The Mathematician

[Podzol]

Here's my crack at this fun hornpipe by Scott Skinner after many months of whittling away at it. It's uneven here and there and not as crisp as I'd like it to be, but all the notes are there in approximately the right places.

Have a listen and don't be too hard on me!

 

I'm self taught. I play a Morse Baritone Geordie, which I am delighted with.

 

I've linked to it here (.m4a)

And here (.mov)
and here (.wav)

Edited August 15, 2014 by Podzol

[chas]

Nicely done and the Geordie's sounding great. You're certainly finding your way round the keyboard with that tune. I reckon the next thing to work on is separating some of the notes a bit more. Those buttons are red hot: don't leave your fingers on them for longer than you have to. As Ali Anderson says in "Concertina Workshop", quoting small-piper Tom Clough: "the note should come out... like peas out of a pod." A greater mix of staccato and legato would take it to the next level (IMHO).

[Podzol]

Thanks for the encouraging and detailed comment, Chas. I do appreciate it, and agree. I remember reading that peas in a pod passage in the Concertina Workshop book now that you mention it!

 

I think also I would benefit from working with a metronome to help me regulate tempo. Sometimes my fingers run away from me if I have drilled a certain passage a great deal.

 

Thanks again!

[psmooze]

Both very good points in relation to the playing by Podzol. A more fun,

interesting and musical way of working on timing is playing with other

people (try to start and finish at approximately the same time).

This can also be done with a tool like transcribe (www.seventhstring.org).

Allows you to slow down the music, nudge the pitch a bit if it's not in standard

tuning and allows you to focus on real playing. Metronome study often tends

to lead to too much focus on the technical aspect of playing -- getting so many

notes out before the bloody thing says click again.

[Podzol]

Thanks, psmooze. I just joined a group of musicians who play Scottish music in a casual setting, so that will certainly help. I also think playing like peas in a pod will help stabilize my tempo somewhat too. I'll look into the transcribe program. My son has something that he uses for his music practice, called something else, but id does a similar thing.

 

Thanks!

[Rod]

Podzol, ' The Mathematician ' . Slow the whole tune down in order to allow yourself to enunciate the semi quavers, (or whatever they are). The tune will lose nothing of its charm by being played at a far more leisurely, practical and comfortable pace. Just a suggestion.

[Podzol]

Thanks, Rod. A good suggestion. Will do!

[Wolf Molkentin]

Here's my crack at this fun hornpipe by Scott Skinner after many months of whittling away at it. It's uneven here and there and not as crisp as I'd like it to be, but all the notes are there in approximately the right places.

 

As for me, the recording is enjoyable and promising due to the swing or oomph that is already present!

 

There's one obvious flaw which I'm quite familiar with from my own efforts (having received good advice myself then as follows): the short and thus fast and thus difficult notes are even speeded up an extra bit and therefore a little like mushy peas (referring to Chas' post). I would suggest focussing on these passages with the peas-out-of-the-pod image in mind. It might be helpful to slow the whole thing down, but IMO crucial are the speedy phrases which are rather too fast than too slow (relating to the initial pace) for now...

 

Best wishes - Wolf

[Podzol]

Thanks, Wolf!

 

Yes, I do hear some mushy peas in there. Not quite soup, but almost.

 

I'll work it at different tempos and think of nice hard dried peas.

 

 

Wolf: By the way, Ive been enjoying your recordings, thanks for sharing them with the forum. Have you any transcriptions? I'd love to see how you put the accompaniment together.

 

Everyone: your comments are much appreciated. I play in a relative vacuum (there is some air, of course), so it's fantastic to get some feed back from fellow players.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Podzol

[Wolf Molkentin]

By the way, Ive been enjoying your recordings, thanks for sharing them with the forum. Have you any transcriptions? I'd love to see how you put the accompaniment together.

 

Thank you for your kind words, I'm very glad about your liking my SC recordings! As discussed elsewhere, I'm following a "harmonic" approach based on the circle of fifths, parallel modes, secondary dominants a.s.f. (and the open fifth as basic pattern of the EC), figuratively speaking. In practice, it's all indeed educated but nevertheless intuitive...

 

Transcriptions have I none I'm afraid, just several abc files I've worked with by enhancing them into lead sheets, i.e. with chords including some extra bass notes added. If you'd like me to provide such a file (or discuss the "background" as mentioned), I'd be happy to do so...

 

Best wishes - Wolf

Edited August 19, 2014 by blue eyed sailor