Ec Player Tries An Irish Session: Strike One!

[Rod]

The outcome of attempting to play the Concertina at high speed is invariably un-satisfactory (to my ears) and does the intrument no justice.

 

Obsession with speed at all costs is a curse of the world in which we now live.

 

In the hands of a competent and sympathetic musician the Concertina itself, with all its inevitable practical limitations, is the best judge of the speed at which it should best be played.

[Wolf Molkentin]

The outcome of attempting to play the Concertina at high speed is invariably un-satisfactory (to my ears) and does the intrument no justice.

 

Obsession with speed at all costs is a curse of the world in which we now live.

 

In the hands of a competent and sympathetic musician the Concertina itself, with all its inevitable practical limitations, is the best judge of the speed at which it should best be played.

 

There's a lot of truth in these words...

 

And it wouldn't really find it satisfactory to hear the music, played in manic speed, only due to our knowledge from the dots or "unhurried" (Geoff) playing.

 

For instance we could look at certain ornamentations: Being able to play them quite fast may feel cool (yes, it does!), but for both listeners and player it's more rewarding IMO to allow oneself even a little delay...

[Anglo-Irishman]

But by the time it gets cranked up to the sometimes dizzyng tempo and when in session, there may be a couple different versions being played simultaneously, or the swing isn't strictly uniform, some of that expressive clarity that I initially found in the music seems to be lost to my ear. It isn't this session in particular, when I listen to other recordings/vids at tempo I have this issue also.

 

Podzol,

We must bear in mind that the tunes that are today the canon of ITM were originally played, typically, by a lone fiddler or piper or concertinist, or perhaps two of the above, and back in the 1960s I myself attended dances in rural Donegal served by a solo PA player. This is perfectly adequate, because the rural population of Ireland is scattered, and social gatherings are small, with few dancers and even fewer musicians.

These minimal ensembles have, as the classical musicians put it, a great transparency of texture. There are no two versions of the tune to overlay each other, and the ornamentation comes across as it is intended, be it simple or elaborate. In the old days, the two or three musicians playing for a dance together would probably have learnt their tunes from a common source, and would probably have known each other well and played frequently together, so they would have known what would work when playing together.

 

Personal mobility and musical tourism have altered all this.

Nowadays, you only get this effect with groups that practise and play together regularly - or perhaps with a pick-up group of very well-versed, very sensitive players who can coordinate their instruments - and their playing - on the fly. Players in a modern session have a much lower common denominator, and we now have "dance music" and "traditional music", whereas our parents and grandparents in their young days just had "music".

 

In the classical music scene, the modern trend is to perform baroque music on period instruments or reconstructions thereof, with period technique and expression (Historically Informed Performance). Browse YouTube for "Freiburger Barokorchester" or "Philippe Herreweghe" or "The Sixteen". Compare the works you find with the same titles performed by orchestras like the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan, for instance, and you'll be amazed how much fresher the music of Bach and Handel sound on the instruments Bach and Handel wrote for, played in the manner that was taught in their day.

The first thing you'll notice in a video is that the "Historically Informed" ensembles are much smaller. This is the first step to making the very elabrate baroque style transparent. I would hope that a backlash to ITM might happen soon, reinstating the soloist, or ensemble of two or three soloists, as the yardstick for traditonal Irish music. Probably the question of traditional tempo would then resolve itself as a matter of course!

 

Cheers,

John

[ceemonster]

[Will I get better at hearing the melodies at tempo? Maybe my processessing speed isn't up to snuff since I haven't become fluent in this language yet.]

 

Yes, you will get better at taking in the melodies at tempo, particularly if you like the music enough to invest hours and hours and hours and hours listening to it both actively and passively. --In the car, the house, the cubicle, etc. "Listening time counts as practice time," my 1st teacher said, and it is true. There is a whole neurological component to what you're struggling with, and your brain will make those pathways made up of the "conventions" of this genre, in response to the input it gets from massive amounts of listening. People who are born into it get it all around them from infancy on; those who come to it late and from outside a native musical community have to create that experience through your listening time. If you persevere and do your listening, you will be amazed at what becomes intelligible to you. Everybody who comes to this music and sticks with it is familiar with this phenom...

[Podzol]

Thinking about the transparency and lighter texture of traditional ensembles helps me understand how so much of what I like about this music would have been a part of the original experience. I like baroque music on original instruments, in fact I build one of those kit harpsichords a while back, currently I am also working on some Bach bourees, which I think is also a type of dance, though I dont know how it goes. That would probably help with my interpretation of the music.

 

Glad to hear that my difficulty and impression about the tempo of the music isn't unique. Thank you for the recording suggestions, I will have a look. As I play more, reading new tunes is much more like reading, where the sets of 3 or 4 notes becme like words, and as I approach fluency, I no longer read note by note all the time.

 

Memorizing is also coming much easier, and I will have a number if tunes to try out at the session, next week. Can't express how much this thread has helped! Much progress in a week.

[Podzol]

There is a whole neurological component to what you're struggling with, and your brain will make those pathways made up of the "conventions" of this genre, in response to the input it gets from massive amounts of listening.

I think about this often. When learning the layout of the EC a few years back, it was the most counter-intuitive experience I had ever had while learning an instument. I could almost feel connections formng in my brain. The juggling between left and right hands on the EC is unlike any other instrument that I have fiddled with. At the time, I was reading a laybook on brain plasticity and the observation of this happening in the motor cortex was a lot of fun. Now, I suppose, the same will happen between my ears and the hornpipe lobes and jig lobes.

Edited August 17, 2013 by Podzol

[Podzol]

I've got some good news to report. I had my second session last night and it went very well. I re-read this thread right beforehand so that all your thoughtful comments would be used to maximum effect. I had the humble goal set to get through one song without losing my place and play most of it.

 

The result: I got through 4 songs quite well, Sally Gardens, Arran Boat Song, Fanney Poer, and Rights of Man. I received some heartfelt compliments from others there as well.

 

To kind of wrap up what I consider to be a very helpful thread, here are your suggestions that I found most helpful in no particular order:

 

• Practice from the end and coming in at different points. This was useful on every song that I tried. When listening, it's pretty easy to anticipate when the line will wind up, so chiming in at that point worked quite well and prepared me to start the next refrain fluidly.
• Practice with recordings and if you have access some flavor slow-down app that retains the pitch.
• The sequence I followed was: learn the tune in my ear, learn to play the tune, play it along with midi or a clean recording slowly first then up to speed, finally work with the noisy recording from the pub.
• Do sit in a corner (especially if the session has many players, your hearing is off, or there is background noise as was my case last night) This was essential for me to hear my concertina.
• Understand that it is challenging and be patient with your progress.

I would like to add:

• Pick some of the slower songs some airs or a waltz, for example, and learn to play those expressively. Though I am not suggesting that playing slow music well is easy, it is easier to mechanically get the right notes at the right time.
• Whittle a way at a challenging favorite (Rights of Man was my choice). If you can't play the whole thing, come in on the parts that you have down well. Doing this gave me a taste of what it will be like to learn the more challenging repertoire.
• On the tunes that you are not playing, actively listen. I practiced identifying the sections, trying to hear chord changes, and trying to recall the name of the tune.

I also met some folks who invited me to practice with them inbetween sessions.

 

I appreciate all your helpful comments. Your suggestions had everything to do with the fine experience that I had.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Podzol

[maki]

Congrats Podzal, nicely done.

[Henrik Müller]

Hello!

I play a Morse Baritone EC. I have played a couple years by myself using various texts like Concertina Workshop, Contemplating the Concertina, and also a copy of Regondi's studies that - for some reason - my library had. I read music just fine but have never even tried to memorize it until now.

 

After much encouragment from an established member, I was asked to join in on a session.

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I just wondered, those of you who remember learning to play in a session, is this normal? Will I get used to it as I go more? I would really like to play my concertina with people. My dogs love it, and even sing, but sharing with hominids offers a less primal experience.

 

Thanks!

Blake

Normal, I'm afraid, but it will pass. Best advice: burn the sheet music, brainwash yourself with a tune until it plays in your head no end, then pick up the instrument, and be amazed.

 

/Henrik

[watty]

I have fancied trying playing in a session for a while (on mandolin rather than concertina) but never really summoned up the courage to. Maybe have to give it a go after reading this... plenty of them going on in this area. Sessioning with the concertina will have to wait until i learn to play it...