Why Not Write Your Own Material ?

[Alan Day]

Thanks Stuart,there is nothing like the thrill of writing a tune and it being liked by others, a fantastic experience and particularly when a tune is written for someone close and people join in,it is a very moving and emotional experience.

Robins experiences parrallel mine,but the funniest was after writing Auntie Ada`s waltz it gave me confidence to write another.I wrote what I thought was a fantastic tune and the next day when I listened to it ,it sounded familiar and after listening to it again I realised where it had come from,it was Auntie Ada`s waltz again, but at a different speed with different emphasis on certain notes.I have now done that twice.I almost copied exactly something from "The King and I" and "Mary Poppins"

luckily without Dick Van Dyke`s Cockney accent.

As Jim Lucas says it is good to collect useful phrases,the hardest thing is recognising them when they arrive.

Al

[Alan Day]

With your assistance I would like to broaden this discussion as I am getting myself confused.I have been thinking about my music writing and an interesting situation is confusing me.I mentioned in an earlier posting about trying to make a tune more interesting, not make tha first 8 bars of the A be almost the same as the second 8 bars of the A and likewise with the B music.However analising the response to what I have written, it is that format that seems to work for popularity.A tune that within a few times of playing everybody joins in.Players ask what was that tune etc,where something which I consider much more technical and slightly more difficult to play gets a farely cool response ,even after playing it say four times at subsequent sessions.I love to hear complicated tunes,one of the members of our session writes, what I can only say, are fantastic tunes and very complex in their construction and the more I hear them the more I like them.Hence my confusion,I am playing about with two tunes at the moment one difficult the other easy,so easy it could easily used for Morris Dancing ,I could however make it more complicated, but I am not sure.I know this is all a matter of preference, but what do you look for in a tune? In many cases we hear a tune once and it is dismissed in our minds " All right but". A tune a tron tune for example a couple of minutes and never heard again. Or should one just say "I like it so I shall play it no matter what". Good way to clear a bar I suppose.

Al

[David Barnert]

...trying to make a tune more interesting, not make tha first 8 bars of the A be almost the same as the second 8 bars of the A and likewise with the B music.However analising the response to what I have written, it is that format that seems to work for popularity.A tune that within a few times of playing everybody joins in.Players ask what was that tune etc,where something which I consider much more technical and slightly more difficult to play gets a farely cool response ,even after playing it say four times at subsequent sessions.

I guess the point is that there are many qualities that make for a good tune. Ease of learning on the fly might make a tune satisfying to session players but that doesn't mean tunes that don't have that quality are not good. Complicated tunes may be nice to listen to or useful for showing off and either of those might also be part of the definition of a "good tune."

 

I think there is another aspect to be considered, however. The genre of tunes we are talking about are at their root dance tunes. I think an important consideration in deciding if a tune "works" is whether you can dance to it.

so easy it could easily used for Morris Dancing

Humpph!

[JimLucas]

The genre of tunes we are talking about are at their root dance tunes.

Is it? Why should we limit ourselves? I think that is one class -- or several classes -- of tune we could be talking about. Among other tunes I've written are many slow airs and a couple that might best be described as "baroque" sonatas. But of course, there are many kinds of dance... polska, contra, balkan, swing, tango, Morris,... even "slow dance".

 

so easy it could easily used for Morris Dancing

Humpph!

Agreed.

[stuart estell]

Why should we limit ourselves? I think that is one class -- or several classes -- of tune we could be talking about.

I agree entirely, Jim. Conversely, though (and to address Alan's musing about what makes a good tune), for me something that makes a great tune is whether it will stand up to whatever treatment you decide to give it... If you try playing Constant Billy as an air, it still works - it changes character completely, but is still musically satisfying.

[JimLucas]

If you try playing Constant Billy as an air, it still works - it changes character completely, but is still musically satisfying.

One of my favorite cuts is "The Lollipop Man" -- which I first learned as a Morris tune, -- as played by flutist John Skelton on his CD One At a Time.

[Alan Day]

Dear Mr Humpph

For easy please insert simple in the text that Morris tunes are intricate ,addictive tunes normally structured like I have been suggesting, the first eight bars of the (A) similar or nearly identical to the next eight bars and the same in the( B ).

Constant Billy and Shepherds Hey as examples, but tunes like Princess Royal would be the exception.

Al

 

 

 

 

 

 

edited to remove the little smilie which appears when you try to put brackets round a B

Edited September 3, 2004 by Alan Day