Slow is More

[Jody Kruskal]

Slow is More

 

When playing for contra dancers, the tunes have to go at a right proper clip. Speedy, but not too fast and certainly not too slow. Just right. The Goldilocks Tempo. At a dance, I am always playing Anglo concertina with a good fiddler and some solid rhythm section, with a combination of bass, piano and guitar.

 

However, when there are no dancers around... I can play these same traditional tunes by myself, as fast or as slow as I like. For this project, I’ve decided that SLOW IS MORE. I’m going to slow the tempo way down and even stretch the extremes of tasty slowness... all in a solo concertina recording. Stay tuned.

[John Wild]

Many years ago, when I was just learning the instrument, I found a tune in a book which I liked. I played it at a speed which seemed natural to me. Some time later I heard it played in a session at a MUCH faster tempo.

I then realised there was a clue in the tune's title, Speed the plough!

I still like to play it at the slower tempo, and I call it Slow the plough!🙂

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I think there is often a little flexibility regarding tempo; unless it's indicated with a metronome mark.

What is Allegro? Or presto? A guide to indicate the desired speed, but maybe not always to be mechanically adhered to without some flexibility. It all come down to interpretation of musical things,and then finding the individual character and bringing it forward to hear afresh every time🌝

 

Edited April 10 by SIMON GABRIELOW

[Mikefule]

A tune is being played too fast when it loses its nuance.

 

A common one is when an English melodeon-based ceilidh band plays a jig so fast that the dancers can only do a sort of stomp or running step on the beat: just one heavy step on the first note of a triplet.  Another common one is where the dancers have to do a sort of shuffling 1-hop for each triplet, but the link with the "triplet-ness" of the 3 notes is sacrificed for speed.

 

I learned a little bit of proper Irish dancing many years ago.  There was definitely time for the feet to step neatly on the 1st and 3rd notes of each triplet, with the dancer definitely being in the air on the middle note.

 

There is a certain type of musician who equates raw speed with technical ability.  Often they achieve that speed by missing out some of the tricky notes and all of the nuances.

 

I'd rather play slowly and feel and hear every note given its proper value, and also hear the gaps between the notes.

 

Of course, the very best musicians can play fast without sacrificing precision and nuance, but they are few and far between.

[Jim Besser]

I'm totally on board with this.  In the past few years, I've taken many tunes I played for years for contras, slowed them way down and explored the intriguing avenues this opens up.  

 

I'll always remember a revealing moment at a weekly session I attended for years. It was mostly contra players and a few ITM enthusiasts, and the speed was relentlessly fast.  We were racing throuogh something one night - I think it was Scollays Reel - and a visitor to the session, after looking increasingly disgruntled, stopped us in the middle.  

 

"Dammit, slow it down, and see how good it sounds."  We did, it did, and it was a lesson learned.

[Roger Hare]

50 minutes ago, Jim Besser said:

...I'll always remember a revealing moment at a weekly session I attended for years. It was mostly contra players and a few ITM enthusiasts, and the speed was relentlessly fast.  We were racing throuogh something one night - I think it was Scollays Reel - and a visitor to the session, after looking increasingly disgruntled, stopped us in the middle.  

 

"Dammit, slow it down, and see how good it sounds."  We did, it did, and it was a lesson learned.

Good call by the visitor.

 

I once heard Tom Anderson's lovely 'Da Slockit Light' played at lightning speed by hard-core ITM enthusiasts. It was memorable, if nothing else...

[wunks]

It's easy to start marches and jigs too fast for the dancers and waltzes too slow.  I would go as far as to say every tune has its sweet spot and that may change each time it's played.

[Jim Besser]

15 hours ago, wunks said:

It's easy to start marches and jigs too fast for the dancers and waltzes too slow.  I would go as far as to say every tune has its sweet spot and that may change each time it's played.

 

And context matters.

 

Some contra tunes work great at dance speed - and sound just as good when played at a much more leisurely pace, when there are no dancers in the vicinity.

 

Conversely: some Morris tunes are meant to be played slow, but can also work well speeded up.  Example: Wm and Nancy/Bledington.  For Morris, I play it very slow, but my band also sometimes plays it as part of a contra set, and it seems to work just fine.

 

But I totally agree with Jody's original point;  stretching the "extremes of tasty slowness" can produce intriguing results. I'm looking foward to hearing his examples, and may add some of my own.

[Jody Kruskal]

Here is the first tune, Bit of Ginger aka The Lilting Fisherman.

 

 

Edited April 11 by Jody Kruskal

[Jody Kruskal]

BTW, I'm playing a Jefferies 38 button G/D Anglo concertina

[Tiposx]

It sounds like good music played at a very nice speed to me. Nice playing!
I have to be truthful though - my pet dislike is music played “too fast”.

[Johanna]

This sounds like much more than just slowing the tempo - it's also adding layers of harmonic rhythm that wouldn't make sense at full speed.

 

Now I'm wondering how many other jigs are really waltzes in disguise that could benefit from similar treatment....

[Jody Kruskal]

Lots of these jigs could work, esp. the ones that have two chords per measure.

Likewise, reels become hornpipes or marches.

 

Edited April 11 by Jody Kruskal

[Jim Besser]

1 hour ago, Johanna said:

This sounds like much more than just slowing the tempo - it's also adding layers of harmonic rhythm that wouldn't make sense at full speed.

 

 

 

Exactly.  PLayed fast, so many tunes become a blur and lose their distinctiveness; in so many cases, slowing them way down gives us the ability to add layers of richness

 

[Roger Hare]

18 hours ago, Jim Besser said:

Exactly.  PLayed fast, so many tunes become a blur and lose their distinctiveness; in so many cases, slowing them way down gives us the ability to add layers of richness

Someone[1] once said something like "The silences between the notes are as important as the notes themselves". Play too fast, and there are no silences...

_______________________________

[1] Can't remember who it was, though...

Edited April 12 by Roger Hare

[Jody Kruskal]

20 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

Someone[1] once said something like "The silences between the notes are as important as the notes themselves". Play too fast, and there are no silences...

_______________________________

[1] Can't remember who it was, though...

Yes Roger, that person was really on to something. In solo playing and in groups.

 

The flip side to the concept of silences is the notion that it is meaningful to consider dote duration as you play. This is all a big part of ARTICULATION and phrasing. Every note has a duration. Make that long as long as possible and you have "legato", make the notes as short as you can and you have "staccato". Using a variety of short and long durations (and everything in between) makes music come alive.

 

In small ensembles, short durations allow the other instruments to shine through and be heard more clearly creating clarity in the mix. For instance, when playing with a fiddler, I usually stop playing or reduce my volume at the ends of phrases to make sure that the sound of the fiddle is the last thing heard. I don't want to over-play my band mates but support them.

[Roger Hare]

5 hours ago, Jody Kruskal said:

...The flip side to the concept of silences is the notion etc...

Yup!

 

I think the valuable extra points you make were implied in what I read at the time (several years ago - 'twas Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk, I think). Some of the earlier posts here make similar points - or that is how I interpreted them.

 

I guess different folks will exploit the advantages of slowing down in different ways? Vive la difference...

Edited April 13 by Roger Hare

[Jody Kruskal]

Rusty Gully Slow

 

AKA: Punchanello's Hornpipe, or the Three Rusty Swords

 

This is a 3/2 triple hornpipe from Scotland and the Northumbrian borders of England. Manuscripts including this tune go back as far as 1741. Still played today for sword dance, English country dancing and at sessions.

 

Here, I am playing it on the G/D Anglo concertina and I have slowed it way down to enhance listening pleasure.

 

 

 

Additional information can be found here:

https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Punchinello_(1)