Is This Unusual, Or What?

[Robin Madge]

I find that when singing solo I tend to close my eyes. I do rely on eye contact with the audience when singing comic songs for "timing" , and also for "protest" songs where again audience reaction acts as a feedback to how you present the song.

If I am watching the concertina it is only to find out what my fingers have been doing while I've been "away".

 

Robin Madge

[Mark Evans]

NO,iget the impression from JOHN B KEANEWHO WROTE AN ESSAY ON THIS SUBJECTthat its shyness ,one singer would only sing, when hidden under the table ,another one would only sing from another empty room.

 

 

We'll I've sung from under a table er' two in me life but it wasn't from being shy. There were moments in my youth when the spirit was willin' but the amounts of spirits I had ingested rendered my horizontal participation inconvenient !

Edited May 12, 2006 by Mark Evans

[Mike Pierceall]

I've only had my Hayden Duet for a few weeks and I'm still trying to get the 'hang' of the keyboard.

 

I've played the Anglo for a longer time and can play most melodies straight off, on call... but I can't do this, as yet, on the Hayden.

 

Here's what I'm finding on the Hayden. Suppose I'm working on learning a new melody ...say: "Don't Cry for me Argentina." I've been working on this song for a few days and cannot yet play it note-perfectly yet.

 

But what I find is this... if I look at the keyboard (right hand) I make more mistakes than if I close my eyes! If I may make -say- 6 mistakes, looking at the keyboard... if I close my eyes I may make one! Or occasionally, none at all! ! ! !

 

Is this odd, or is the odd?

 

I'd appreciate some repartee from the Masters! Thanks!

 

By the way, look at a pic of me playing my box in the margin. It's bit small... I think if you'd click on it, it'll enlargen and you'll see more clearly the box I got from Button Box. !

 

Be of good cheer, y'all !

 

MC

I usually play pretty well when I'm not paying any attention at all -- you know, making out my shopping list in my head while playing a tune I've practiced to the bone

[PeterT]

I usually play pretty well when I'm not paying any attention at all -- you know, making out my shopping list in my head while playing a tune I've practiced to the bone

Many moons ago, when I had not been playing concertina for long, I used to practice whilst listening to the football commentary on a Saturday afternoon (seemed a constructive use of time!). I knew that I was making progress when I realised, one day, that I was not playing the tune which I had started playing some minutes earlier; seemless transition without noticing!

 

I still continue this method of practice, which seems to serve me well.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[geoffwright]

I am sure we all know session musos who (allegedly) play with their eyes open but are totally oblivious to the starting tempo and often to the fact that the rest of the room has changed tune.

By all means, don't look at the box and practise in the dark, but do look up when other musicians are playing.

[Hilary]

My singing and playing partner always plays her whistle with her eyes shut. Opening her eyes and glaring is her way of showing when the tune is going to change or stop (different glares).

She once went to a workshop where she was told to always engage the audience with her open eyes - this meant that I hadn't a clue what was going to happen when she played something I wasn't used to.

Singing, on the other hand, she always has her eyes open - so she can tell if I have changed the words without telling her!

[Animaterra]

I've been thinking about this one. Last night, as I directed my chorus in our spring concert, I realized that, unusually for me, I was closing my eyes a lot more, instead of making eye contact with the singers. I realized that everything was going so well, I could close my eyes and "go inside the music" a bit- not for long, but it was a magical feeling.

 

When playing concertina, I close my eyes when I know the melody well enough but still need to concentrate. Again, the best way for me to describe what's happening is that I go inside the music- which is also getting outside of myself, I guess!

[David Barnert]

Last night, as I directed my chorus in our spring concert, I realized that, unusually for me, I was closing my eyes a lot more, instead of making eye contact with the singers. I realized that everything was going so well, I could close my eyes and "go inside the music" a bit- not for long, but it was a magical feeling.

Some conductors find that when things are going so smoothly they can even put their hands in their pockets and just let the music happen.

When playing concertina, ...

No, don't try that while playing the concertina. It won't work.

[PeterT]

No, don't try that while playing the concertina. It won't work.

Depends on the design of your trousers! But on a more serious note, some of the Music Hall players had miniature concertinas hidden in hand muffs, and the like, so I guess that anything is possible.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Animaterra]

Some conductors find that when things are going so smoothly they can even put their hands in their pockets and just let the music happen.

 

My favorite moments are when I just walk quietly to stand next to the singers in the front row, and join in!

[Mark Evans]

Some conductors find that when things are going so smoothly they can even put their hands in their pockets and just let the music happen.

 

My favorite moments are when I just walk quietly to stand next to the singers in the front row, and join in!

 

I watched you do that last year at NEFFA. It was a powerful moment.

 

The only other two I personally worked with who would drop their hands were Blanche Moese and Leonard Bernstein. "Lenny" could drop his hands and then perhpas lift an eyebrow once in a while with that wild grin of his and we Tanglewood fellows would have followed him off the edge of a cliff grinning along with him. He along with Blanche gave us permission to make music with them in a communion that surpassed physical reality. Lord, what a shovel-full at such an early hour. Best hide in me office until noon .