.

[fidjit]

What would be the top 5 tunes essential to memorise/learn for an english session?

I somehow think nursary rhymes won't feature.

 

Well you'll hear Nellie the Elephant at a few sessions.

 

I agree with getting your five or six party pieces off pat. Then just join in where you can.

Actually the title of this thread is a song too! I'll get me coat.

[PeterT]

What would be the top 5 tunes essential to memorise/learn for an english session?

I sense a poll coming on .....

 

As to the "top 5", it will really depend on where you are in England. The favourites, in Essex, might well be different from the favourites, "up the road", in Suffolk. I'm speculating, not having travelled to these parts of the world (musically). You'll know when you have the "top 5", since other musicians will have played them before you get the chance . At least this will confirm that you are on the right road.

 

I'm in the "play a few tunes well" camp. When you can do this, it will make it easier to bring newer tunes up to the same standard, since you'll know what you are aiming for.

 

Meanwhile, here's a seasonal offering from chilly London:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1604947

[LDT]

Any that you find appear all over England whichever session you attend?

 

(The beginners session I go to just work from the Mally book 'easy peasy tunes')

[JimLucas]

So which is better learn lots of tunes in a just about presentable fashion or just concentrate on being really good at a handful?

My advice:

Learn a few really well.

Then learn a few more.

[Robin Madge]

I can think of 4 sessions within 10 miles of my house that have less than ten percent of tunes in common with each other.

 

Robin Madge

[Woody]

"Harper's frolic" followed by "Bonny Kate" seems to be a banker from my (very) limited experience

[Steve Mansfield]

Any that you find appear all over England whichever session you attend?

 

(The beginners session I go to just work from the Mally book 'easy peasy tunes')

 

I run the FAQ for the uk.music.folk newsgroup, and when we addressed this very question a few years ago we came up with the following list:

 

Enrico, Speed The Plough, Michael Turner's Waltz, Soldiers Joy, Walter Bulwer's polkas, New Rigged Ship, Harpers Frolic / Bonny Kate, Bacup Coconut Dance, Sweets of May, Captain Leno's, Steamboat hornpipe, Nutting Girl, Maggie in the Wood, Three Around Three, Jimmy Allen, The Keel Row, Captain Pugwash (aka Trumpet Hornpipe), Morpeth Rant, Oyster Girl, Hunt the Squirrel, Queen's Jig, Haste to the Wedding, Smash the Windows, The Man in the Moon, Orange in Bloom (aka Sherbourne Waltz).

 

Pick a few of them and you're in with a good shout. Woody's right, Harper's Frolic / Bonny Kate crops up everywhere - to the extent where changing out of Harper's Frolic into any other tune can cause a nasty pile-up in a session.

 

If you do abc there's even an abc file of all those tunes to be had by clicking on this link here.

[spindizzy]

 

I run the FAQ for the uk.music.folk newsgroup, and when we addressed this very question a few years ago we came up with the following list:

 

Enrico, Speed The Plough, Michael Turner's Waltz, Soldiers Joy, Walter Bulwer's polkas, New Rigged Ship, Harpers Frolic / Bonny Kate, Bacup Coconut Dance, Sweets of May, Captain Leno's, Steamboat hornpipe, Nutting Girl, Maggie in the Wood, Three Around Three, Jimmy Allen, The Keel Row, Captain Pugwash (aka Trumpet Hornpipe), Morpeth Rant, Oyster Girl, Hunt the Squirrel, Queen's Jig, Haste to the Wedding, Smash the Windows, The Man in the Moon, Orange in Bloom (aka Sherbourne Waltz).

 

I remember when that came out - I went and learnt any tunes that I didn't know ... and you're right, a good percentage of them seem to be known in lots of different english sessions.

(Though they may not be played ... if you start one, they'll all join in!)

Hmm.. I've just noticed "Queen's Jig", I can't remember learning that one, unless I have it by osmosis with no name.

 

Pick a few of them and you're in with a good shout. Woody's right, Harper's Frolic / Bonny Kate crops up everywhere - to the extent where changing out of Harper's Frolic into any other tune can cause a nasty pile-up in a session.

 

And when someone plays Bonny Kate first everyone looks annoyed!

 

Chris

[LDT]

Enrico, Speed The Plough, Michael Turner's Waltz, Soldiers Joy, Walter Bulwer's polkas, New Rigged Ship, Harpers Frolic / Bonny Kate, Bacup Coconut Dance, Sweets of May, Captain Leno's, Steamboat hornpipe, Nutting Girl, Maggie in the Wood, Three Around Three, Jimmy Allen, The Keel Row, Captain Pugwash (aka Trumpet Hornpipe), Morpeth Rant, Oyster Girl, Hunt the Squirrel, Queen's Jig, Haste to the Wedding, Smash the Windows, The Man in the Moon, Orange in Bloom (aka Sherbourne Waltz).

 

I think I've got some learning to do ...only one I could play off by heart out of that list is speed the plough.

 

And when someone plays Bonny Kate first everyone looks annoyed!

You see now I'm tempted to do that just to see.....

Edited December 4, 2009 by LDT