Vamping

[Robin Madge]

I've always had a bit of a problem with the Irish style as I tend to hear chord sequences rather than just a melody. At first hearing a lot of Irish tunes just turn out as a drone.

Now seeing as they are often played on the pipes, which have drones, this is OK. The interest to me is to consider how else they could be played with other chord structures around them. Not a traditional approach I'm sure.

Because I can't fit a chord structure to them easily they don't stay in my memory easily, but to my surprise I sometimes the fingers playing along in a session with no problem while the head is still puzzling over what the tune is! What's that about the Devil and all the best tunes.

 

Robin Madge

[JimLucas]

...SINCE THE DEFINITION OF VAMPING IS TO IMPROVISE AN ACCOMPANIMENT...

Whose "definition" is that? It's not the one familiar to me,... nor to many others, as I understand what they've said.

 

My understanding is that the primary characteristic of vamping is not improvisation, but repetition.

[Laitch]

I thought that it'd been settled recently that personal unfamiliarity with a definition doesn't necessarily invalidate it.

 

Anyway, here's another definition, folk wise.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/greenery/Mini...ping/index.html

Edited May 11, 2006 by Laitch

[David Barnert]

...SINCE THE DEFINITION OF VAMPING IS TO IMPROVISE AN ACCOMPANIMENT...

Whose "definition" is that? It's not the one familiar to me,... nor to many others, as I understand what they've said.

 

My understanding is that the primary characteristic of vamping is not improvisation, but repetition.

chambers dictionary ,jim chambers twentieth century dictionary,seek and you shall find.

He's right, except that it's Chambers 21st Century Dictionary:

vamp verb (vamped, vamping) to improvise (a simple musical accompaniment).

However, like Jim, I have always known a different definition, learned from many years of playing cello in theatrical pit orchestras. A vamp, to a theatre pit musician, is a few bars of interstitial music repeated over and over an indeterminate number of times until certain stage business is concluded. In the score, one generally sees the instruction, "vamp until ready."

 

It may involve improvisation, but it a time filler, not an accompaniment to an intrinsic tune or song.

 

I respectfully suggest that the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary is mistaken.

[Larry Stout]

I would have thought that the "vamp until ready" meaning would be more prominent in the dictionaries I checked, but both the Harvard Brief Dictionary of music and the OED give the improvised accompaniment definition. Neither one gives the "repeat a phrase until the singer makes it onto the stage and catches his breath" that I would have thought was primary as an option.

[Chris Allert]

I've always had a bit of a problem with the Irish style as I tend to hear chord sequences rather than just a melody. At first hearing a lot of Irish tunes just turn out as a drone.

Now seeing as they are often played on the pipes, which have drones, this is OK. The interest to me is to consider how else they could be played with other chord structures around them. Not a traditional approach I'm sure.

Because I can't fit a chord structure to them easily they don't stay in my memory easily, but to my surprise I sometimes the fingers playing along in a session with no problem while the head is still puzzling over what the tune is! What's that about the Devil and all the best tunes.

 

Robin Madge

 

When i first encountered irish music, i had a similar reaction, and it was definitely an acquired taste for me. i probably wouldn't have acquired the taste for this music if i had a music teacher willing to teach a different style. but after listening very closely and often to a few solo recordings for a few months it began to grow on me. there are many tunes that seemed simple and repetitive to me when i first heard them, but take on intensity and subtlety as i become more familiar with them.

 

when i started learning the concertina, the only two recordings i could find of the concertina were bernard o'sullivan and tommy mcmahon's cassette on ossian records "irish traditional music of county clare" and the first jacky daly topic album "music from sliabh luachra". i listened to these records every day for a few months on my bus ride to and from work. several of the tunes on the o'sullivan/mcmahon album made a lot more sense to me after attending willie clancy week in miltown malbay about six months after being introduced to irish music. it wasn't so much hearing people play in ireland as much as hearing the way the local people in miltown malbay talked to one another, and the rythms in their speech.

 

the main reason i tend to object to vamping in most cases is that it so often strips the tune of both subtlety and intensity. i suppose this is a matter of taste. i prefer a double shot of espresso to a flavored latte as well, but i didn't always. if i go to starbucks i still prefer a flavored latte since in that case you need the milk and syrup to cover up the burnt coffee they use. but i wouldn't dream of adding anything to the coffee from my local roaster.

 

my teacher who introduced me to irish music had similar feelings about vamping, and the way i feel today probably has a lot to do with his influence. he likened it to the difference between hearing a radio drama and seeing a film. in the radio drama, things are suggested and much of the scenery is left to the imagination. in a film there is less to imagine. and many films make poor decisions as to how things should look.

 

i don't tend to imagine chord structures around a tune since harmonizing was never something i was very good at, but like you, i also had a very difficult time at first memorizing tunes, especially reels.