Newbie Afraid To Participate

[Randy Stein]

I recently had a discussion with a musician new to the English Concertina. She has always participated in contra dances and finally decided to play the music she liked to dance to. Thanks to my friend Jim Besser and the Portland Collection, there is a lot of music I could recommend to her to learn.

Though she had a short series of lessons with me to her learn the fundamentals of playing the EC, she felt too self conscious to attend in person sessions. She is attending some online slow sessions but it's not the same. I suggested she attend an open band session for her local contra dancing and sit in the back. Still, it's hard for her.

I get that for some, playing in a public setting may seem intimidating, but it's the best way to learn and advance your concertina skills. In most cases, everyone is supportive and there just to have fun. 

[Clive Thorne]

I had similar problems "Coming out" as a melodeon player. Your suggestions of sitting at the back is a good one. If she's a drinker than a couple of drinks might help with the nerves, as long as it doesn't affect the playing. A few pints certainly helped me when I first sang in public.

[Peter Laban]

 

9 minutes ago, Clive Thorne said:

.If she's a drinker than a couple of drinks might help with the nerves

I am not sure that's good advice. But that's just me, probably. It's  a crutch at best, and one that won't be any good in the long run.

 

Some people like to 'perform',  others not so much. Putting on the pressure to play 'out' on the more reluctant ones is just that, more pressure. 

 

Let them get there, or not, on their own terms, in their own time.

[Jim Besser]

3 hours ago, Randy Stein said:

I recently had a discussion with a musician new to the English Concertina. She has always participated in contra dances and finally decided to play the music she liked to dance to. Thanks to my friend Jim Besser and the Portland Collection, there is a lot of music I could recommend to her to learn.

 

 

She should come to the Glen Echo Open band, which plays every other month for the Friday contra dance series.

 

Tell her that newbies can sit in the back row, and no matter how loud they play, nobody will hear them.  Only the front row is amplified, and there are up to 40 musicians on stage, so it's pretty much a wall of sound.

 

It's also a good way to get more proficient at learning by ear, since there are no prepared setlists and no distributed notation.

[Randy Stein]

1 hour ago, Jim Besser said:

 

"She should come to the Glen Echo Open band, which plays every other month for the Friday contra dance series."

 

 She's in the upper NE. That would be a very long drive 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Randy Stein

[Jim Besser]

39 minutes ago, Randy Stein said:

 She's in the upper NE. That would be a very long drive 

 

Ah, I missed that.  Hope there's a good open band near her!

 

[wunks]

As a contra dance musician, I'd suggest playing some accompaniment at first to establish the rhythm.  Just a spare bass line and a few chugs here and there.  When you're comfortable with that, venture from it into simple versions or fragments of the melody.   Contra tunes can be quite complex.  Don't be in a hurry.  I've been playing fiddle for dances for 50+ years and I'm 5 years into playing concertina but I don't feel confident yet jumping right in to the melody.  Bumps and chugs for me for now!. 

 

I see you've posted, Jim.  Hope this fits...😊

Edited June 1, 2023 by wunks

[Anglo-Irishman]

4 hours ago, Peter Laban said:

Let them get there, or not, on their own terms, in their own time.

That sounds to me like very sound advice in many situations.

Cheers,

John

[Thy28293]

"Tell her that newbies can sit in the back row, and no matter how loud they play, nobody will hear them.  "... :

 

That's what I was suggested to do, some decades ago - with my fiddle along. And so did I (meanly standing, not sitting...)

That can help.

 

"Let them get there, or not, on their own terms, in their own time. "  : not to forget...

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

It's always a great thing to be asked to participate in any event.. and should be something to look forward to; people want you to give out your uniques skills and knowledge to them becaus they are interested; and that is a positive thing in itself.

Opportunities to do this is not that common place these days, so see it as an exciting thing to be enjoyed..

[Clive Thorne]

21 hours ago, Peter Laban said:

 

I am not sure that's good advice. But that's just me, probably. It's  a crutch at best, and one that won't be any good in the long run.

 

Some people like to 'perform',  others not so much. Putting on the pressure to play 'out' on the more reluctant ones is just that, more pressure. 

 

Let them get there, or not, on their own terms, in their own time.

I got the impression from the OP that the lady in question wanted to play out with people but lacked the confidence, i.e. there was no external pressure.

 

I wasn't proposing a couple of drinks as a long term solution, just for the first couple of times, until she gets used to the idea. Yes it is a crutch, but one that might help her  "Get on her feet", after which it can be discarded.

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by Clive Thorne

[Peter Laban]

'Yes it is a crutch, but one that might help her  "Get on her feet", after which it can be discarded. '

 

It can, perhaps, but I also know a lot of musicians who didn't or couldn't. From that point of view I would avoid the connection drink - music.

 

A better solution may be, if you do want to play in public, to ease yourself into playing with others by sitting down with a person or persons you know well and are comfortable with and play, not necessarily in a public space, rather than to hop into a session.

[Clive Thorne]

3 hours ago, Peter Laban said:

A better solution may be, if you do want to play in public, to ease yourself into playing with others by sitting down with a person or persons you know well and are comfortable with and play, not necessarily in a public space, rather than to hop into a session.

Yes, that could also work.

[d.elliott]

A couple of drinks and all the buttons change place randomly, then I need a pee. 

[John Wild]

A couple of drinks and I amazingly become a good singer!😁

[Moll Peatly]

On 6/2/2023 at 2:41 PM, Peter Laban said:

A better solution may be, if you do want to play in public, to ease yourself into playing with others by sitting down with a person or persons you know well and are comfortable with and play, not necessarily in a public space, rather than to hop into a session.

On 6/1/2023 at 3:48 PM, Peter Laban said:

Some people like to 'perform',  others not so much. Putting on the pressure to play 'out' on the more reluctant ones is just that, more pressure. 

 

Let them get there, or not, on their own terms, in their own time.

These are the best bits of advice IMO. There are two problems with playing in a session as a beginner, even one billed as a slow session. First, you have to keep up. Solution: Practice playing along with a metronome and work on playing a few notes at the right time, and worrying less about getting all the right notes in the right order. Second problem: a concertina player, especially a diffident one, will find impossible to hear what they are playing over all the violins and whistles, and without aural feedback my their fingers will end up all over the keyboard. There are various ways to reduce this (sit away from the rest of the players, next to a wall so you can hear the reflections, etc.) but I'm not sure they will often be sufficient, especially against a "wall of sound".

 

The Quantocks may be a bit far for the person in the OP, but here's how the WCCP coaxes beginners into performing in front of others. Day and weekend meetings with plenty of beginners and improvers, including people who have recently gone through the same stages, so genuinely supportive. Split into groups by music difficulty (individuals decide which music they can keep up with). Lots of roomspace, and only concertinas, so you have a chance of hearing yourself (at least if you're going astray). Arrangements with two or three parts of different difficulty levels, so each player can choose to play relatively twiddly bits if they are up to it, or just one or two notes per bar while still contributing to the music (actually, it would be great if they made some of these arrangements more widely available). Each group presents its party piece at the end of the workshop -- attendance warmly encouraged but strictly optional.

 

Any chance of finding or setting up a group along those lines?